For to us [For to the world]
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Greetings to you from our Mighty God and Everlasting Father.
Greetings to you in the name of the Son – born and given to us.
Greetings to you on this night so silent and holy – this Christmas Eve.
Tonight we gather together in the darkness of night in an old building at the end of a largely vacant and empty street, seated beside and between friends and family, familiar faces surround us, filling a room that is unfamiliar yet wonderful and new.
Tonight we assemble, we worship for the first time in our new Sanctuary – a sacred space we have created and set apart for the sharing of songs, for the retelling of the soul-shaping stories of our faith, and for experiencing the living Word of God.
Tonight we recall the past, the histories and traditions and encounters that have formed us corporately and individually with an eye to the ways in which we have been prepared for God’s ongoing work in the World.
Tonight we remember and reclaim the story of our Savior’s birth and announce the arrival of a Word both Holy and Good to a World cloaked in the darkness of eternal night.
It is that story that brings us in as a worshipping assembly.
It is that story that propels us out into the streets, the Klang Valley, and all of creation. . .
This, then, is the Good News of Christmas Eve - not just that Christ was born, but that He is born, again and again, in our midst.
It is to this Good News that we, as a people of the book and the Body of Christ, must respond by bearing the Living Word into the World.
Tonight we proclaim, ‘He is here!’ “The Word has become flesh. The Word has made his dwelling among us. And we have seen his Glory!’
His coming is a time for celebration and joy indeed, as He fulfills the promises we have been clinging to over the Advent Season and all the darkened days of our lives. Over four long weeks, we reflected on ourselves to be a people in waiting, longing for our Lord’s promised arrival. Now He is here:
As some of you will remember, at a family gathering here in PJ we lit a candle for hope. In their presence I shared the story of a woman in Tanzania, at 103 and widowed she is nearly blind and utterly alone. Into this unexpected place, a mudbrick home of her own making, Jesus comes. Through the compassionate outreach of the Church, she is visited regularly, prayed with, and finds the courage to see the way ahead of her with the clear eyes of faith.
Tonight she celebrates the birth of the Wonderful Counselor that the prophet Isaiah has promised.
For to her a son is given.
For to her a child is born.
In the privacy of my own devotions I lit a candle for peace. I thought of a young man in New Britain, Connecticut - now a member of the church youth group. Coming from a fractured home, marred by neglect, gang violence, and drug abuse in his family, he entered the Church seeking asylum from the streets and found in it the Word, a new identity and a new life in Christ.
Tonight he rests calmly beside the newborn Prince of Peace.
For to him, a son is given.
For to him, a child is born.
Two weeks ago, among those assembled for worship, we lit a candle for joy. In the tropical heat we ruminated on images of cold and ice and longing. We spoke of being individuals and communities imprisoned, in chains, and in need of release. We remembered being Bound. Together. In Christ. with our brothers and sisters in the Cameron Highlands and all around the world. As prayed that we become a people through whom Jesus comes by our consoling and being consoled by one another.
Tonight we let out a loud shout at the arrival of our Savior, our Mighty God, who has come, who does come, and who has promised to come again.
For to us a son is given.
For to us a child is born.
Just a few days ago we lit a candle for love. Pastor Thomas reminded us that we are bound by more than doctrines and creeds, that the strong ties of this faith-family have been forged by love . . . a love that we shared through smile and song as we caroled from house to house this week. . . a love demonstrated by all of the volunteers who have been scrubbing and polishing and tuning and preparing this new space for worship . . . a love evident in your eyes this evening as we proclaim Jesus’ arrival.
Tonight we stand in silent and holy awe at the unconditional love emanating from our Everlasting Father who offers his Son so that all who believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For to the world a son is given.
For to the world a child is born.
It is this constant birthing of Christ into the World that we celebrate this and every Christmas. It is in announcing the arrival of the Word into the World that we as Christians find our primary vocation.
Tonight we remember Jesus’ nativity in Bethlehem. [Alleulia!]
Tonight we declare Christ’s arrival in this Sanctuary. [Alleluia!]
Tonight a great light shines in the darkness of SS4C. [Alleluia!]
Soon we will be lighting candles.
Soon we will be joining our voices in songs of joy.
Soon we will be filling this space with light and warmth and life.
And therein lies our next challenge.
For if our candles are extinguished as we walk out the door,
If our voices fall silent as we depart,
If we keep this light and warmth and life to ourselves,
All of this will be for naught.
Tonight we celebrate, and this is both right and good.
But it must not stop here.
Tonight the Son of God has come to earth, here in our midst, the Word made flesh in the person of Jesus and found presently in his body the Church.
Let us burst forth through those glass doors like a choir of angels. Let our joy bubble up on the patio and spill over the slate gray steps and out into the streets, ushering in a flood of life that revives and transforms this place.
Let our light shine so bright that it reflects off of the silver letters that will spell Luther House and make our freshly whitewashed exterior a beacon of true hope, of true peace, of true joy and of true love along a row of darkened shoplots.
Let us go out . . .
For to us, and to the world, tonight, a son is given.
For to us all, a child is born again and again and again and again
Let us respond by singing, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia and Amen.
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