Christmas Eve (Luke 2:1-20)  12/24/2012

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After living for several years in the Chicago suburbs, my family and I moved to the Washington D.C. area as I became a student at Virginia Seminary. Moving from one place to another is never easy; moving is hard work for many reasons: packing countless boxes, wondering if something will get broken (yes, something always gets broken), and saying goodbye to good friends. Leaving a community of people is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of moving. Among the many friends we said goodbye to as we left Chicago, I found it especially difficult to say goodbye to a good friend and colleague of mine; someone who shared similar family and work experiences with me for years. I kept in touch with my friend and nearly two years after we had moved he informed me that they too were leaving Chicago and moving to CT. He had taken a job in Middlebury and they were moving to a little town named Sandy Hook. My friend and his family have lived in CT for nearly six years and I rarely heard the name of his new town during that time, but a week ago this past Friday things became very different; Sandy Hook was known around the globe and the world changed. As reports came in from the media that morning, Carol and I became very worried for our friends. The rational part of my brain understood that their girls were certainly in high school, but we sat down and counted the years just to be sure (there didn’t seem to be too many rational things happening on that day). In the midst of incredible difficulty and unexplainable sorrow I wanted to be sure that those closest to me were OK. I was searching and hoping for some distance from this unbelievable story so I might be comforted in some small way. Often times we search for places of comfort, places of safety to weather the storms of life. My friend and his family were safe on that horrible morning, but even this comfort was not enough. The reality of that morning brought sorrow so great that it seemed there was no escape, regardless of how much distance you seemed to have from Sandy Hook. The opening words of our first reading from the prophet Isaiah ring in my ears, “The people walked in darkness.” (Isaiah 9:2) The sorrow of these past 10 days has felt pretty dark indeed. And for those of us who live in this “land of deep darkness,” we wonder, “where are we to go?”

Tonight, our Gospel lesson tells us of the challenging story of the holy family traveling to Bethlehem. This young man, Joseph, and his espoused wife, Mary, is a story of a young couple moving from one place to another, and we know that moving is hard work. They were traveling without great resources, without the benefit of friends and family, and without the benefit of even a bed to sleep because there was no room for them in the inn. Cast out into the darkness of the night, the holy family found shelter among the animals. A Savior was sent to us, born of a young woman named Mary, a poor young woman who had great faith in God regardless of the difficulties and sorrows of this world. God sent his only Son into this world, a little baby so vulnerable that it was difficult to understand that this child was born unto us with a promise, a promise that we might know God’s love and salvation. During those first days in Bethlehem (and in the many days and years to follow) the mighty promise of God may have been difficult to see, lying in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn, but God’s promise of love and salvation was made incarnate in our midst. The mighty promise of God may have been difficult to understand, the people were told of the glory of the Lord, and yet still, “they wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.” (Luke 2:18) The challenges of that world, the challenges of this world can seem overwhelming and senseless, but God sent his only Son to be in our midst and to uphold us in all that we encounter.

In the midst of the darkness and difficulties of our world we are given the promise of a Savior, sent to redeem us from all our sufferings. Yes, the people may have lived in darkness, but “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 9:2) Christ the Lord, a light so wonderful and bright that the darkness could not overcome the light. These past 10 days have felt heavy with sorrow and sadness and there will be more days ahead like these, but on this holy night we are filled with the hope and love of Christ, confident that nothing is beyond the grace of Christ’s salvation for us. The world feels forever different than it did just a few days ago; we have moved from one understanding of our world to another, and moving is hard work. But we move forward with each other, made strong in faith through the Body of Christ; we move forward with the confidence of Christmas, the confidence that we walk with Christ in all that we encounter. And in all the days of darkness we are blessed to have been given a great Light, for unto us is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.