Luke 2:1-20

The angels’ message of peace

is a message for us tonight.

A sermon preached by

Rev. William O. (Bud) = Reeves

First United Methodist Church

Hot= Springs, Arkansas

December 24, 2007=

There was an unusual baby born in Palestine a few winters ago. This baby was a Palestinian Arab by birth. She was found abandone= d in a roadside heap of trash hear the West Bank town of Ramallah, one of the scenes of violence= in the war between Jews and Arabs. She was taken to a Palestinian hospital and saved by a group of Muslim doctors. She was named “Salaam,” which is Arabic for “peace.”

Salaam found a permane= nt home a few days after her birth in an orphanage run by Christian nuns in Bethlehem. But her health worsened. She was turning blue and losing weight. The Palestinian docto= rs determined that Salaam had a hole in her heart, and her lungs were not receiving enough circulation. Lacking the facilities to do surgery, the baby was taken to a hospit= al in Jerusalem. An Israeli surgeon operated on Sal= aam for free. The nuns in Bethlehem raised = nearly $11,000 to pay for hospital costs. Following the operation, Salaam made a full recovery.= = [1]

That winter, Arabs, Christians, and Jews crossed the boundaries of their hatred and conflict to unite in caring for a little child, whose name was “peace.” If that’s not a Christmas st= ory, I don’t know what is.

Maybe you have come he= re tonight hoping for the recovery of peace.&= nbsp; At Christmas time, and especially on this holy night, we have high h= opes for peace. We hope for politi= cal peace in our world. Like the = world that the Prince of Peace was born into, ours is a world torn by violence and conflict. For the sake of our soldiers, for the sake of their families, and for the sake of our world, we still pray for peace. Our Lord said, “Blessed are the peacem= akers.”

We have a hope for pea= ce in our relationships this Christmas. The illusion of holiday cheer and the images of warm, fuzzy family get-togethers make this a particularly difficult time for many people. Domestic violence and suicide esca= late during the holidays. Family conflict that simmers the rest of the year seems to boil over at Christmas. Folks who because = of bitterness and resentment over past problems don’t get together with their loved ones are lost in a heart-breaking loneliness. We just wish there could be peace = among us.

But most of all, deep = down, we have a hope this Christmas for spiritual peace. If we could just have an internal = peace in our hearts, then maybe we could deal with the external conflicts. If we just had some assurance that everything will turn out all right, then we could handle our problems. If we just knew who was really in charge, we could hang in there.

For anyone tonight who= hopes for peace—any kind of peace—I have a wonderful announcement: “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for a= ll the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is t= he Messiah, the Lord…. Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”[2]

We have a reason to celebrate tonight! We have heard the announcement of salvation. We know the possibility of peace. What is= it that gives us peace tonight? = What enables us to hear the song of the angels as they sing glory to God?

We have peace because = there is a God. That may seem to be stating the ob= vious, but it is not so obvious to many people.&n= bsp; The truth is, we have a heavenly Father who created us, who loves us, who redeems us from our sin and alienation. The birth in Bethlehem is proof that “God so loved the world that he gave hi= s only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”[3]

If there is a God, there is also a Savior. God loved the world so much, h= e did not send a committee. God did= not save us in general terms; he saved us in particular. He sent a Son, one tiny baby who g= rew into a man who lived and taught and healed and died to save us from our sins. His name, Jesus, means = “God saves.” His name, Emman= uel, means “God is with us.” His mission is to reconcile you and me to God, to restore our relationship, to renew and refresh the power of God that lies deep within us. Because we have Jesus, we= are never without hope. We can ha= ve peace about that.

We can have peace beca= use there is a plan. God is God; He sent his Son, and h= e has given us a way to enter into a relationship with him. For those of you who have been aro= und the last four weeks, this is what we have been talking about with the announcements of salvation. F= or those of you who are visiting tonight, let me recap the highlights. (This is a sneaky way of reminding= our regulars.)

To enter into a relati= onship with God for the first time, or to renew a relationship that has been idle,= we have to

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>1)     Repent of our sins. <= /span>Acknowledge before God= that we are not what we should be and that we are sorry for not being what we sh= ould be.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>2)     Trust in Christ for our salvation. This is also called accepting Jesus as your Lord or having faith in = him. Our relationship with God is based= on his grace in offering it to us and our faith in believing the promise God makes.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>3)     Then we receive forgiveness. The slate is clean; the past is gone. The mistakes and messes that have kept us away from God are blotted = out by God’s grace and mercy. We don’t have to pay the penalty for our evil before a holy God because Jesus paid it all for us on the cross.&nbs= p; Even as he was lying in the manger in Bethlehem, this was God’s plan fo= r his life, and he followed it perfe= ctly to the end.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>4)     This is how we find spiritual peace. We know Christ, and we are assured of abundant life now and eternal = life in heaven. The problems and p= ains of the world cannot take this away. Peace is the gift of Christ. It’s the gift of Christmas.

How do we know this? We know it because there is a sign. = The angel said to the shepherds, “= ;This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”[4] The announcement of salvation come= s down to a baby in a barn—not exactly the kind of spectacular sign you would expect from the God of the universe. But God delights in making the common uncommon, the ordinary extraordinary. That’s t= he significance of the sign. Whe= n Mary kissed her baby, her lips touched the face of God. When the shepherds looked into the manger and saw the infant struggling against the cloths that kept him warm, they knew somehow the struggle against sin had been won. God had come in the night to save = the day.

If you need a sign tonight, look around you. Hundreds of people will gather here tonight to celebrate this Gift. Thousands of people across this country, millions around the world w= ill sing “Silent Night” together in all different languages. After 2000 years, the story is sti= ll told and believed. How could it be= a lie?

Or eat this bread and drink this cup. Here is a sign of the continuing presence of the One who was born in Bethlehem. “This is a sign of the new covenant, the blood poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you eat this b= read or drink this cup,” Jesus said, “do it in remembrance of me.= 221;

We ca= n know the peace of God tonight because we participate in the story. The shepherds heard the announceme= nt of salvation, and they ran as fast as they could into Bethlehem and searched until they found= the baby in the stable. They told= Mary and Joseph what had happened, and then they let loose, “glorifying and praising God for all th= ey had heard and seen.”[5]

Probably the closest equivalent we have to she= pherds in contemporary Amer= ica are the homeless street people that populate every city. Like the shepherds of old, they are poor, despised, rejected, and suspected of immoral and criminal behavior. Not the sort of people you would e= xpect in church.

Several years ago, Michael Elliott was the pas= tor of the Jefferson Street Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Because of their location, this li= ttle church had a lot of contact with the street people. He wrote a book about his experien= ces called The Society of Salty Saints.= Rev. Elliott said that holidays are the worst time for the homeless. While everyone else is celebrating= with food and families and presents, the homeless just hang out until it’s= all over. Sometimes a church or a= civic group will serve a holiday meal, but as soon as the meal is over, the serve= rs go home to celebrate their good deeds, and the street people are back on the street, waiting, drinking, trying to pass a depressing day.

But one Christmas was different. The street people who hung around Michael Elliott’s church decided to get involved. Nobody else wanted to, so a few of= the guys volunteered to construct a manger for the annual Christmas Eve pageant sponsored by the church’s young people. By the time they had finished, over twenty uprooted, homeless individuals had helped with the project.

What they made was a simple wooden stable stai= ned a dark maple. Some of the lumber was bad, but th= at gave the three-sided structure a realistic look. The manger sat in the front of the pointed-roofed stable. It was= a simple V-shaped trough supported by four straight legs forming X’s.
Some of the men walked ten blocks to the stock= yards to get some hay. They returned dragging two huge boxes. The = smell of the barnyard was overpowering. Someone said, “That stinks!&#= 8221;

One of the men explained that they brought bac= k two kinds of hay: one was clean, and one was “not so clean.”

“Why in the world did you bring used hay?” somebody asked. T= he stone-faced reply was honest: “We didn’t know how realistic you wanted to make it.”

They scattered the clean hay around the stable, and one of the homeless men pulled= out a can of red spray paint and began to paint on the wall: “R. C. was here.” Some of the othe= r men, being proud of their work, complained that R. C. was ruining everything. R. C. explained that if Jesus were= born in a stable today, there would be graffiti on it. They couldn’t argue with tha= t, but they repainted over the graffiti anyway.

The finishing touch was the star that had been= cut out of cardboard and covered with aluminum foil. Standing on one another’s shoulders, they suspended the star from the ceiling of the sanctuary so tha= t it hung over the stable. Standing back, they put their arms around each other and admired their work.

When the young people performed the pageant a = few days later, for the first time, the street people in the neighborhood came = to the service. They sat right d= own front. They smiled and sang a= long when the carols were sung. Th= ey shut their eyes tightly when the prayers were said. They watched in wonder as the wear= y Mary and Joseph traveled to their ma= nger. They observed the birth of the baby Jesus and saw the shepherds come to worship and saw the Wise Men offer their gifts. They heard the angels = sing “Joy To the World.”

When it was over, the street people hung around. They didn’t wan= t to leave; they didn’t have anywhere to go. The pastor overheard their convers= ation:

“This sure has been a good Christmas, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, for a change, it sure has been. <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> I wonder why?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t w= ait ‘til next Christmas.”

“I know what you mean. I hate to see this one end.”= = = [6]

That, my friends, is the essence of the Christ= mas celebration, whether you live in a cardboard box under a bridge or in the finest house on the best street in town.&n= bsp; When the manger becomes your= manger, when the baby becomes your<= /i> baby, when you find your own ways of participating in the story—by building a stable or singing the carols or feeding the hungry or by just listening, really listening to the story in a fresh way—then you will find the true meaning and the true glory of Christmas.

Listen! The angels are singing for us tonight:= “To you is born this day in the = city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those w= hom He favors.”[7] This is the announcement of your salvation! Be at peace. Amen.