Lessons and Carols

2018

What an incredible story! Yes, we have all just heard an incredible story unfold before us. Many thousands of years ago, the Lord God promised his people a Savior. And he delivered on his words in his own time- more than a thousand years from the time of that promise. But he did it, he delivered. He sent His only son to become one of us and show us the way. We call it the Incarnation.
And the Incarnation is what is truly unique about Christianity. You see, the Son of God became intimate with our human nature- He was born like one of us; and he lived as one of us, worked as one of us, suffered like one of us, and died like one of us. But then, he rose from the dead, showed himself to over 500 people and promised all of us the same resurrected life forever with him if we follow after him.
And so, we have testimonies- eye witness testimonies- and the Gospels that tell and validate that story, incredible as it may seem. Our God is not some distant, transcendent God who we cannot approach; rather, our God has elected to become one of us, and yet maintain his divinity in some mysterious way that we are incapable of understanding. But he did it, and the proof is in the story we have just heard.
We should be absolutely exuberant, bursting with joy, and tremendously thankful for all of that. Because the real meaning of life has been laid out before us- everlasting life with our creator, with Jesus Christ and his Father.
And indeed, that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is all about Christ. Because of Christ, we have been saved, and we have been shown the way.
Now two thousand years have passed since the events in the nativity story. The secular world, led by the powers of darkness, first introduced doubt, skepticism, and erroneous teaching to try to derail the truth about Christ and the joy that it brings. And so we have all these splinter religions- like those who believe Jesus is divine but not human; and those who believe he was human but not divine; and those who warped his teaching about our great sacrament of the Eucharist, which Jesus left us to maintain his presence with us for all time. Many of their followers are well meaning but misguided folk who hunger for but are ignorant of the whole truth.
The division among the people of God is sad indeed. It is our duty to help them with the truth by displaying our faith and knowledge of the truth.
And yet, even sadder are the later attacks on Christianity- attacks by a secular society. Many in our modern society don’t believe in God at all; or if they do, they believe that any belief in a God is as valid as any other belief. Yes, our Christian roots are being undermined by secular society’s politically correct morphing of Christmas into the Holiday Season. The forces of darkness are hell bent on making the “Spirit of Christmas” something other then what Christmas is all about. I am here to tell you that our Trees and decorations and gifts and cards, and everything else we do this time of the year, are all about Christmas, and the joy that the Incarnation brings. They are not about the “Holiday” season.
Now don’t get me wrong. God bless those folks who want to celebrate Hanukah or Kwanza, or some other “Holiday” at this time of the year every year. That’s their choice; but realistically, they are a minority riding the coattails of Western societies roots in the Christian feast of Christmas.
We Christians celebrate what Christmas is really all about- that is, to relive the joy over what Christ’s coming into the world 2000 years ago brought us. When we give each other gifts, we do so because we realize that Christ gave freely, unselfishly to all of us. And our gift is a memorial of the gift of everlasting life that Christ has brought us. Our fleeting happiness over the gifts we receive is symbolic of the joy that we should all realize about our prospect for the gift of everlasting life in heaven that Jesus gave us. It will bring Joy that will last forever and ever. And not only that, it is our duty and obligation to infect the rest of society with our Christian joy. We are here to evangelize secular society by proclaiming the truth of Christmas.
I hope that all of you enjoyed the wonderful music and spiritual lessons we presented tonight. If you did, join me in proclaiming the Christian message to the world because the Christmas season lasts from Christmas until the Baptism of the Lord on January 9th.So enjoy the Epiphany this weekend, which commemorates the visit by the Three Magi on January 6th.
Yes, we are still in the Christmas Season. Merry Christmas to all!