Anything But a Silent Night

I was reading the Christmas story over the last couple weeks because I feel, especially with well known scripture, that I have a tendency to skip over parts that I’m like, “Oh II know that part”. And with the Christmas story from Luke’s gospel I think it’s even easier to do that. At the same time that was happening, so was all the Christmas music. If anyone has been in a store in the last two months you will have heard plenty of Christmas music. If you turn on the TV there’s a good chancce you’ll hear Christmas music, espeically if you’re one of those people who loves the Hallmark Christmas movies. You might have Christmas music on in your house while you decorated your house, or baked goodies, for Christmas, or just for the atmosphere and to get you in the mood. Or you might have gone to a Christmas concert to hear music played or sung like our family did at Aubreigh’s junior high school.

And there are so many Christmas songs, both religious and secular, but for some reason the one that kept catching my attention was, Silent Night. Now I feel I have to place a disclaimer right here and now because if I don’t I feel like this might be my first and last sermon back from my accident. Not only that but I might be having my own silent night sleeping outside of my own home, if I don’t disclose that I absolutely love this song. I love that we sing it while we light our candles to symbolize Jesus as the light of the world coming into our hearts and lives. So please hear me, I love the song Silent Night.

BUT…as I was listening the song Silent Night the words from Luke’s gospel that I had been reading and studying kept interrupting the song for me. While the song gives us one image of that night I think there is also another image that we need to keep in our minds and hearts. The night of Jesus birth was anything but a silent night.

Think about any birth you have been a part of, whether your own or someone you know. It’s usually hectic getting to the hospital and then all the nurses and the doctor and everyone else in the room. And think about Mary and Joseph having to travel to a different town from the one they were living in and having to stay with relatives and then give birth in the downstairs guestroom which was typically used to house their animals at night. Even if there wasn’t actually talking looking for a relative to house them I can only imagine the internal panic and strife going on inside Mary and Joseph.

Then zooms out from the town of Bethlehem and puts out in the fields somewhere nearby to shepherds watching over their sheep. I’ve been to several farms inimy life and they are not quiet places. Plus, you have to imagine for these shepherds to pass the time they were talking themselves. Even if there was some silence an angel of the Lord comes and talks to them. The angel tells them about this birth that has happened and that he is Christ the Lord. And then as suddenly as the one angel appeared an entire assembly of angels appear and they begin praising God in their midst declaring the glory of God. The shepherds then start talking about how they have to go and see what they had just heard. And again, I have to imagine that they were talking about what had just happened the entire journey from the fields to finding the baby Jesus with his parents. Then the shepherds share with everyone in the house what had happened to them, and I’m sure that generated a lot of buzz and conversation. Because up until this point the only people who knew were Mary and Joseph. The shepherds then spend their entire journey back home glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It surely was anything but a silent night.

So we’ve established it wasn’t a silent night. It was full of emotions and conversations, a lot of glorifying and praising God, and a lot of amazement. But what was it that amazed them? What caused the birth of a child to cause such commotion? If someone were to tell me that some random stranger had a baby I’d be happy for them and congratulate the couple, but I wouldn’t go to the lengths the shepherds did to see this new child.

It is the content of the message from the angel the changes everything about this potentially ordinary and silent night. The angel starts off by saying to the shepherds that he’s bringing good news, who doesn’t like good news? And to be honest who doesn’t get good news every so often? In fact that’s what gospel means…good news. But the angel seems to realize that that term isn’t strong enough and instead adds on to good news, to the gospel, and says that it is wonderful and joyful news. I don’t know about you but while I might be able to come up with good news to share with someone on a regular basis, it might be a lot harder if someone were to ask me to share with them news that was wonderful and joyous.

But this is where it really hits hard in a good way. It’s just just wonderful and joyous news, but it is goods news that is wonderful and joyous for all people. For all people. I’m sorry but I have to stop right here. As I said I can come up with good news to share with people pretty easily. I would have a harder time coming up with wonderful, joyous news, but let’s be honest…when in your life can you say that you had news to share with someone that wwas good, wonderful, joyoous news for all people?

I mean come on, let’s get real here. I remember being in college and intentionally being put in a group with people we didn’t know and asked to come up with a single pizza with toppings that we’d all be ok with. It didn’t happen. In every one of those groups not a single group had every person happy. And I don’t even have to say anything specific but on the national and global stage is there news that comes out that brings good and wonderful and joyous news for all people? I can’t think of a single thing.

But this angel is so sure that the news the angel is bringing is more than good news, it is wonderful joyous news for all people. ALL. Not some, not for a certain group, but for all people. What the angel is about to say is going to be joyous for all people. That news is that your savior is born today. The wonderful thing about the angel bringing this message is that the angel is not a prophet. And that’s not a dig on the prophets but the whole reason we call them prophets is because they talk about what God is going to do. Now what they say does happen which is why I love saying that God’s promises are faithful and true, but we don’t get a prophet talking about one day in the future the savior will be born, we get an angel telling us that the savior IS born TODAY. So not only is the angel not talking about some future time, instead he is talking about past and present tense. The savior of the world who is Christ the Lord has already been born and is already in this world. There is no longer a need to wait, this is happening in the here and now.

The one who had been promised is now here. The one to come and take away the sins of the world is here. God’s promise is fulfilled right now. And that is why we hear the Christmas story every year, because we need to hear good, wonderful, joyous news for ALL people. We need to know that the one who loves us came to us in this world to show us the way to love God and each other. So tonight, on this not so silent night, embrace and internalize the words of the angel that today your savior is born and that savior is for all people. And then when you have embracd and internalized that good, wonderful, joyous news, I encourage you to follow in the path of the shepherds so that after your visitation to this service of Jesus birth you too return home glorifying and praising God for all you have seen and heard. And that tonight the night of our savior’s birth will be anything but a silent night. Merry Christmas. Amen.