LUKE 2:15-20 | “ALL IS CALM, ALL IS BRIGHT”

“ALL IS CALM, ALL IS BRIGHT”

LUKE 2:15-20

CHRISTMAS EVE

JOHN BUCHANAN, PASTOR OF THE FOURTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, (YES FOURTH!) IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS REMINDED ME OF SOMETHING WE BOTH HAD READ SEVERAL YEARS AGO IN A BIBLE COMMENTARY ABOUT THIS NIGHT.

“CHRISTMAS EVE IS A CHALLENGING OCCASION FOR THE PREACHER.  IT IS NOT A TIME FOR A LENGTHY SERMON OR WORDY THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS FROM THE PULPIT.”

(SOMETHING FOR WHICH, I’M SURE, YOU ALL ARE GRATEFUL, THIS EVENING.)

“RATHER, IT IS A TIME FOR SHARING THE STORY, SINGING THE CAROLS, AND PONDERING THE MYSTERY.  ON THIS OCCASION, LESS FROM THE PULPIT MAY BE MORE.”

(CAN I GET AN “AMEN”?)

BUT BUCHANAN GOES ON TO SAY, WHAT HIS CLOSEST ADVISOR, EVERY MINISTER’S CLOSEST ADVISOR, THEIR SPOUSE, TELLS HIM, WHEN HE/SHE COMPLAINS ABOUT HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS EVE.

“WE’RE NOT COMING TO HEAR YOU, DEAR” SHE GENTLY REMINDS ME.  “WE WANT TO HEAR THE STORY, SING THE CAROLS, LIGHT OUR CANDLES, AND GO HOME.”

SHE, AND ALL OF YOU, ARE IN GOOD COMPANY.

THE GREAT AMERICAN THEOLOGIAN REINHOLD NIEBUHR, USED TO SAY THAT ALTHOUGH HIS DENOMINATIONAL TRADITION WAS GERMAN REFORMED, ON CHRISTMAS, HE AND HIS WIFE ALWAYS ATTENDED A HIGH LITURGICAL CHURCH, EPISCOPAL OR CATHOLIC, WHERE THE LITURGY AND MUSIC CARRY THE LOAD…”

(AND THIS IS THE PART I LOVE ABOUT WHAT HE SAID: “AND NO ONE TRIES TO EXPLAIN WHAT’S GOING ON.”)

SO, WE READ THE WORDS OF LUKE 2, OF ANGELS AND SHEPHERDS, AND THEIR VISIT TO THE STABLE IN BETHLEHEM, WHERE THEY FIND MARY, AND JOSEPH, AND THE BABE LYING IN A MANGER.

AND THE SHEPHERDS TELL ALL THAT HAS BEEN MADE KNOWN TO THEM CONCERNING THE CHILD, AND THE PEOPLE MARVEL, AND MARY KEEPS THEIR WORDS IN HER HEART, PONDERING THEM.

WITH THEIR VISIT OVER, THEIR CURIOSITY FULFILLED, THEIR ADORATION COMPLETE, THE SHEPHERDS RETURN TO THE FIELDS, BACK TO WORK, GLORIFYING AND PRAISING GOD FOR ALL THEY HAD HEARD AND SEEN.

STRANGELY, LAST SUNDAY, WHEN I WAS HEARING ABOUT HOW ATLANTA AIRPORT HAD BEEN SHUT DOWN DUE TO A POWER FAILURE, AND THOUSANDS OF FLIGHTS CANCELED, AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE STRANDED, MANY OF THEM CHRISTMAS TRAVELERS…

STRANGELY, MY THOUGHTS TURNED TO MARY, AND JOSEPH, AND THE BABY JESUS.

HOW THEY ARE STRESSED, WEARY, INCONVENIENCED TRAVELERS, MAKING DUE IN A STABLE… FOR THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR THEM IN THE INN.

THEY ARE ORDINARY PEOPLE, LIKE THE PEOPLE IN ATLANTA AIRPORT, LIKE PEOPLE WE KNOW, TRYING TO MAKE THEIR WAY IN THE WORLD, SQUEEZED BY RISING TAXES, AND FAMILY DEMANDS, WEARY FROM A VARIETY OF STRUGGLES.

THE INN IS FULL; YOUR FLIGHT HAS BEEN CANCELLED; THE HOTELS ARE ALL BOOKED; AND YOU’RE STUCK OVERNIGHT IN THE AIRPORT.

TWO THINGS I SAW ON MONDAY MORNING, IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE CLOSING, ALSO TURNED MY THOUGHTS BACK TO THAT FIRST CHRISTMAS NIGHT.

ONE WAS WORD THAT CHICK FIL-A, THE COMPANY RENOWN FOR STILL BEING CLOSED ON SUNDAYS BECAUSE OF THE CHRISTIAN HERITAGE OF THEIR FOUNDER, OPENED THEIR AIRPORT LOCATIONS ON SUNDAY, TO FEED STRANDED PASSENGERS.

SO, NO FLIGHTS, NO ROOM IN THE INN, BUT AT LEAST, CHICKEN SANDWICHES.

THE OTHER WAS AN INTERVIEW WITH A STRANDED PASSENGER, BY THE WONDERFUL NAME OF, BLESSIN MCCOY, WHO WAS REMAINING CALM THROUGH IT ALL.

WHEN ASKED HOW SHE WAS KEEPING HER COOL, SHE SAID SHE AND HER FAMILY KEPT CITING A LINE FROM THE TOM HANKS MOVIE, BRIDGE OF SPIES WHERE HE ASKS A GUY: “WHY AREN’T YOU GETTING UPSET?”

AND THE GUY ANSWERS: “WILL IT HELP?”

SO, ALL DAY, BLESSIN AND HER FAMILY REMAINED CALM BY SAYING TO EACH OTHER, “WHY AREN’T YOU GETTING UPSET?”  AND ANSWERING: “WILL IT HELP?”

TO THE STORY OF THE STRESSED, WEARY, INCONVENIENCED MARY AND JOSEPH, AND THE BABE LYING IN A MANGER, LUKE INCLUDES THE PROVOCATIVE COUNTER STORY OF THE SHEPHERDS; THE FIRST TO HEAR ABOUT THE BIRTH.

THEY ARE SO LOWLY AND SOCIALLY AND POLITICALLY INCONSEQUENTIAL THAT THEY’RE NOT TRAVELING HOME TO BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.

THE SHEPHERDS ARE STILL WORKING; THEY DON’T COUNT.

EXCEPT… THAT IT IS TO THEM THAT GOD FIRST REVEALS THE BIRTH OF THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.  TO THE LEAST, THE LAST, THE LOST, AND THE LONELY.

AND SO, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN, AND STILL IS: CHRIST IS BORN INTO WHATEVER NEED, WHATEVER EMPTINESS, WHATEVER’S MISSING IN OUR LIVES;

TO MEET THE NEED; TO FILL OUR EMPTINESS; TO HELP US FIND WHAT’S MISSING; TO HELP US FIND OUR WAY.

TO ENTER OUR HEARTS, MUCH THE SAME WAY HE ENTERED MARY’S HEART, TO BE PONDERED, AND LOVED.

AND ENTERED THE HEARTS OF THE SHEPHERDS, TO BE WORSHIPPED AND ADORED; TO BE GLORIFIED AND PRAISED!

HOW IT IS, THAT CHRIST ENTERS OUR LIVES THIS NIGHT, LIKELY HAS MUCH TO DO WITH US; WITH OUR MOOD; OUR ATTITUDES; WHERE WE ARE; WHAT’S HAPPENING IN OUR LIVES RIGHT NOW.

HOW WE NEED HIM MOST.

SO, WE’LL NOT PHILOSOPHIZE, THEOLOGIZE, PONTIFICATE, OR PREACH AT LENGTH AS TO WHY WE ARE HERE TONIGHT…

WE’LL NOT TRY TO EXPLAIN WHAT’S GOING ON…

INSTEAD, WE WILL READ THE STORY, SING THE CAROLS, LIGHT OUR CANDLES, AND GO HOME…

CHANGED… MAYBE… IN A WAY… IN THE WAY WE MOST NEED, PERHAPS.

SO, TONIGHT, IF THERE ARE GIFTS STILL TO BE ASSEMBLED, OR WRAPPED;

MEALS TO BE PREPARED;

ROADS TO BE TRAVERSED;

FAMILY MEMBERS TO BE TOLERATED;

CHILDREN TO BE CAJOLED INTO BED;

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, WE CAN REMEMBER BLESSIN MCCOY’S ADVICE:

“WHY AREN’T YOU GETTING UPSET?”  “WILL IT HELP?”

AT LEAST A PART OF WHAT WILL MAKE THIS NIGHT, AND TOMORROW, “CALM AND BRIGHT” HAS TO DO WITH US.

I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THAT ON THAT CHRISTMAS EVE IN 1818 IN THE AUSTRIAN ALPS, IT WAS ANYTHING BUT CALM.

AT THE NEWLY CONSTRUCTED CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS (YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!) FATHER JOSEPH MOHR PREPARED FOR THE MIDNIGHT SERVICE.

HE WAS DISTRAUGHT BECAUSE THE CHURCH ORGAN WAS BROKEN, RUINING PROSPECTS FOR THAT EVENING’S CAREFULLY PLANNED MUSIC.

BUT IT CAME INTO FATHER JOSEPH’S MIND (ONE CAN BELIEVE, BY THE GRACE OF GOD) TO WRITE A NEW SONG, ONE THAT COULD BE SUNG, ORGAN-LESS.

HASTILY, HE WROTE DOWN THE WORDS, TAKING THE TEXT TO HIS ORGANIST, FRANZ GRUBER, ASKING HIM TO COMPOSE A SIMPLE TUNE.

THAT NIGHT, DECEMBER 24, 1818, SILENT NIGHT WAS SUNG FOR THE FIRST TIME AS A DUET ACCOMPANIED BY A GUITAR;

AT, AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, THE APTLY NAMED CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS.

“SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT, ALL IS CALM, ALL IS BRIGHT;

ROUND YON VIRGIN MOTHER AND CHILD!

HOLY INFANT SO TENDER AND MILD,

SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE, SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE.”