DECEMBER 24th, 2025 Christmas Eve PASTOR DON PIEPER
A GOSPEL OF GRACE Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7 / Luke 2:1-20
“IT'S WORTH PONDERING!”
Poor Mary – she’s had quite the go of it. There she was, going about her teenager business, when she’s interrupted by an alarming visit from the U.P.S. – the other UPS – the Universe’s Prenatal Service – with the shocking news that she, a virgin, is to be a mother. What’s more, she’s told that God is to be the father of the child by means of the Holy Spirit! Talk about having your life disrupted!
Then, several months into her pregnancy, she's forced to make the long exhausting trek to some back water little town on the back of a donkey. That had to be fun. But once there she and her fiancée can’t find any place to stay so they wind up in some guy’s barn. It's there, in this drafty, dungy stable, that Mary gives birth to a son. But before she can kick back and get some much needed shut-eye a bunch of smelly sheep herders show up hootin’ and a-hollerin’ about how an army of angels told them about her baby! And when they finally leave they make so much noise they wake up the whole town!
Who knows who's gonna show up now! Next thing you know, they’ll be a bunch of wise guys knocking at the door saying that they’ve followed a star! Could happen! And the last word on Mary for many chapters to come is that “She pondered all these things in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)
I bet she did! “What does it all mean?” she must've pondered. “Why me? Why is all this happening? How should I respond to all these changes in my life? Is there more to life than this...?”
And how about you? Do you ever ponder such questions yourself? A USA Today poll showed that in 1996 57 % of the population reflected on such questions that year, while only 12 % did this past year. I wonder what Calvin and Hobbes would have to say...
(Hobbes enters from the sacristy...)
Calvin: Oh, hey Hobbes! You know what I've learned? The Christmas season is a good time for personal reflection. This is a time to take stock and think about what’s really important.
Hobbes: Sounds about right. So what conclusions have you come up with, my young padawa?
Calvin: I’ve decided that it's time to rededicate myself to the frenzied acquisition of more stuff! This is the time to focus more on me and glorify personal excess of every kind!
Hobbes: It boggles the mind how you're capable of such deep introspection.
Calvin: I know, right? But don’t interrupt – I’m busy reflecting here! (Hobbes sighs & exits)
Calvin’s musings bring up a compelling question: what does the way you spend your time and invest your money imply about what’s most important to you? 'Each of us, in our own way, are always in danger of filling the inner void with all kinds of substitutes...until something gives us a jolt.'
(from Phillip Yancey's Rumours of Another World)
Some times such a jolt hits not just one person, but an entire community/nation, as happened to all of us on September 11th, 2001. The jolt, in effect, exposed the shallowness of our entire society.
Professional sports grounded to a halt, TV sitcoms were canceled and commercials went off the air. In the words of Phillip Yancey, “That three thousand people could go to work and never come home made us all too aware of our fragile mortality, and for a time attendance at churches swelled. The shock conveyed meaning and absurdity in such stark terms that we sought answers from the one who once warned us not to build our house and lives, much less our skyscrapers, on shifting sand.”
(from Phillip Yancey's Rumours of Another World) -2-
'For a brief shining moment', in the words of King Arthur, we awakened to the reality that we'd been filling our lives with weak substitutes. It stirred within us deep longings for something more - more than what our sports dominated, sex saturated culture, is selling us and we’ve been buying.
British novelist, David Lodge, was sitting in a theatre along with hundreds of patrons watching his new play. The audience chuckled as a character on stage showed up for a job interview with a radio clutched to his ear. He set down the radio and tuned into a live station, letting its news & commercials play in the background, as the play continued. Suddenly a voice came on the radio with an urgent live news bulletin: “Today, the American President, John F. Kennedy was assassinated…”
The audience gasped as the actor quickly switched off the radio, but it was too late. In one sentence, the reality of the outside world had shattered the artificial world of the play. Suddenly whatever action took place on stage seemed superficial and irrelevant.
Like those in the theater that night we get mesmerized by a reality so engaging, so enticing, that we can forget that there is more life than this. The danger before us is that we may feel utterly at home with life as we can see it, oblivious and unaware to the unseen world that exists along side of it, a world in which God seeks to enter in and engage us in ways that can be both subtle and unobtrusive – such as in the birth of a child – a child born to fulfill ancient promises. “A savior has been born in the city of David – and you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby...lying in a manger.” It is this 'other world' that Luke writes to alert us to, awaken us to, that we may at last recognize the signs!
(Luke 2:11-12)
Some in our secular culture are saying that Luke's nativity account is just a nice story, but Luke tells us these events occurred when Octavian ruled over the Roman empire under the name of Caesar Augustus, a name he claimed to suggest to all of his subjects that he was a god. No ego problems there! Octavian wanted to make sure that everyone living within the empire were being taxed, in order to fund his legions. Historical Roman documents reveal that this first census occurred just as Luke here claims: “This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.” (Luke 2:2)
Why does Luke mention this Quirinius fellow? Two reasons: First, because the Roman gover-nors were the ones in charge of regulating the census; and second, because this Quirinius dude only served for 3-4 years. That provides a short and concise window in the long rule of Caesar Augustus for these events to take place. Luke's pinpointed Jesus' birth in history in a way that anyone could verify...
Luke's placing Jesus birth in it's historical framework, especially connecting it with the ruler of the world's most powerful nation at the time, provides the big picture. In this way, Luke reveals how the events he conveys in chapter two are how reality one day disrupted the artificial play in progress.
News commentator, Larry King was once asked a probing question: “If you could select any one person across all of history to interview, who would it be?” Without hesitation King responded, “Jesus Christ”. And what would Larry King, a skeptical, non-practicing Jew, ask Jesus? “I would like to ask him if he was indeed virgin born. The answer to that question would define history for me.”
Larry King settled on the Virgin birth as the hinge of history because Jesus’ birth represents the ultimate example of the unseen world impinging on the visible. It would redefine history. If God did indeed enter this world through the supernatural birth of His own son it would alter our world view and what brings life meaning. We’d become central characters in a drama that is still unfolding and how we respond to God’s offer to connect with us through that son would have eternal significance.
-3-
The film, Grand Canyon, explores the meaning of life, suggesting at times that everything that happens is by chance, but that we should make the most of such chances. In a closing scene in the film a Hollywood writer shares with a friend his take on things.
“You know what I've learned? I've learned that all of life’s riddles are answered in movies. Consider the film, 'Gulliver's Travels' It’s a story about a man who loses his way. He forgets what he was set on earth to do. Fortunately he finds his way back. That can happen, Mack. Check it out.”
(from the film, Grand Canyon)
Jesus came on a rescue mission to stir us from our complacency and to let us know that as long as air fills our lungs and blood pulses through our heart it’s not too late to find our way back. That's why God's celestrial messengers announced that “The Savior has been born today...!” (Luke 2:11)
What's more, Luke informs us that He didn't arrive in a palace, as the magi expected, but in a stable. He hung out, not with those who thought they had it all figured out, but with those who knew they didn’t, desperate for something more than what they’d settled for. He came that there might be peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased - a peace that comes, not because our circumstances are peaceful but because, like the shepherds, we've come to embrace God's son as Lord and Savior!
He came to provide our lives a sense of purpose and direction not unlike God did when he directed the shepherds to the manger and to 'a great joy that will be for all the people'. The shepherds realized it wasn't just about them and so “they told everyone the story”. Jesus lives among us even still thru presence of the Holy Spirit that we, too, might find our way back. It can happen! Check it out!
(Luke 2:10, 17)
Jennifer did. She came to Alpha because she sensed something was missing in her life. “When I first showed up I realized how lost and disconnected I'd become, particularly in my relationship with God, but now all that has changed. For the first time I have peace in my heart. Today is a new begin-ning, a new journey, a new walk and a stronger relationship with God. This is where I was meant to be – to share the love and excitement and be part of this open armed, come as you are family of faith.”
Is there more to life than living 9 to 5? Come and see! Come as you are and join others seeking connection, exploring the meaning to our lives, asking and pondering questions like, “Why me? Why is this happening? Is there more to life than this?” The Alpha course is a wonderful opportunity to do just that – to ponder such mysteries in your heart, just as Mary did that first Christmas night. The next course begins on Monday evening with dinner and a short engaging video, starting at 6 pm, Jan 12th.
This is a good time to ask good questions, questions like those posed in the beloved carol 'What child is this on Mary's lap is sleeping – whom angels greet while shepherds watch are keeping? Why lies he in such a mean, humble state where barn animals are feeding?' Why does his birth so far away, so long ago, change everything? How does his birth reveal there's more to life...?
God has shown you just how much you matter! “For to you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!” (Luke 2:11) You matter, not because of what you can do, or have done, but because of what God has done, and promises to do, for and through you!
“Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to all whom God is pleased!” (Luke 2:14) God has interupted our life's regularly scheduled program to reveal just how much you, how much we, truly matter to him. It can happen – it did! “There's more to life than meets the eye!” Come and see!