This sermon was preached at Canoe Ridge Lutheran Church, Decorah, Iowa on December 25, 2018. It’s based on Isaiah 52:7-10; Titus 3:4-7 and John 1:1-14. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
Isaiah 52:7-10
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8 Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,
together they sing for joy;
for in plain sight they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
9 Break forth together into singing,
you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
Titus 3:4-7
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6 This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
John 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
I love words.
As a child, the words of my favorite books carried me to places and people that felt like home, a refuge from all the angst of teenage hopes and fears. Words, throughout the years, have been a way to express my innermost thoughts and feelings, the paint and paintbrush I’ve employed in an attempt to capture the beauty of life lived in God’s good creation.
But words have limitations.
Words don’t have a steady, certain heartbeat that envelopes you in strength and security as you lay your head on their chest. Words can’t hold your hand in their own, gently squeezing assurance that you are never alone. Words can’t feel your pain as if it were their own. Words can’t receive your joy with a broad smile and a big hug.
Words don’t know, in their bones, the deep chill of winter grief or the radiating warmth of summer love. Words can’t shed tears and weep with you. Words can’t lift their voices and sing with you. Words can’t pull you close and put their arms around you.
So God’s Word became flesh. The goodness and loving kindness of our God took on human skin and bones, human heart and mind, human hopes and fears. And we have seen his glory, full of grace and truth.
This is the joy of Christmas, the blessed assurance that there is one who knows us as we are and loves us wholeheartedly. Our God was born, and cried, and ate, and grew, and loved, and wept, and doubted, and felt forsaken. Our God suffered and died. And three days later, our God rose, defeating death and closing the gap, once and for all, between human and divine.
So that now there is nothing we can experience, nothing we can feel, nothing we can endure, nothing we can celebrate, that our God doesn’t intimately know firsthand.
Our God has a heartbeat and hands to hold. Our God feels our sorrow and gently holds our joy. Our God knows the depth of our heartache and the depth of our love.
The Lord has comforted his people.
He saved us according to his mercy.
All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
These aren’t mere words. They’re words enlivened and imbued with power by the Word made flesh—a baby born in Bethlehem—the light and life of all this weary world.
Joy is ours on this Christmas morning. Rejoice with heart and soul and voice! Amen.