CHRISTMAS DAY

Today we celebrate Christmas Day--the incarnation of God's Son for the salvation of the world.  While the Christmas Eve lections highlight the immanence and historicity of our Messiah's birth, the Christmas Day Scriptures seem to focus on the transcendence and the theology of the incarnation.   Instead of swaddling clothes and praising shepherds we find the gospel passage exploring into the theological texture of the incarnation: "The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him" (John 1:9-10).

Sermons:

• Reflecting the Light                             (see below)
  John 1:1-14 for Christmas Day
  Rev. Brian K Eiss

• Reflections of Light, John 1:1-18; 8:12
  Rev. Randy L. Quinn
   

• Can You See the Light?
  Christmas homily based on John 1:1-14, by Rev. F. Schaefer
   

• The Mystery of the Word made Flesh, John 1: 1-18
  A Christmas Homily, by Rev. Frank Schaefer
   

• God has Pitched a Tent, John 1: 1-18, by Rev. John Nadasi
   

• When Christmas Doesn't Mean Much, John 1: 1-18, by El Jefe
   

• Telling the Christmas Story, John 1: 1-18, by DP in DL
   

• His Light Dispels All Darkness, John 1: 1-18, by Gary Roth
   

• A Light To Lighten Our Darkness, John 1: 1-18, by Gary Roth,
   

• Only a Word?, John 1: 1-18, by Kurt Hansen, John 1:1-14

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Reflecting the Light
a sermon based on John 1:1-14 for Christmas Day
Rev. Brian K Eiss

Good morning, welcome, and Merry Christmas. It is not often that we have the opportunity to celebrate Christmas Day and a Sunday morning at the same time. We have spent a great deal of time preparing for today - cookies, wrapping gifts, decorating. Together we hope that the world has spent a little time preparing within for the coming of the Light of Christ into our hearts. We begin today with a story.

Two cars were waiting at a stoplight. The light turned green, but the man didn't notice it. A woman in the car behind him is watching traffic pass around them. The woman begins pounding on her steering wheel and yelling at the man to move. The man doesn't move. The woman is going ballistic inside her car, ranting and raving at the man, pounding on her steering wheel and dash.

The light turns yellow and the woman begins to blow the car horn, and screams some choice words at the man. The man, looks up, sees the yellow light and accelerates through the intersection just as the light turns red.

The woman is beside herself, screaming as she misses her chance to get through the intersection. As she is still in mid-rant she hears a tap on her window and looks up into the barrel of a gun held by a very serious-looking policeman. The policeman tells her to shut off her car while keeping both hands in sight. She complies, speechless at what is happening. After she shuts off the engine, the policeman orders her to exit her car with her hands up. She gets out of the car and he orders her to turn and place her hands on her car, then handcuffs her and takes her to the police station where she is fingerprinted, photographed, searched, booked, and placed in a cell.

After a couple of hours, she is let out of the cell and escorted back to the booking desk where the original officer is waiting with her personal effects. He says, "I'm really sorry for this mistake. But, you see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do?' bumper sticker, the 'Follow Me to Sunday School' bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally I assumed you had stolen the car from a real Christian."

That story runs the risk of making us think that we are not allowed to fall short or give in from time to time, but what it does show is that light is important. Go all the way back to the beginning of that illustration and it all begins with not noticing the light, the traffic signal that gives us direction. We lit the tree las night on Christmas Eve because the light has come and wants to give us direction. We lit the candles on the ends of each pew last night because the light has come and wants to give us direction. We lit the Christ Candle in the center of the Advent wreath last night because the light has come and wants to give us direction. Light gives us the ability to see, function, and take care of our daily tasks. Rainy gray days have a profound effect on our mood making us feel sluggish and bland. Bright sunny days give us a pop and jump to our step.

A few months ago I was called to perform a funeral service for a members father and I set up a time to meet with the family and plan the service. While we were choosing the readings, the daughter said something to me that I will never forget. She said, "we have to read psalm 23 and not because it is always read at a funeral, but because I am in the shadow of death only because the light of Christ is shining." I pondered her statement for a moment, then smiled at the revelation that she laid before me. The only reason that there is a shadow of death is because the light of Christ is shining causing the shadow. A simple step in either direction places us back into the glorious light of God.

John Ruskin lived in the days when English villages were lighted by lamps along the street. One evening, he watched with a friend as a lamplighter moved slowly on a distant hill, lighting the lamps along the street. Ruskin said, "There is what I mean by being a real Christian. You can trace his course by the lights that he leaves burning." It is our job to keep the lights burning. [1]

Today we celebrate the light from the star, the light from the manger, the light that John reminds us to pay attention to. "He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a [continue]