Sermon for Christmas Eve - Luke 2:1-20

Every great love story has a beginning. A person has to give some kind of sign that they like the other person for the story to begin. Opening strategies vary considerably, and they’ve changed over the years. In the days of yore, for example, it was trendy to sneak up to your beloved’s house at night and gently throw tiny rocks at the window to get their attention. And it was a good idea to say something like, “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks” - with extra points for Elizabethan English because it’s more romantic. Fast forward a few generations, and if you’re a Gen Xer like me, there was probably a mixed tape involved in making one’s feelings known. I confess that I have been a little worried about the younger generations, that romance might be dead. I pictured their opening move as a text message or maybe just an emoji. So I asked some teenagers about current signs of love, and the news is encouraging. I’m told that texting your love interest is frowned upon - it’s better to tell them in person. And the gesture should be elaborate. Take Prince Harry, who, it turns out, didn’t just propose to Meghan Markle over a roast chicken in the kitchen. He staged a more elaborate proposal outside, which we now know thanks to Netflix. Closer to home, the word at Central High this year is that one student asked another to the homecoming dance by surprising her with a dozen red roses and a performance by the school band. She said yes.

Another student wasn’t quite so lucky. She made a giant poster for the person she wanted to ask to the dance and had her friends hold it up so the guy could see it. A swift “no” was the reply. Alas, sometimes love stories get off track, or never get off the ground to begin with. Maybe we don’t share the same feelings, or we’re just unsure about the whole thing, and we let signs of love pass us by. And what’s even more challenging about love stories is that we often miss signs of love because we don’t feel worthy of the love that’s offered.

That last problem, feeling unworthy, is basically part of the human condition. And it has been true for as long as humans have been trying to send and receive signs of love. Take the Garden of Eden, for example. In an enormous love offering, God gave Adam and Even the most beautiful garden to live in, with everything they could possibly need and even a cool evening breeze - a clear sign of love if ever there was one. Maybe Adam and Eve didn’t feel the same way, or maybe they were just hard headed. For whatever reason they missed a sign or two and ate of the fruit they were told not to eat. They found themselves outside of the garden and far away from God, surely worried from then on about their worthiness of God’s love. Ever since, the Bible tells us that God has been sending sign after sign to guide us back to our divine love story. Some of the signs have been spectacular. A burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, manna from heaven, oil lamps that never seem to run out of oil. Some of the signs have been, well, less pleasant, like plagues of frogs, boils, and locusts. In God’s defense, God had to get creative. We can be more than a little hard headed, and we have a history of trouble with sign reading.

God must have wondered what it would take to get our attention, to convince us of God’s grace and favor. I’m sure that God considered throwing tiny rocks at our windows or creating a Spotify play list of the angels’ greatest hits. Instead, God sent prophets to get our attention, and gave them words to use, like prepare and repent. But we couldn’t hear those very well. So God came up with a new strategy, the very best one yet: a baby. It was arguably the greatest sign of love of all time. It was genius, really. A baby is hard to miss and easy to love, and it sure makes a statement. It’s remarkable that God was willing to come to this earth in such a vulnerable package, completely dependent on other humans for survival. If ever there was a statement of trust in the fundamental goodness of human nature, a statement that we humans are worthy of love after all, this was it.

A baby is a fantastic sign, but God didn’t want to leave anything to chance. So God also sent an angel to some shepherds in the field. We should note here that angels are neither meek nor mild. According to the prophet Isaiah, when angels show up, they are fiery, thundering creatures that cause earthquakes and smoke wherever they go. As Luke tells it, not only did such an angel appear to the shepherds, the glory of God - God’s very presence - was there, too. We mortals are not usually granted such a spectacular view. And then the angel, who knew the importance of speaking Elizabethan English in such a moment, declared “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” And suddenly, a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” It was impossible to miss such a joyous, thundering chorus of love.

That my friends, is the essence of Christmas. God so loved the world that God became one of us in order to draw us back into our love story with God. The baby born at Christmas grew into our messiah, teaching us how to live good lives, healing people in body and soul wherever he went, and proclaiming the Kingdom of God in our midst. Jesus’ love for humanity was limitless, selfless, and holy. Out of love he went all the way to the cross. And even from there, when our hard-headed ways seemed to be winning, God’s love for us never wavered. God’s next sign of love came three days later, in an empty tomb and a risen Lord speaking peace to his disciples. You have to hand it to God, arguably the greatest giver of signs of all time.

On this holy night, may we all be drawn back into God’s love story. May you see that God has been throwing tiny rocks at your window all along. But if you happen to feel less than worthy of God’s gestures, or not sure how you feel in return, or if you worry that we humans will always mess things up and wander too far away, God is not phased by any of that. The elaborate sign of love from the fiery, thundering angel is clear tonight, and impossible to miss. “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”