Discover the Liberating Christ: A Faith That Questions

Merry Christmas! As we come together on this second day of Christmas, it seems appropriate to remember that the Christmas season begins on Christmas day and continues for twelve days to end just before Epiphany. And so we continue to celebrate the gift of Christmas today.

Over the last few weeks, we have heard stories anticipating Jesus coming into the world. We have heard the visions of the prophets, and we have heard the stories of the angels appearing to Zechariah and Mary. We have heard the stories about John, the forerunner along the way. And we have been told about the shepherds who were tending their flocks when the angels appeared to announce Jesus’ birth. Now on this first Sunday after Christmas, we find a scene of Jesus as a youth (see Luke 2:41-52; cf. 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26).

One of the reasons I like this first Sunday after Christmas is because it is a reminder that Jesus, God in the flesh, lived a real life here on earth. So often, we read stories of the baby at Christmas and then jump right to full-grown Jesus starting his ministry in the world. We forget sometimes that Jesus lived a life in between.

Discover the Liberating Christ: Revolutionary Good News

Today we celebrate the Revolutionary Good News that is the birth of Jesus and the messengers who make God's presence known in the world. Foretold in the prophets and shared in the Gospels, the story came to those most in need of Good News (see Isaiah 9:2-7 and Luke 2:1-20). But why was this story such good news to those who heard it, and how does it remain good news to us today?

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“Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you…”

We have all heard this story. Many of us could likely recite the words by heart much as Linus does in ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas.’ The angel appears to the shepherds watching over the flocks at night, announcing the gift that is Jesus come into the world. 

I know it can be difficult for those of us so steeped in these stories to consider how the angel’s words would have been received. What is so revolutionary about the Good News that the angel proclaims? What made this news so compelling to those who heard it?

What Gift Can We Bring: The Gift of Faith

The First Sunday of Christmas is one of my favorite Sundays of the church year. Like the conversation about prayer in the movie, Talladega Nights, the gospel reading on the First Sunday of Christmas serves as a reminder that Jesus didn't just jump from the manger to his baptism. Along the way, Jesus grew up, experiencing a fully human life along the way.

This year, Luke 2:22-40 gives us a glimpse of what Jesus experienced in childhood as we consider our faith and the faithfulness of God.

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Merry Christmas, everyone! Though Christmas day has come and gone, we still have some time to celebrate. In fact, there are twelve days in the season of Christmas, just like in the song, twelve days to intentionally celebrate the gift of God to the world.

The First Sunday of Christmas is one of my favorite Sundays. Unlike Christmas Day where we focus specifically on the stories of Jesus’ birth, the First Sunday of Christmas often has a story set sometime between his birth and the start of his ministry at his baptism by John. For me, this makes the stories we read on this Sunday even more important in some ways than the stories of Jesus’ birth. 

What Gift Can We Bring: The Gift of Grace

At Christmas, we celebrate God's grace made known to us through the person of Jesus. Rather than give up on us as we have done so often to God and others, God comes into the world to be with us. God comes into the world to show us what love means. God comes into the world offering us freedom and salvation.

This Christmas, I draw on the stories about God's grace entering the world as found in Luke and John (see Luke 2:1-20 and John 1:1-17).

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“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light” (John 1:5, CEB).

At times we all sit in darkness. Sometimes it is a physical darkness. Sometimes it is a metaphorical darkness.

We struggle with the darkness of depression, of fear, of the unknown. We struggle with the physical darkness of the season. We struggle with the darkness of social and political unrest and uncertainty. We struggle with the darkness of doubt.

What Gift Can We Bring: Grace

As we arrive at Christmas we come to the reason for the season and the reason for the series I have been writing the last few weeks. Jesus is the gift that God has given us that inspires us to gift others in return. Here on Christmas, we reflect on the birth of Jesus, God's gift of grace to the world, as found in the gospel of Luke (see Luke 2:1-20).

And so we gather in the stillness of the night to celebrate God coming into the world. We gather at the darkest time of the year to celebrate God's faithfulness to us. We gather to celebrate the light coming into the world, the birth of Emmanuel, God with us.

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“Do not be afraid.”

As is often the case when we are addressed by the divine, God’s messengers greet the shepherds with the admonition to not be fearful. Here in the first two chapters of the gospel of Luke, we get this a lot.