Christmas Eve at Moraga Valley: Jesus Coming for You

Call to Worship

Merry Christmas and welcome to Moraga Valley! My name is Brandon Morrow and I serve as one of the Pastors here and we are so glad you’ve joined us for our Christmas Eve services!

This evening we will hear scripture, sing songs, and center our hope on Jesus Christ, who was born to save us.

Near the end of our service we will take some special time to prepare ourselves for the candlelight portion of our service.

I’m going to talk about the birth of Jesus and what that means, and then I’m going to ask the Pastors at Moraga Valley to help me light candles, as a sign to represent the light coming into the world, and we’ll sing Silent Night together. Everyone will have an opportunity to participate. And as we’re lighting the candles from up front, we’re going to ask that you turn to your neighbor or family and light their candle.

We help light others candles as a reminder that we all have a responsibility to share Christ with the world.

Again, we are so excited you are with us — let’s prepare our hearts to continue worshipping the King of the World. This evening we’re going to do a responsive reading. The words we’ll read will be up on the screen. I will be the Leader and you all will be the congregation… let’s remind ourselves of why we gather this evening.

Leader: The One for whom we have been waiting is born!

Congregation: The True Light, which enlightens all people, has come into the world.

Leader: The Word of God became flesh and lives among us.

Congregation: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to all people.

Leader: The glory of God shines all around us.

Leader: Come let us walk in the light of God!

Let’s worship Him together.

Sermon

Read Luke 2:1-14

Luke 2:1–14 NIV

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The Christmas Season is a season full of familiarity… We know that we can count on the sights, sounds, and the buzz that surrounds this time of year. If you still watch television with commercials, you almost guarantee that you’re going to find a Mercedes commercial where someone wakes up to find their spouse surprised them with a brand new car --- which I have never seen happen, but that feels so familiar.

Let me remind you of another story, you may be familiar with. It was written on December 23, 1823, and it’s a a poem called "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" which was published anonymously in the Sentinel, the local newspaper of Troy, New York.

And from it comes one of the most familiar of all the sights and the sounds of Christmas:

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below, When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer, With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name; "Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!" As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky; So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too. And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot; A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow; The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath; He had a broad face and a little round belly, That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself; A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread; He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk, And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose; He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle, But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Many of us know, have heard, or have read some variation of that story! There’s no doubt that there’s so much about this season that is heart-warming but so predictable.

One of those heart-warming and predictable stories is the story of the birth of Jesus.

Some of this could almost tell it in our sleep. It’s the story of a late-night-arrival-imminent-birth situation. A young couple in desperate measures and Mary is so pregnant she’s about to pop. As they come into the town of Bethlehem, they’re turned away house after house and there’s no lodging available for them in the inn, and then Mary is forced to give birth in a barn and only left to lay her child next to working animals in a feeding trough. Just before this, shepherds are alerted by angels that the birth of the Savior is near and guided by the Star of David, they find the place that Jesus is to be born.

They’re joined by 3 wise men who come from distant lands to bring gifts to the King of Kings. An evil dictator by the name of Herod was using the wise men as bait, pretending that he wanted to worship the child, but secretly had plans to kill him. The magi don’t comply with Herod’s orders and bring gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh.

And we assume the wise men go back to doing whatever wise people did, and that the cow could get milked early the next morning, and that Mary would look flawless after just having given birth to Jesus.

Most of those details are pieces of the story that we likely know, that make Christmas so familiar to us.

But what if we have missed some of the story…

What if the thing that we think is familiar, isn’t actually that familiar?

I want to give us a couple of examples that I think will enrich our understanding of the Christmas story and Jesus’ birth — and not only do I think it will enrich us, I think it will give us a greater sense of appreciation for the God who comes to save people like me and you…

Joseph, Mary’s husband, is a part of the story that we think we know well. Luke 2:4–6 says

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,”

They’re traveling to Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus, but Luke 2 says that Joseph is going back to his hometown. Throughout the Bible, we see many instances of where you’re from making a difference.

Joseph is local royalty in Bethlehem, and every person would have known who he was if he knocked on the door. He comes from the family of King David, verse 4 even reminds that Bethlehem was called the “City of David.”

Joseph would have had countless opportunities to stay at homes in the community, and it would be have been an unmistakable tragedy to turn away someone from the family of David.

And even if Joseph was turned away because he could have been outcast due to Mary’s pregnancy, we know that Mary’s family lived nearby.

Just a few months before Jesus was born, Mary had visited her cousin Elizabeth in a nearby town. If Joseph and Mary had been turned away, they could have went to the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptizer, for safety...

And it isn’t like her water broke and she was having the baby right away, scripture also tells us that there was several days before the birth of Jesus. Here’s the way another translation tells us about verse 6, “While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.”

This is a story that’s already starting to feel a little unfamiliar to us...

Here’s a little more that we probably didn’t know…

Jesus likely wasn’t born in a barn, wasn’t turned away by an angry innkeeper. He was likely born in a place like this: VISUAL.

It was common in the first century for people to have their animals either below, or next to their living spaces, that way they could keep the animals warm in the night and make sure that wild animals didn’t get to them at night. Jesus wasn’t born in a barn behind the family homestead, he was born next to the living room.

We are used to hearing that Jesus was born in humiliating circumstances, but Jesus was actually born in humility.

As this story unfolds, here’s what we’re learning...

The story of God, the Savior of the World, and the Hope of all Nations was born in an ordinary home, like the ones you and I have.

What if this Christmas story actually shows us that the Hope of the World is a message for people like you and me?

The Christmas story is the message that the light of the world has come to real people.

Jesus is born in the family room of a first century home, and members of the community, shepherds, come to see that Jesus came for them.

In verse 17 and 18, Luke 2:17-18, Luke tells us that these shepherds not only experience that Jesus came for them, but they go and tell everyone else, too!

Luke 2:17–18 NIV

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

Here’s what the shepherds find when they find Jesus… they find a child, wrapped not like royalty, but wrapped in the same way that shepherds would have wrapped their own children… and where was He? In the living room of a house that probably looked like ones they lived in and were raising their families.

When the Shepherds go back to tell their community, what they tell them is, “We’ve just seen the Savior of the world, and He’s come for people like us.”

Jesus is welcomed into the home of real people, He is sheltered by real people, — at the birth of the King of the World, you’d expect there to be important people — foreign dignitaries, Lebron James, Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey, the King of England, --- but the honored guests are those whose schedules are just a little too overwhelming, who are raising kids who are little too committed to their activities, who the demands of their jobs just seem to grow with the passing of every year.

There’s so much about the story of Jesus that continues to surprise me, to keep me amazed, but one of most moving parts of the Christmas Story is when the angels praise God, because their words impact all of us.

In verse 14, the angels talk of peace... Luke 2:14

Luke 2:14 NIV

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Who is God’s peace for? Luke says it’s for those on whom God’s favor rests… and in Luke 2, the favor isn’t directed at politicians, not on billionaires, not on movie stars… but on real people.

What Luke is attempting to tell us about is grace: Jesus has come to make God accessible to people like us. Better yet, Jesus has come to make God accessible to all people.

Jesus was born with you in mind. Whether you’re 5 years old, or you’re 95 years old, whether you’re white, Asian, Indian, or from Arizona — Jesus come into the world for you.

This is the peace that Luke is referencing… it’s wholeness, “everything as it should be,” — it’s the Biblical story making sense to us: the God of Wonder, who is full of glory and power, He has arrived for people like us.

The peace of God has come to those in live in houses, to those who have jobs, to those who have families, to those who are the honored guest and those that wish they were… Jesus has come for those with money, and for those who are just learning about their cents and dollars. He has come for every person who, tomorrow morning, will be receiving too much; and for those who have nothing to give.

Today in the town of Moraga, a Savior has been born to you; He is the Savior of the World, the King we’ve all been waiting for… And this will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

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This evening we get to light candles together as a part of our candle-lighting service, and this year we light each light as a reminder that Jesus has come for us.

As you share the light with the people next to you, I invite you to say these words to them: “Christ has come for you.”

Friends, Christ has come for you...

Benediction

It has been an honor to have you with us at our Christmas Eve service! We want to invite you to stick around afterwards and enjoy cookies and hot drinks on the patio and in the Fellowship Hall. And on your way out you’ll be able to drop off candles!

From all of us at Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church, we want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a joy-filled New Year.

Would you hold out your hands to receive a blessing?

As we leave here tonight, may the peace and purpose of Christ go with you. May you be reminded that Jesus came humbly, born in an ordinary home like yours and mine, because he loves all people. He came to bring hope and relationship with God - not just to kings and rulers - but to ordinary moms, dads, sisters, brothers, and children too.

During this Christmas season, as you gather with family, remember that God’s love and favor rests on you. Jesus makes a way for anyone and everyone to know Him. Share the amazing story of His birth - the story of how He came to rescue the whole world - with those you celebrate with.

May you Go in joy, may you go in peace, and may you go to share the good news. And may the grace and wonder of Emmanuel, God with us, surround you this Christmas and always. Amen