Quiet Christ

1 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

Song: O Come All Ye Faithful

Movement 1: Hope

Who here is excited for tomorrow morning? Christmas Day? Show of hands? I know I look forward to Christmas morning myself, but I am a heavy sleeper. I’m sure it’ll be my wife and daughter who rouse me out of bed. And I’ll probably make them wait while I get coffee—one, because I need the coffee, and two, because I just love to watch them suffer. No, I’m kidding. But I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to being with family, to having people in the house. I love getting to cook for people, and it’s really special to just be around family. We’ve got a lot to celebrate, and I’m grateful.

I know that’s not the case for everybody. Maybe Christmas feels joyful for you, but you’re also trying hard not to think about the tensions that can come with it. Maybe it’s that relationship that’s strained again this year. Maybe you’ve racked up more credit-card debt than you planned on, and you already feel that wave of stress coming when the bill shows up.

Now, you might be sitting here thinking, “Seriously, Ryan? It’s Christmas Eve. Aren’t we supposed to be celebrating Jesus? Why are you getting all serious?” Well, yeah—I am. Because Christmas, though it’s a big celebration and a valuable time with family, isn’t really about Christmas. It’s about what comes next.

At its core, Christmas is about hope.

Now, you might think of hope as just believing that better things are coming. When you have hope, you have a sense that the future’s going to be better than the present. And I believe that on that first Christmas, Jesus’ arrival absolutely filled people with that kind of hope.

But hope is more than optimism. It’s not pretending things are fine; it’s trusting that God is still writing the story.

Jesus came into a world that felt dark and hopeless. He lived, He taught, He healed, and He loved. And then He was killed—by people who were threatened by Him, people who couldn’t handle what He had to say. Not exactly the kind of ending you expect at Christmas, right? But that wasn’t the end. He rose from the dead. Hundreds of people saw Him alive. The Church was born, and they started telling everyone about what had happened—how Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose again.

And they kept saying something: “He’s coming back.”

That was their hope. And it’s still ours.

But let’s be honest—when life gets hard, “He’s coming back” can feel far away. Does that truth comfort you when the bills pile up? When that relationship keeps falling apart? When you face rejection after rejection? When you’re tempted to say, “Forget it, it’s not worth trying anymore”?

That feeling right there—that’s hopelessness. It’s what you feel when you stop believing that things can change.

But here’s the good news: the people of Jesus’ day felt that too. They lived under corrupt rulers, in a world of injustice and despair. And God came anyway. He showed up right in the middle of their hopelessness.

And He promises He’ll come again.

All the work that’s been started will be finished. All the injustices will be made right. All the sin and separation and sorrow will be undone. There will be no more crying, no more sadness, no more fear.

So maybe tonight, the invitation is simple: to let hope in again.

Because the same Jesus who came once in the darkness is coming again to bring the dawn.

Where in your life have you stopped believing that He’s coming back?

Scripture: Micah 5:2, Luke 1:26–33. Candle: The reader lights the Hope Candle after reading. Song: Light of the World

Movement 2: Peace

You know, when I was talking about home here a minute ago, I couldn’t help but think about those relationships. And if you’re anything like me, the conflicts we get into with people—the tension when someone disagrees with us or says something that just activates us—those moments can steal our peace so fast. Maybe it’s when someone talks about you, or about someone you love, as if they’re an object to be discussed, or even a monster for believing what you believe.

I can’t help but think about how our world is so full of that—war, violence, people hurting each other. I read a book recently called Through Gates of Splendor. It’s the story of a group of missionaries in Ecuador who felt God calling them to share the gospel with a tribe known for killing anyone who came near. They prayed, prepared, made contact, and then went. But when they didn’t return, people went to find them—and discovered their bodies. They’d been killed by the very people they’d hoped to reach.

That tribe believed that if someone harmed you, you were morally obligated to kill someone from their tribe in return. If you didn’t, you were failing to honor your own people. To them, that was justice.

See, justice—making wrong things right—is something God built into us. But the problem comes when we start defining what “right” means on our own.

Now why am I talking about this on Christmas? Because for most of us, when we lack peace in our lives, it’s tied to some kind of justice that hasn’t been done. Maybe it’s a relationship where you’ve been wronged. Maybe you see someone hurting people and getting away with it. Maybe you’re offended by what someone else calls “justice.” Either way, something in you cries out, “That’s not fair!”

That’s a very human reaction—and God understands it.

When Jesus was born, the world was full of that same injustice. Herod, the ruler, heard that a baby had been born who might one day challenge his throne. So he ordered that every baby boy under two years old be killed. Talk about injustice.

And how did God respond? Not with an army. Not with violence. He came as a baby. The Savior of the world—born into poverty and vulnerability. The King of Kings came not in power, but in weakness.

And when that baby grew up, He created peace through His body on the cross.

See, God’s idea of peace doesn’t look like ours. Our idea of peace is when the conflict ends and we feel powerful again. But God’s idea of peace is when love transforms the unjust into the just. It’s when mercy triumphs over revenge.

God’s peace doesn’t mean there’s no more noise—it means His presence becomes louder than the noise.

So when we talk about peace at Christmas, we’re not talking about the kind of peace that comes from everything being quiet and calm. We’re talking about the kind of peace that only happens when you’re close enough to Jesus that His heart begins to shape yours.

So which kind of peace do you want? The kind where you feel powerful—or the kind where you’re close to Him?

Scripture: Isaiah 11:1–9, Luke 2:1-7. Action: The reader lights the Peace Candle. Song: Glory (Let There be Peace)

Movement 3: Joy

You know, I don’t think it was an accident that God came in the form of a man. Now, before you think that’s me being consumed by the patriarchy, let me say this—I also don’t think it was an accident that God entrusted His own birth to a woman.

Scripture talks about Christ’s coming as something every created thing longs for. Creation itself aches for the day when everything will be made right. And Jesus is the way by which that happens—the one through whom all wrongs are made right.

Now, if you’ve ever been through a particularly dark season, you know how joy can feel impossible. Let me say that a different way. You ever notice that stand-up comics talk about really messed-up stuff? The best jokes are rarely about something light. They’re about something painful that gets flipped into something funny. Because comedy is all about surprise.

And God is a master of that kind of surprise. When we think there’s no way something good could come out of this, He flips the story. He performs miracles. He reconciles people who could never have reconciled before.

We love comedy because it reveals joy on the other side of suffering.

But here’s where we get deceived. We start believing that joy and happiness are the same thing. We tell ourselves that if we want to feel joy, we just need to do more things that make us happy. Avoid sadness. Stay positive. But joy isn’t the avoidance of sorrow—it’s the transformation of it.

Think about Christmas morning. We chase that happiness—more cocoa, more presents, more laughter—and that’s good! But it fades, doesn’t it?

Now imagine this instead: that family member who’s hurt you deeply shows up on your doorstep Christmas morning and says, “I’m sorry. I see it now. I see how my words have pushed us apart. I don’t expect anything from you. I just wanted to make it right.” That moment—you’re not just happy. You feel something deeper. That’s joy.

Joy isn’t about denying pain. It’s about watching God turn it into something beautiful.

The resurrection was God’s ultimate punchline. The world thought death had won, and then the tomb cracked open, and joy broke through.

Happiness is fragile. Joy is eternal. Happiness is what happens when things go right. Joy is what happens when God makes things right.

So this Christmas, maybe the question is simple: What are you after? Are you chasing happiness, or are you looking for joy?

Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-6, 10, Luke 2:8–14. Action: The reader lights the Joy Candle. Song: Joy to the World (unspeakable Joy)

Movement 4: Love

Any gift procrastinators out there with me? I see you. I see how much you love the people you’re totally planning to get a gift for—because you do love them! You just haven’t quite done it yet. You might be thinking, “If church ends early, maybe I can run to Walmart before they close.” It’s already closed. You missed your chance, dude.

But even if you did procrastinate, that doesn’t mean you don’t love people. Your love is genuine. It’s just that sometimes, when we don’t show up on time for someone, they don’t feel loved. They might have put in a lot of thought for us, and now they feel forgotten.

At Christmas, one of the biggest lies we believe is that you show love by spending money and time on someone. And sure, there’s beauty in that. God loves giving good gifts. But there’s a difference between the way we give and the way He gives.

Because most of the time, whether we realize it or not, we expect something back. Maybe not a gift, but appreciation. Gratitude. Just a little acknowledgment that what we did mattered.

But God’s love doesn’t work like that. His love is faithful and steadfast. As the Jesus Storybook Bible says, it’s His “never-stopping, never-giving-up, always-and-forever love.”

That’s what makes His love so different. It’s not about our behavior; it’s about His character. Love isn’t something God does. It’s something He is.

Now, imagine this: someone spits on you, insults you, rejects you—and you still love them. You’d call that foolish, right? Maybe even weak. But that’s the kind of love God has. It’s not weak, though. It’s steady. It’s confident. It has the persistence of someone desperate for reconciliation, but none of the desperation.

God’s love doesn’t beg for attention. It doesn’t flinch when we turn away. It’s strong enough to name our brokenness honestly—and stay anyway.

And when you really receive that kind of love, it changes the way you love others. Suddenly, you don’t need their response to feel whole. You can love people who reject you, ignore you, or disappoint you—and do it without resentment—because you’re already full.

That’s the gift of Christmas. The gift that doesn’t wear out or depend on anyone else’s return.

So my question for you tonight is this: Christ has offered you that kind of love. Will you take it? Or will you keep chasing the kind that only feels real when it’s returned?

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:3-6, Luke 2:15–20. Action: The reader lights the Love Candle. Song: Midnight Clear (Love Song)

Giving Moment

At Valley Chapel, we believe that to Love People as Christ loves people means actually showing up in helpful ways. Love expressed through action to our neighbors here in Wyoming county, to anyone the Holy Spirit brings to us, and to anyone the Spirit sends us to.

One of the places the Holy Spirit has sent us to is the country of Ecuador, where Free Methodist Churches are sharing the good news about Jesus day in and day out. They are raising up a new generation of Christians who will continue the work as they grow.

In 2026 there is an important event called “Jumeli” where youth from all over Latin America will gather to encounter Jesus together. In 2024 it was an incredibly formative event that moved a number of teens to devote themselves to Christ.

Here in America, gift-giving is a huge part of how we celebrate Christ’s love, so at Valley Chapel, we aim to set aside a portion of our “gifting” to causes that make a difference for people outside our physical reach.

This year, our special giving is creating scholarships that will help Ecuadorian teens to participate in the 2026 Jumeli Youth Conference in Lima Peru.

Every $250 we raise covers one scholarship that will cover either travel expenses or conference fees, food and lodging. 100% of these donations go directly to supporting these teens and their encounter with Christ at Jumeli.

I invite you to join us tonight. Share Christ’s love with these teens. You can give in person using the boxes in the rear, just mark your envelope with “Jumeli” or give online at valleychapel.org/give or on out app and select the Jumeli Scholarships fund.

Christ Candle & Children’s Reading

Children’s Reading:

Read “He’s Here!” and “The Light of the Whole World” from The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Children join Ryan to light the Christ Candle.

They then help ushers distribute glow-stick candles.

Song: “What Child Is This”

Benediction & Call to Action

Message:

Christ is the quiet our souls need.

If you want to give your life to Christ, you’re invited to do so tonight.

Baptisms will be held on the first Sunday of the new year.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Go in Christ’s love. Amen.

Postlude: “Silent Night”

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