The sermon for December 24 was based on Luke 2:1-14.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

During the hour or so that we will spend here celebrating the birth of our Lord 147 unborn babies will be intentionally put to death. During the same hour 18 Americans will die by accident and 8 elderly Britons will pass away in spite of their socialized medical care. A world this out of whack needs the Law. It needs to be reigned in and brought under control, which is where our story begins.

Caesar Augustus meant to get his empire under control. He was going to query, quantify and compel his subjects to be good citizens. He was going to rule them in the great and noble tradition of the Roman Empire. It worked too. He issued a decree backed with the full force of his legions and executioners and lo and behold people left their homes, trekked across the open countryside and let themselves be counted like so many cattle. Even Jesus, Himself, finds Himself being hauled across the country in order to be, well, put in order.

We shouldn't be surprised though. Why should Caesar Augustus be any different than ourselves? We appeal to the power of the Law all the time. We shame and scold and hurt one another in our endless attempts to bend our neighbors to our will. We sue one another at the drop of a hat. We trick and force and manipulate our fellow men in hundreds of different ways to make them do what we want. Husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, friends and co-workers, we're little emperors trying to make the world a saner place to live.

Maybe tonight you, like the promised Messiah, feel the weight of the government upon your shoulders. Possibly, with your families gathered around you for the holidays, you feel the pressure of all those people. Or do you feel the compulsion to make this one "the very best Christmas ever"? The demands of the Law are manifold and meddlesome. Some of the chains that bind us are real, like the 10 Commandments. Some of the chains are negotiable, like the laws of the state. Some of the chains are imaginary such as our own expectations or unchallenged ideas. All of these chains hurt us though and they all expose to the accusation of our enemies.

Each of us gathered here tonight feels in his or her own way the sharp accusation of the Law. Maybe we talk about troubles with our friends the way the citizens of Bethlehem might have done as they went about their business or settled in at the end of another hectic day. Maybe we keep our pain to ourselves the way we might imagine the shepherds sitting out in the fields to have done. Either way, the angelic message of Christmas Eve as it turns to Christmas Day is for us. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

The Gospel is very different from the Law. Where Augustus decrees the Angels declare. Rather than summon us to Himself God comes to us. Rather than moving us around His dominion like so many chess pieces, God offers us peace. Rather than take our wealth and name He gives us His own. By living and dying on our behalf Jesus reconciles us to the Father making us heirs of heaven and Sons of God. In the Body and Blood of the baby Jesus we find the forgiveness of our sins and the much longed for peace with God.

Where the angry and bitter accusations of the Law breed resentment and maybe a kind of grudging compliance, the Gospel inspires love and gives strength. If you want the world to change for the better let the change begin with you. Quit using the Law on other people. Stop blaming your fellow men for being sinners. Stop holding their frailty against them. Quit trying to make people pay for their offenses. Quit trying to make people the way you think they should be. God doesn't care what you think and half or more of the sins that offend you aren't even real sins. They're just behaviors that don't mesh with your personal idea of how things should be. If in your heart tonight you are angry with your neighbor for not being what you want them to be let it go. Consider the tremendous goodwill God has shown you. Consider how you must look to God, consider how little you deserve even the difficult life you have now, let alone the life of splendor that awaits you. Maybe you are your own worst enemy and you harbor most of your hostility against yourself. Let it go.

Christ comes to us tonight amid the murmurs of our guilty consciences and offended sensibilities with the radiant warmth of a newborn baby, the incarnate goodwill of God and the promise that from this moment forth we need never be the same old Law laden drudges we've been. I will carry your sins He says in a quiet and friendly voice. I will carry the sins of those who have hurt you too. You don't have to punish them. I'm not even going to punish them and they've hurt me much more severely than they've hurt you. All you need to do is let the light shine on you, bask in the warmth of my company and be inspired by my overwhelming goodwill.
Amen.

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Last Updated: 7/15/2008