Loved, Actually
Christmas Eve
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
You made it! It’s Christmas Eve. Everything that will be done is done. If it isn’t done, it won’t be done - unless you still have gifts to wrap or items like bikes or toys that require assembly. Either way, there is joy and peace to be had now. Breathe. Relax.
We all have a lot going on this time of year, of course. There are decorations, lights, and trees. Some plan ahead and buy Christmas presents all year. Others are more like me. I began shopping on Friday. There are decorations and lights to set up, food to buy and other preparations for family and friends. Baking cookies.
There are gifts to give to churches and other charities before year end, and service to those in need.
Any or all of these can and should be good, the very best things if and only if we are able to embrace them in light of the inexpressible joy of God’s greatest gift to his creation.
Let’s say a quick prayer of thanks. Thank you, Jesus, for being the source of all of our joys.
For many, this season is hard. It carries an ache of loneliness that can come in several ways. We may be alone. Meg and I heard from a member who moved away a few years ago. She had what was supposed to be outpatient surgery but became far more extensive and will be in the hospital for at least 5 days. We may think of loved ones that are no longer with us, especially if this is our first Christmas without them. We think of those who may not be with us again, for whom this may be our last Christmas together.
But that is the great joy of Christmas. Jesus came into the world as God’s ultimate answer to all of the suffering, sorrow and loneliness we endure. Let us not forget to embrace those with the light of Christ’s perfect judgment and mercy, his saving grace, that wipes every tear from our eyes and brings true strength to our weakness.
Let’s say a quick prayer of thanks. Thank you, Jesus, for always being with us, and for being the ultimate answer for all the pain, suffering and sorrows we endure. You are light and life.
My all-time favorite popular Christmas song – I say popular because Silent Night is my absolute favorite – is Bruce Springsteen’s Santa Clause is Coming to Town. That’s in part because I love Springsteen and that’s a great rendition. But it’s also because in 1987 I arrived at my parents’ house at 2:00AM on Christmas morning, quietly entered, popped that song into their stereo, and turned it all the way up. It shook the house.
Everyone woke up, came downstairs, and we had Christmas right then. There’s a VHS recording of that celebration somewhere and it’s in the family lore. More importantly, there’s a picture from that Christmas of me that, long story short, Meg saw and said, “Have him call me.”
But we really need to keep the words to that song in the realm of light-hearted silliness, because they convey the exact opposite of joy of Christmas. What is Santa doing? He’s making a list and checking it twice? He’s going to find out who’s naughty or nice? It gets worse! He sees you when you’re sleeping (creepy), he knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good. You’d better be good for goodness’ sake.
Oh, that’s tempting. No matter how unruly your kids are, this night they will obey.
But that’s not the Gospel. That’s not the Good News. The Good News is that Jesus came because we are naughty, because we are not nice, because he knows that we’ve been bad, not good. And we cannot make ourselves good for goodness’ sake!
The point is not that you’ve earned rewards, it is that you are loved. God shows us on Christmas morning how very deeply he loves us. It is good and right and true to say he loves us all and he loves his entire creation. Included in all that is his immeasurable love for you, precisely, specifically and undeniably you, where you are, as you are. And he will not leave you where you are. He will ever call us upward and onward to be the people he intends for us to be, but never doubt his love. His love overcomes every weight against us, including death.
That’s the Christmas message I was working on this week when Ben Sasse broke - and strengthened - my heart. Among many other achievements, Ben Sasse is best known as a former Senator from Nebraska. He briefly served as the University of Florida’s president for about a year and a half, but resigned about eighteen months ago due to his wife developing epilepsy and memory issues. Tuesday, just yesterday, he announced that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. His words capture the very heart of Advent and Christmas — hope in the midst of brokenness.
There’s not a good time to tell your peeps you’re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn’t the worst. As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come. Not an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in).
Nope — often we lazily say “hope” when what we mean is “optimism.” To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son.
A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff. That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears. Such is the calling of the pilgrim.
Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city — with foundations and without cancer — is not yet. Remembering Isaiah’s prophecies of what’s to come doesn’t dull the pain of current sufferings. But it does put it in eternity’s perspective: “When we've been there 10,000 years…We've no less days to sing God's praise.”
That’s how Christmas should shape our fears and sorrows. Thank you, Jesus, for being the answer to all of our woes. He is with you in your joy and he is with you in your tears. He is with you in your strength and he is with you in your weakness.
He loves you when you’re sleeping.
He loves you when you’re awake.
He loves you when you’re bad or good
(Do try to be good for goodness’ sake.)
I feel like we need a ripping saxophone solo about now.
Just remember that you are loved with a love that conquers sin and conquers death. He has you, he has all of this, and he says, “Now, follow me.”
AMEN!