Then, Now and Always
Then, Now and Always by Rev. L. John Gable
December 24, 2022 Christmas Eve
It is 8:33 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and whether we are big or small, old or young, the day we have been waiting for is soon upon us. I wonder with you though, as we come to this hour, does it mean that Christmas is nearly over, or that it is just beginning? Does Christmas Eve mark the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end of our Christmas celebration?
There is always a great deal of anticipation and expectation around the Christmas season, and so it should be, particularly for us, as Christians. The whole season of Advent is one of preparation and expectation for the coming of our Lord, into our world and into our lives. But even those among us who miss the spiritual meaning of this season still feel the build up to Christmas day. The stores have been prepping us since Halloween. College students have been looking forward to finishing finals and getting home for a break. Families have been making preparations for being together, to coming home or going home, and friends to hearing from those they haven’t seen or heard from all year, or maybe for many years. There is a flurry of activity in nearly every household: shopping, cooking, wrapping and cleaning, all making ready for the Christmas celebration.
But there are still others among us who look forward to Christmas coming simply so that they can get past it. Those who feel too much stress and strain from the holidays; those whose families don’t enjoy the intimate and extended times together; those who are facing this season, perhaps for the first time, without a loved one or a special place to go. They, too, are looking forward to Christmas coming simply so that they can get past it and move on.
It is a curious thing about Christmas. We can look forward to it and anticipate it and prepare for it, for months, or weeks, or days (depending on how much of a procrastinator you are), and then suddenly it is over. Gifts that take so long to find and wrap, are opened in mere seconds. Meals that take hours to plan and prepare, are consumed in mere minutes. Family and friends we wait for so long to see seem to leave as quickly as they come, and suddenly the house is quiet again. Maybe that is good, maybe not. My mother always says to her kids and grandkids, “I love to see you come and I love to see you go.”
Now that Christmas is here, we know from experience that soon it will be over, then what? Does this night mark for you the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning of Christmas?
In various ways during this season of Advent we have looked together at the testimony of Scripture. Centuries before the birth of our Lord, the Prophets spoke clearly of His coming, “Look, a virgin is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name Him Immanuel.” (Is. 7:14) “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them the light has shined. For a child has been born to us, a son is given” (Is 9:1-2,6). “But to you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient of days” (Micah 5:2).
For centuries, people of faith waited and watched and prayed for the coming of the promised Messiah. Then “in the fullness of time”, this child was born and we know the story of Mary and Joseph, of angel visitations and choruses, of mangers and shepherds and magi and a star. Centuries of hopeful waiting, watching and praying led to the manger in Bethlehem and the birth of the Christ child. But did this long-expected, much anticipated Holy Birth mark the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end? The angels returned to heaven and the shepherds to their sheep, the Magi presented their gifts then went back home, and that first Christmas was over. After centuries of waiting, then what? Peter Marshall once said, “Nothing is over quite like Christmas when it is over.”
Is that all Christmas was for them then, or is for us now, a great build up for a single day, a special event, that then suddenly ends like any other day? Just another day, wedged between all the others that we simply clean up after and then start the timer again in preparation for next year, same time, same place, same station?
No, that is not what Christmas was for them then, nor what it should be for us now. Our celebration this evening is not the beginning of the end, it is the end of the beginning. Christmas begins again tomorrow, just as it began long ago in a humble cattle stall in Bethlehem. This day, this birth, marks a new beginning.
Theologian Karl Heim gives us a helpful image that in the coming of Christ the lightning has flashed, but the thunder of God’s final victory is yet to sound. We know that lightning and thunder form one event. Advent reminds us to look back with faith to the coming of Christ at Bethlehem and then to look forward with hope to the final victory of Christ in the future. While these two events seem so different and distinct to us, in the economy of God they are but one event. Christ has come and Christ will come again. And in the meantime, between those two great events, we become part of the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom in to our world and into our lives.
Consider again our two Scripture lessons for this evening, the birth narrative from Matthew 1 at the opening of his Gospel and then the Great Commission of our Lord at its conclusion. In the first we hear of God’s coming to be with us, then in His ascension, we hear of His promise never to leave us. By the ministry and indwelling of His Holy Spirit into all who receive Him by faith He promises, “Remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.” Christ is with us, then, now and always, so regardless of how we view our celebrations, Christmas is only a day if we make it a day. It is only over if we let it end.
The angel announcement to Mary was that this Child born in Bethlehem would be called “Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’” The Christmas story announces that GOD IS WITH US, not just for a moment in time or a span of years, not simply for one day a year, or one hour a week. The promise of Christmas is that God is with us, then, now and always.
I told a story several years that I can’t quite get out of my mind so I believe it bears repeating. It is the story of two American teachers who, in 1994, were invited by the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics based on Biblical principles, in schools and prisons and businesses, as well as at a large orphanage, where over 100 abandoned and abused children were left in the care of a government run program. They tell of their experience in their own words.
“It was nearing the holiday season, so we told them the traditional Christmas story and they were hearing it for the very first time. We told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem, and finding no room in the inn, and how they went to a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger. The children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened to the story. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word.
When we finished the story, we gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each was then given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins, which they carefully tore into strips and laid in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from an old nightgown, were used for the baby’s blanket. And finally, we gave each of them a little doll-like baby cut from tan felt that we had brought from home.”
One of the teachers continues the story, “The orphans were busy assembling their manger as I walked among them to see if they needed any help. All went well until I got to one table where little Misha sat. He looked to be about 6 years old and had finished his project. As I looked at what the little boy had made, I was startled to see, not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly I called for a translator to ask the boy why there were two babies instead of one.
“Crossing his arms and looking very serious, little Misha began to repeat the Christmas story, word for word, just as he had heard it, until he came to the part where Mary placed the baby Jesus in the manger. Then Misha started to ad-lib. He said, “When Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked if I had a place to stay. I told Him I had no mamma and no poppa, so I don’t have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with Him. But I told Him I couldn’t stay because I didn’t have a gift to give Him like everyone else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, I thought about what I had that I could give him as a gift. I thought, ‘Maybe if I keep Him warm, that would be a good gift.’ So I asked Jesus, ‘If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?’ And Jesus told me, ‘If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.’ So I got into the manger with Him. Then Jesus looked at me and told me I could stay with Him, for always.”
As little Misha finished his story, his eyes filled with tears and he put his hands over his face. He had finally found Someone who would never abandon or abuse him. He had finally found Someone who would stay with him, for always.”
Friends, this is the message of Christmas. God’s promise through the ages was fulfilled on that first Christmas day. The One for whom people of faith had been waiting and watching and praying had finally come. But His birth was not the end of the story; it was just the beginning and we are living in it still. The message of Christmas is this: that GOD IS WITH US, not just for a time, or a season, much less a day; not just for then, or even just for now, but for always. And that is the best Good News we will ever hear.
Rev. L. John Gable
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
Indianapolis, IN