Sermon for Christmas Eve
(English Translation)
By Bishop Dr. R. Guy Erwin -
Text: Isaiah 9:1-6
It gives me great joy to be back together with you, here in this beautiful church, to celebrate this holy day again. Everything we do here: singing the old songs, watching this delightful Christmas play, listening to the festive music—in all these things we have a lovely feeling of Christmas togetherness.
For a moment, the worries of the world seem far away—or at least a little farther away than usual. Politics: the refugee crisis, xenophobia, the constant drama in and around the White House, the coming leadership change in Berlin, the war in Ukraine, as well as Brexit and the future of the European Union—all these, for the moment, fade into the background.
Then we hear these words from Scripture, that remind us again of the complicated situation we humans find ourselves in. The text speaks of a people—a people who wander in darkness—and suddenly we find ourselves back in the gloom of our own everyday lives. In every age of human existence, we humans seem to have had plenty to worry about.
Perhaps the shadows in which we wander today are different than the ones our ancestors knew, but they are still deep. And because of this, these powerful words of the prophet Isaiah we hear again today gain new meaning and relevance every year. As the American Christmas song puts it so well, “we need a little Christmas.”
In a world full of uncertainty, we long for shelter. In our anxiety, we search for comfort and confidence. In our confused situation we strive to reach clarity. And in the face of all the things that make us worry, we look for hope.
But even in the darkest times we can find what we seek. In the silence of the night, we are given an answer, and a hope breaks in to us. To us a child is born. In Bethlehem. A child—the child—that the wise ones seek and of whom the angels sing. The child who comes from God, and that is God: Jesus Christ, the one who was, and who is, and who is to come.
The Son of Man has come among us, to be a light in our darkness; to show us a pathway through our uncertainty, and to bring clarity into our confusion. And so all the things we do today and tomorrow—singing, eating, gift-giving and even our Christmas trees—all this we do not just for the sake of the cosy feeling they give us, but because—especially because—they remind us of Jesus, the child of Bethlehem. This child shows us a light in our darkness and fills our lives with light and hope.
This is our real Christmas gift: that Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Shepherd, has been given to us. Christmas is a sign for us that right now, in this moment, even in these times, we are given all that we really need: the love of God, the love of family, and a human community of which we can be a part. I wish you all a very merry Christmas!
Amen.
The Bishop Dr. R. Guy Erwin
Southwest California Synod, ELCA
Santa Monica, California
Dec. 24, 2018
