| The Rev. Catharine Montgomery | Christmas Eve |
| Grace Memorial Church | Year C RCL |
| December 24, 2006 | 11:00 P.M. Service |
| Isaiah 9:2-4, 6-7 | Psalm 96 | Titus 2:11-14 | Luke 2:1-20 |
Welcome home to Grace Memorial on this holiest of nights. For some of you Grace has been home sweet home all of your life. There are deep memories of Christmases past in this church. Welcome to you who may have been away for one reason or another, but for you...this is the home where your heart is. And welcome to you who have come to be with us tonight because church is where you want to be on Christmas Eve. This is my first Christmas in my new home at Grace Memorial. Together we will rejoice and give thanks for all the journeys that have brought us together tonight.
For me Christmas is one of the times that calls forth deep memories of home – perhaps for you too. We remember the homes we have known and the home for which we all search. I believe there is a space deep inside each person that is reserved for God only – God’s home place in us. In this beautiful church on Christmas Eve, for a little while we have a chance to slow down… to immerse ourselves in the wonder and mystery that God chooses to be with you and with me. On this holy night we have time to hear the story of hope that our lives can be different….they can be transformed…made richer and better by the presence of our Lord.
The familiar story of Mary, in labor with her child, and Joseph making the journey to Bethlehem is what we love about Christmas. Bethlehem and that small family fascinate us, attract us, because perhaps they are more like us than different from us… the incredible mystery is - how can it be that God wanted to come to us like that? Come to us in such a simple and unexpected way, come to us through such unlikely people; come to us in such an unexpected place like Bethlehem.
We are seduced into believing that Christmas should be a perfect event for perfect families coming back to a perfect home. Even Joseph’s rough, rural town of Bethlehem has been softened and glamorized like a Kincade painting. Life is not that way. And certainly Bethlehem is not peaceful and serene. In an impossible, messy, broken world and in our impossible, messy and broken lives, the journey to Bethlehem is about possibilities and hope for the future. On this night the Bethlehem of our hearts is like a beacon of light in a world that is very dark these days.
It is a little ironic that we look for certainty, security and coziness at Christmastime. The story that surrounds Joseph, Mary and Jesus is one of uncertainty. Jesus was born in the rough, earthy world of people who had jobs to do, people who crowded into the town competing for room at the inn. Jesus came to people who had fields to plant and sheep to tend and government breathing down their necks at tax time.
God did not choose to enter the safe world of decorated churches. God came as a tiny baby that had to grow up in an uncertain world, an unsafe world like ours. Jesus was born in a world wracked by terrorism and war. God came to us in a man who reached out to the least and cared for them; he found the lost and brought them back; he gave the lonely a reason to go on; he healed the sick and brought the outcast into community. God came to us as a man who suffered so that he could enter and redeem the pain of humanity. God came to us in a man who was executed as a criminal.
The most important thing we have to remember is God came to us in one who had the power to overcome death and change lives. God came to us in his son Jesus Christ. He is the one who said, “I am the light of the world,” and who also said, “I will remain with you always.”
On this holiest of nights I bid you pray for the peace of Jerusalem and Bethlehem and peace everywhere. Pray for those in prison and for their victims. Pray for the homeless and pray for those who have never known the light and love of Christ. Tonight lose yourself and find yourself in the familiar story of Mary and Joseph and the baby and their journey to Bethlehem. May we wrap ourselves in hymns and prayers and the warmth and beauty of this night. The birth of Jesus was a new beginning for the world and is a new beginning for us.
When we come to the altar for the feast our Lord has provided – we come as a family. We come as a people who are never alone because there is no such thing as a Christian alone. We come for the food that is the bread of heaven and the drink that is the cup of salvation. Our Lord has promised he is with us. Bring to his table your doubts and fears, your possibilities and your hopes - your dreams of coming home. May your heart be filled with joy.
O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray;
cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
Welcome home everyone - home is where Christ is. Amen