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Eve December 24, 2020 Haven Lutheran Church Hagerstown MD Readings : Isaiah 11: 1-10; Luke 2: 1-20

I give Rev. Michael Herman full credit for this sermon. It is a composite of two of his Christmas sermons with some on my own additions. I pray others are blessed by Father Herman’s words as I was.

What to say on 2020? (Sing) For we need a little Christmas, right this very minute Candles in the window, carols at the spinet Yes we need a little Christmas, right this very minute W e need a little Christmas now!1

Does that say it? In this crazy, mind-boggling, restrictive, unprecedented year . . . (Sing) W e need a little music, need a little laughter Need a little singing ringing through the rafter Yes we need a little snappy happy ever after W e need a little Christmas now

I’d say we need more than a little Christmas. Most December holiday traditions cancelled . . . most church and family Christmas Eve and Day traditions whittled down or re-shaped in ways we couldn’t have ever guessed necessary. Still we come here tonight — whether you are sitting in a pew or at home — we come because we need something, we need Christmas.

“To you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

(Luke 2:1-14) That says it all. That’s the Christmas truth . . . Tonight “a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” is our sign that [’s words to Mary are true,]

“nothing will be impossible with God.” Each year, but especially this year, we “want to be reminded of the angel’s words. We want to be cradled in the truth of those words.” We want to hear the story of God coming to be with us in a baby born in and be told that it’s ”true and it can be trusted.” We want to know that the reality of the birth of God- with-us is more than possible, “we want to know the reality of [’] birth in [our lives and

1 in our world.”2 We want to experience in this maddening year, a Christmas that really is

“tidings of great joy for all people — Christ the Lord.”

So let me try to offer you a bit of that experience we so need. Would you please close your eyes and get comfortable. Try to imagine being at the traditional Christmas Eve service you love, where there are no social distancing or face masks and you can sing as loudly as you wish. Just go there in your imagination . . . and I hope you find yourself smiling. Now imagine that your somewhat crazy pastors says, “Turn to someone near you, touch them, and simply say, ‘Yes.’” [Now let that person do the same to you. Do it again with another person near you. Touch them, and simply say, “Yes,” and receive a “Yes.”

Look around, “Don’t let there be anyone here who is not given a yes. Make sure everyone gets a yes. It doesn’t matter who you are, why you are here, or what you believe or do not believe, you get a yes.”3 Share one more “yes” with one of the church members you have been missing all these months. Then slowly, open your eyes.

“Do you know what just happened? You received what the shepherds received that night. You received and passed on the good news that the angel spoke. You just experienced the Christmas story . . . It’s not the usual story we tell or have been told. [It is] the story behind the story.

“This child we receive and celebrate tonight is the sign of God’s yes to you and me.

This child is the embodiment of God’s yes to all people. This child will spend the rest of his life saying, “Yes; yes to the poor, yes to the hungry, yes to the weeping, yes to the sinner, yes to the pure in heart, yes to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, yes to the peacemakers, yes to the outsiders, yes to the wedding couple who ran out of wine, yes to the lepers, yes to the prostitutes and tax collectors, yes to the 5000, yes to the demon possessed, yes to the woman caught in adultery, yes to Lazarus, yes to the woman at the well, yes to blind Bartimaeus, yes to the hemorrhaging woman, yes to the centurion’s 2 servant, yes to the widows, yes to the paralyzed man, yes to the sick and suffering, yes to

Nicodemus, yes to Mary and Martha, yes to Peter, James, and John, yes to Thomas, yes to Judas, and yes to you and me.

“Jesus is God’s yes to us and the world. Regardless of who you are, where you are from, what you have done or left undone, or what is happening in your life today, you get a yes. There is no one who does not get a yes.

“That yes is the gift of Christmas and it is unconditional. It is pure gift. That yes comes to us as love, acceptance, forgiveness, presence. And God’s yes to you and me always comes without an “if,” a when, or a why. God’s yes, the , never comes wrapped in an economy of transaction . . . [In the world in which we live,] you pay for what you want. We’re expected to return the favor, pay off the debt, or reciprocate in some way.

We write contracts to insure that the books will remain balanced. In short, you get what you pay for. That is not God’s world or God’s way. God does not love if you are worthy of being loved. God loves unconditionally. God does not accept when you have proven yourself acceptable. God’s acceptance is unconditional. God does not forgive after you have changed your ways. God just forgives. God does not show up because you said your prayers or had enough faith. God’s presence is without conditions. There are no prerequisites to God’s yes. That’s the gift of this night; God’s unconditional yes . . .

That’s Christmas. That’s what the child lying in the manger brings us. That’s why we come here this night every year. We come to remember, to be reminded of, and to hear once again God’s never ending yes to us. [That’s the little Christmas we need, especially after the year we’ve had. God’s yes is] the song of Christmas. And it’s playing for every one of you. We may hear, “Hark, the herald angel sings, Glory to the newborn king” or

“Silent Night” but beneath it hear a sweet, beautiful harmony or descant of the heavenly hosts singing, “Yes, yes, yes.” “Nothing will be impossible with God.”4 3 “To you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

It’s true. And it’s truly “Good news of great joy for all people.” Amen.

ENDNOTES

1. Jerry Herman, “W e Need a Little Christmas” from the musical Mame 2. Quotations in this paragraph are from Michael K. Marsh, “The Manger of Christ Never Disappoints – A Christmas Eve Sermon on Luke 2:1-14" December 24, 2014 http://interruptingthesilence.com/2014/12/24/the- manger-of-christ-never-disappoints-a-christmas-eve-sermon-on-luke-21-14/ 3. Quotations in this paragraph from Michael K. Marsh, “Yes — A Christmas Sermon on Luke 2: 1-10" December 25, 2018 https:interruptingthesilence.com 4. The final five paragraphs are adapted or quoted from Michael K. Marsh, “Yes — A Christmas Sermon on Luke 2: 1-10" December 25, 2018 https:interruptingthesilence.com

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