A Christmas Light 2021

Introduction

Isaiah 9:1–7 NIV

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan— The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Pray.

Hook:

Headed to Christmas (or any holiday) there is a time of preparation. Where we kind of do an inventory of who is going to be there and what dynamics we need to manage.

How about those deeper places of hurt and pain. I remember going to Christmas and knowing that we have a kid now and my parents are separated and my brother in the navy was not going to be able to come home and another brother would spend that time in prison....this is messy. How do we navigate this?

Last year, those that gathered in this space had to see me preach from a recording on the screen because COVID had me quarantining.

How do we navigate this? What does this Christmas story instruct me during this time?

Tonight we celebrate the birth of a king, powerful, mighty, the hope of the world. At the same time we turn our attention to a messy scene. In the world of this manger, politics, faith, desperation, uncertainty.

This is the place that God inserts himself

The promise of Isaiah captures some of the tension of promise and vulnerability....

Isaiah, a book of hope

The context of Isaiah is a complicated one. Israel is on the cusp of exile to the babylonians and the assyrians. Isaiah is charged by God to tell of the coming judgement of Israel at the hands of the enemies and a message of hope. This is a complicated position for Isaiah.

Isaiah has to go to the king of Judah, Ahaz and tell him that he is going down, is going to lose, and the people will be conquered by the Assyrians. All of this comes to pass and the people in the middle of this will face complete darkness. Scripture says:

Isaiah 8:21–22 NIV

Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

This is what it will be like when darkness falls. Distressed people, hunger, anger and fighting, people turning away from God.

This struck me this week. Characteristics of darkness in the land:

scarcity

desperation

anger

turning away from God

We are not the Israelites facing the Assyrians, but are these ways that we might describe the world we live in now?

What about your world?

So Isaiah then brings a word of hope to the people of Israel, we read it to begin.

He says a light is coming. Written hundreds of years before the coming Christ and now fulfilled, the light has dawned.

Israel does not get what they wanted, they get what the needed

The people of Israel were fighting against a real looming threat, the assyrians. They were also fighting against their own selves in admitting they had a problem, but as catastrophe closed in on them, the word of hope is not a temporary relief of suffering but it is the cosmic promise of God.

I know it might be frustrating to us that whatever we are going through might not have a quick fix, but part of the meaning of Christmas and the coming Christ is to raise our eyes, to raise our hearts to a greater reality.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood this. In 1940 he is writing to pastors and church leaders in the resistance against the Nazi Reich. Even as he himself is largely secluded to hiding at this point, he beckons the pastors to cling to the truth that Christmas brings:

How shall we deal with such a child? Have our hands, soiled with daily toil, become too hard and too proud to fold in prayer at the sight of this child? Has our head become too full of serious thoughts … that we cannot bow our head in humility at the wonder of this child? Can we not forget all our stress and struggles, our sense of importance, and for once worship the child, as did the shepherds and the wise men from the East, bowing before the divine child in the manger like children? -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer is not dismissing their problems as not important, but he is challenging our tendency to dismiss things like the incarnation as magical and unhelpful in the face of real life problems.

Man, woman, and child in the midst of anxiety, or the unknown, or suffering, or stress, perhaps tonight your first and most important task is to cling to the baby born in the manger.

What will you find there?

A child

a King

For unto us a child is born

The light has dawned and it is a fragile child born. He is born to a young teenage girl and in the most precarious of situations.

(Fragility, and the opposite of a King’s birth)

Luke’s telling of the story whispers of the fragility of the politics in place. A King’s birth would be majestic, it should be an announcement that is celebrated amongst the nobility, declared for the world. Mother should be cared for and baby receive everything needed. But this child is born nowhere... like a child set to be forgotten, amongst the forgottens.

(Mary and Joseph cast away)

Did you know that it is likely that Mary and Joseph are not turned away from an Inn....I know that messes up things for you, but it is likely since Joseph is travelling back to his family’s origin that he is turned away from people he knows. Possibly because of the scandalous pregnancy or because of their being no room.

(Shepherds, example of the nobody’s)

The shepherds are the first to learn and receive word. These people were the ilk of society. Their testimony not even welcome in the court of law. Credibility—none. Likeability—absolutely 0.

J. Riess puts it this way:

The throne of God in the world is not on human thrones, but in human depths, in the manger. Standing around his throne there are no flattering vassals but dark, unknown, questionable figures who cannot get their fill of this miracle and want to live entirely by the mercy of God. - J. Riess

Why is this important? Are you feeling lost? Insufficient? Do you struggle with the things of God because it is too hard to make sense?

This story of humble means, this entrance into the world, this birth and all the characters in it is the declaration that Jesus came for the insignificant ones, the lost ones, the rough around the edges.

(Christmas’ best:)

It is hard to see it on Christmas Eve. We get all dressed up in our best. Try to get a Christmas photo. Heck we even provide the photo booth and the hot chocolate to coax the kids into “just one good one.”

But the truth is behind it all....I am certain many of us feel like a mess. Most of us, if we are honest, need to hear that God is present in the middle of it.

Isaiah 9:2 NIV

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

I know I do, Desperately need to hear that there is light in the middle of it.

Santa the other night for a toy drive. It was so fun. Two types of kids, the teenagers soooo embarrassed by me and their mom making their window roll down. Then the enamored completely into it kids.

Have you been good this year? Truth is none of us has. Santa is not theologian because we all stink in our own way. While this is true, it is not the primary message of Christmas. So I started to say, “you are loved”

The child born in the middle of the chaos communicates a God who came to redeem it.

This light came for the darkness, how do you know? because he went straight for it!

But here is the thing. The child is also a king. Isaiah 9 tells us this child is on a mission:

The King is Born

The birth narratives of the gospel do a whole lot to anchor this in the political landscape. Everything about the way the birth is proclaimed or delivered like a proclamation to the interaction with King Herod as the Magi go looking for a king, the gospel writers are showing that this child is no ordinary child.

And so is the prophecy of Isaiah. This child has come to set things right. That is what it means for light to break into darkness.

Isaiah 9 alludes to War, scarcity, darkness, and oppression:

And see this child is the light that casts out darkness (verse 2), brings a harvest in the land of scarcity (verse 3), sets the oppressed free (verse 4), cancels war.....the scripture says burning even the equipment for war (verse 5), because the peace that God brings is reconciliation not just a temporary cease fire.

Look here church: If it is just the child, maybe some story of God coming close even, then we have partnership but we do not have salvation. We have empathy, but no victory. But if that child is God coming to us in the mess, and it is the God who soon will conquer sin, hell, evil, and death.... now we have salvation.

This is why Isaiah 9 names him!

It would be customary to name a new king with future titles of grandeur and prophecy.

He is Wonderful Counselor:

Supernatural wisdom. Jesus is the tuning fork, he is the one who shows the way. He is the truth breaking the power of the father of lies in this world.

He is Mighty God:

God himself. This is the radicalness of the prophecy of Isaiah. To say that some child would be God....whew. Power to calm storms, to heal the sick, to cast out evil

He is everlasting Father:

The one from the beginning. Rulers/kings/presidents claim to be fathers but this is temporal only if legitimate. This is not a father who imposes will but sacrifices for his beloved

He is prince of peace:

He is the one who brings peace in the inner soul, among men, peace in the nation, peace in the cosmos. And of this peace there will be no end.

Closing:

Yesterday/two days ago, I was in the middle of writing this very sermon and the sermon took on flesh. My son Luke started running a low grade fever in the morning and it took an odd turn around midday so he laid down to take a nap and then my wife found him having a seizure. I was in the middle of writing this sermon when I got the call and sped towards the house only to frantically turn around to meet the ambulance and lauren and luke at the hospital. He is ok now and it was a febrile seizure. But those long moments in the truck, past repeated trauma flooded my mind, the worst thoughts prodding their way to my attention and then I remembered this message. God, where is your light? Show it to me.

And I need to know you can act. You can bring peace, healing, wisdom.

So linger a little longer tonight.

Maybe tonight when we light candles, let that be a moment to ask to see his light

Maybe tonight when we come to receive Holy Communion, you would pause for a moment to know how close he really is

Maybe later on after you assemble the model kitchen ordered online for one of the kids and it takes 17 hours (sounds oddly specific I know) and you might just consider how loved you are

Maybe tomorrow morning as the world’s chaos fades and you find joy with family, you might consider what it would be like to live in a reality not determined by chaos of this world but the one who brings a harvest. The wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.