Christmas Eve | The Christmas Promise

Christmas • Sermon • Submitted 5 months ago • Presented 5 months ago

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We never outgrow the enjoyment of hearing a good story. It appears the older we get the more we think in stories. I love to tell stories. The best ones are those that are true, but seem to good to be true.

Picture of the Canavans / story is not about this couple, even though their life makes a great story

Earl and Leslie Albert were newlyweds settling into their West Stockbridge, Massachusetts home, opening a grocery store that they ran for much of their lives. On their one-year anniversary, they decided to plant a waist-high Norway spruce in their front yard to commemorate the beginning of their family and their years together. Each year, Earl would decorate that tree at Christmas.

Leslie loved Christmas, until there finally came a year that the tree was too tall for Earl's reach. It was then that he just began to watch his kids grow and spend their summer days playing and picnicking under the shade of that tree. Well, over the last 53 years, that tree grew to over 74 feet tall.

And it was a few years ago, in 2020, that Leslie passed away after 54 years of marriage. Ironically, two days after she passed, the head gardener of the Rockefeller Center was driving down this street in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and stopped and knocked on the door where he met Earl. And he asked Earl, would you ever consider donating the tree in your front yard to the Rockefeller Center? The whole family thought the man was an angel and that somehow Leslie was behind this.

Anyway, he immediately said yes, and several years later, now 2024, that tree stands lit at the Rockefeller Center today as a beautiful memorial to Leslie's memory and to the memory of Earl and Leslie's 54 years of marriage together. We love stories like this, don't we? They captivate us.This was all over the news this week in multiple magazines and news accounts. (1)

We like stories like this because they go deep in us. There's something in us that longs for a greater story. We long to be wrapped up into some kind of glorious and beautiful and wonderful, happy ending.

We long for the kind of happy ending that exceeds all of our greatest imaginations and we long to know that our small stories matter and that life is more than just a cruise to nowhere that means nothing, that has no value and no purpose. Well, I got news for you. No one is a better storyteller than God.

And when he gave us his word, he gave us a lot. It's the revelation of who he is. It's the revelation of his heart and his goodness and his grace and his mercy.

Please, turn with me to Isaiah 9.

There are plenty of places in the NT that tell the story of Christmas.

The wonder of reading about the Christmas story from Isaiah is that it was written 700 years before the birth of Jesus.

This is the Christmas Promise

Isaiah 9:6 “6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

Wonderful Counselor

He is also the divine Counselor. He is a God who guides his people.

The Christian God is the only one who loves His followers enough to become involved in their everyday lives.

Mighty God

He has the power to protect us, provide for us, and promote us when the time comes.

His power has no limitation. His Kingdom has no vulnerabilities.

Everlasting Father

He loves us with unconditional love.

He promises to love us and never forsake us.

Prince of Peace

Without Christ, our lives are marked with fear all the time.

Fear of dying and fear of life after death. Fear of the consequences of our sin.

God has promised to keep all who trust in him in perfect peace

We all long for someone to have this place in our lives. The human experience leads us longing for a counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and prince of peace. We long to be wrapped up into some kind of glorious and beautiful and wonderful, happy ending.

As with probably most of you we have been receiving boxes at our door. We try to hide the boxes so the kids don’t look at the boxes and try to determine what it is. Sometimes I order something and do not look at the dimensions and am surprised when something fits in my hand that I thought the kids could ride. Pictures from people in our community looking for boxes they have pictures of that are on the wrong door.

The Old Testament leaves us anticipation of the coming Messiah, the Rescurer,

Why does the coming of the coming of the new King, the rescuring King, the everlasting King come wrapped differently than we might have expected?

Silent Night, which we will sing soon, is commonly performed and considered a lullaby. We often find ourselves swaying from left to right.

The night was not silent in all the ways that you might could imagine.

Herod was seeking to kill all the children two and under.

Mary was not bringing her child into a world that would welcome Him.

Sacrifices were being made in Bethlehem

There had been 400 years of silence since the people had heard from a prophet, that would reassure them of the promises of God.

The night may have been silent, but their hearts certainly would not have been.

It was on a night like this that Jesus was born. Matthew 1:21 “21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Here we have a man and a woman, surrounding by some animals. I do not know all the animals but I would know that they all had been named. Because we know the story of another time that God walked with us.

A Tale Of Two Gardens

God gave us all a garden once And walked with us at eve That we might know him face to face With no need to believe.

But we denied and hid from him Concealing our own shame Yet he still came to look for us And call us each by name.

We have 4,000 years of people trying to conceal their own shame.

This time the emphasis on not on the naming of Adam and Eve

But we will hear the name given to God, who has come to be born among us.

HIS NAME IS JESUS, for HE shall save his people from their sins.

His people. Their sins. Salvation has come.

This should bring an unspeakable peace to our hearts.

Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright … is the cry of every heart. For most of us, our worlds are anything but silent, calm, and bright. But Jesus came to change all that. Jesus enters our space and …

The Light of the World dispels our darkness. The Prince of Peace replaces our anxiety with rest. The Hope of the world gives us a reason to rejoice!

I am going to ask the piano to play. In a moment I am going ask for the fathers of the church to join me down front and we will light our candles and help light the candle of all those in attendance.

The piano will play and I want us to spend time acknowledging the peace that is in our hearts because the light of Christ has disspelled the darkness of our hearts and given us peace.

As with you all there are reasons that my heart would not be “all is calm and all is bright” however, as I consider there was something in me that longs for a greater story but now has been satisfied in the story of the Christmas Promise; in Jesus.

[Verse 1] Silent night, holy night All is calm, all is bright Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child Holy Infant so tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace [Verse 2] Silent night, holy night Shepherds quake at the sight Glories stream from heaven afar Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia Christ the Savior is born Christ the Savior is born [Verse 3] Silent night, holy night Son of God, love's pure light Radiant beams from Thy holy face With the dawn of redeeming grace Jesus Lord, at Thy birth Jesus Lord, at Thy birth

Invite men to the front.

Footnote:

Story heard from a sermon from Emmanual Baptist Church in Newington, CT https://ebcnewington.com/messages/?sapurl=Lyt4NHJzL2xiL21pLys5YnluaGZqP2VtYmVkPXRydWUmcmVjZW50Um91dGU9YXBwLndlYi1hcHAubGlicmFyeS5saXN0JnJlY2VudFJvdXRlU2x1Zz0lMkJwMzYzNWN6

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