Christmas Eve by Rev. Gabrielle Martone at Pearl River United Methodist Church on Tuesday 24 December 2019 // 7:30PM
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Luke 2:8-16 NRSV
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.
Christmas for us is a multitude of things, right? For the adults sitting in this room, it's often a time of stress. How many of you have felt stressed out this week? It's often a time of stretching yourself a little thin, both in your social commitments and in your finances. Anyone look at your credit card bill and go, "Oh." You kind of wonder and question about what the holidays will be like. Is it enough? Will my kids be happy? Will they remember this? Did I get them all of the things that they wanted? Sometimes Christmas is rift with stressors in our extended family and in our immediate family. Sometimes we don't want to be around our people because it's hard, but Christmas for us as Christians is about the joy, not the happiness, but the joy that comes from deep within us. It is the joy about kids getting excited about glowsticks and the joy of being able to laugh off baby Jesus falling out of the manger and landing on the front step. It happens. Christmas is about remembering that it's not about being happy, which comes to us from external sources, but joy that radiates from the center of who we are. Because no matter what happens in this lifetime or the next Christmas tells us, God is with us today and every day. Amen.
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