"Love Came Down at Christmas" - Christmas Eve Meditation, December 24, 2019

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Community UMC Quincy
“Love Came Down at Christmas”
Rev. Andrew Davis
December 24, 2019
Luke 2: 1-20
John 1: 1-14

         After all of the preparations and waiting, we have arrived at Christmas.  We have been shopping, cleaning, hosting parties, going to parties, going to performances, or in our case in this church, put on a pageant this last Sunday, all part of how we prepare for Christmas.  Sometimes it feels a little overwhelming and frenzied as we prepare for Christmas, whether it’s preparing our hearts, or our homes.  Likewise, this time of year can be difficult because of the expectations or demands we put on ourselves or others, or on the other hand, some struggle with this time of year because of losing a loved one, losing a job, experiencing a broken relationship, or other factors that cause this time of year to be less than joyful.  In the midst of preparation, the frenzy, or struggles, here we are, on this Christmas Eve, the moment that love came down at Christmas.  
         The Christmas story is a sentimental story, and one that we come to each year.  Some years back, one of my aunts found a recording of my great-grandpa Lindbaum and Lindbaum uncles singing “Silent Night,” then as my uncles began humming “Silent Night” in the background, my great-grandpa began reading the Christmas story from Luke’s gospel in his Swedish accent, and it was a powerful connection from the past.  Until my aunt moved eleven years ago, it became a tradition in which we would pause and listen to this recording before opening presents.  The Christmas story is not only timeless, but powerful, whether you are hearing it for the very first time or whether you’ve heard it many times.  The Christmas story is the story of when God came to earth out God’s great love for humankind.  It’s a story that’s meant to be shared and is up to us to keep sharing it.  It’s a story that calls us to pause and remember that love came down at Christmas. 
         As Jesus was born that night in Bethlehem, he was not born in a palace, but in a stable with animals around him.  Not exactly clean or tidy, and probably smelled a little too.  The first to hear the Good News of the birth of the messiah wasn’t royalty or the elite, but humble shepherds who were out there minding their own business while watching their flocks.  After the birth of the Christ child, the child will ultimately grow up to show us how to love each other, because of God’s great love for us.  In one of my Advent devotions I’ve been reading as we have been preparing, a friend of mine, Rev. Teer Hardy writes that as we hear this timeless story,
The beauty of this story is that within it is a place for everyone.  While we are not the child who is born, there is a place for each of us at the manger.  God’s grace, wrapped in bands of cloth, invites each of us to come and sit, to listen, and to pray.  We can be from the east, traveling a great distance, and come to the manger.  We can be off in the distance, tending what has been placed in our care, and rejoice with the angels.[i]

         Christmas is a beginning, a time when we are called to love and to share the same love with everyone.  Although it’s not just this time of year, but something to strive for all-year round.  Yes, love is challenging at times, yet it was God’s great, unconditional love for us that God came down to earth in human flesh, born in a stable, to grow up and teach us how to live among each other, love each other, and would ultimately be willing to die for us out of that great love for us.  
Whatever we do for Christmas this year, whether it’s a family celebration or spending the day in quiet contemplation, let us remember that love came down for us at Christmas, and let us strive to live in love with each other, as there is a place for each of us in the Christmas story.  As the Christian mystic, Teresa of Avila says in The Soul’s Passion for God, “the important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love.”[ii] So, go and be stirred to love, sharing that love with each person you encounter.  And let the love that came down at Christmas be within each of us as we live the Christmas story, and go out to be the hands and feet of Christ.  
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let the Church Say, Amen!!  

[i] Teer Hardy, Advent: A Calendar of Devotions 2019 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2019), 43.  
[ii] Teresa of Avila, “The Soul’s Passion for God,” qtd. In The Uncluttered Heart, ed. By Beth Richardson (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2009), 67.  

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