Dear friends,
This is the sermon I preached on Christmas morning 2017. I offer it again today, along with video recorded in the sanctuary at Glenwood. Many thanks to my sister, Jill Powers, for the piano accompaniment. If you’d like to take a moment to rest in the sanctuary this morning, you may view the video here:
The sermon is based on Isaiah 52:7-10.
7 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.
On May 8, 1945 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced the end of the war with Germany.
How beautiful…are the feet of the messenger who announces peace…
Tommy Mac remembers that day:1
Like every other city in Britain, Glasgow was bursting with excitement. We knew the war was over and were just awaiting official confirmation. Then, in the morning came the voice of Winston Churchill over the radio. The war in Europe is now over.
The tram cars in Hope Street were filled with servicemen of all nationalities – American, Canadian, Australian, European; all of them commandeering the trams and singing and dancing up and down the length of Hope Street, singing all kinds of songs I had never heard before.
Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy…
At the bottom of the street the dance was the eightsome reel–this of course took precedence over all the other carousing. This was Scotland’s national dance, and everyone could join in. The music was relayed from the old Kemsley House, former home of the Glasgow Daily Record, who also supplied the lighting for the parade. To see the lights go on again was a miracle in itself.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
The joy of Christmas morning is the joy of a war ended, the joy of worried and weary hearts comforted, the joy of a world where God not only dwells but reigns.
Tommy Mac, and so many others, rejoiced on the day Winston Churchill announced the end of the war in Europe. They rejoiced, even though the war with Japan continued. They rejoiced, even though many of their loved ones remained far from home. They rejoiced, even though there was work yet to be done.
So, too, the people of Zion who first heard the good news of the prophet Isaiah, rejoiced before that good news was fully achieved. They rejoiced, even before their loved ones had returned from exile. They rejoiced even before they were reunited. As one theologian puts it, The salvation they celebrate is so good that they need not feel its full impact to begin offering praise.2
Our God reigns. Our God has entered into the human story through the birth of a vulnerable baby boy. That baby grew up and gave his life for the sake of this beloved world. God raised him from the dead to defeat death forever. The war is over!
And yet, we still know the sting of loss, the pain of suffering, the heartache that comes with loving, with living.
Can we still rejoice…even though there’s work yet to be done, even though God’s kingdom hasn’t come yet in its ultimate fullness? Is the salvation we celebrate so good that we need not feel its full impact to begin offering praise?
The answer on this Christmas morning is yes.
I love that Tommy Mac’s story of the war’s end takes place on Hope Street. How perfect. Hope Street.
Sister Joan Chittister reminds us that hope is grounded in memory: Hope digs in the rubble of the heart for memory of God’s promise to bring good out of evil and joy out of sadness and, on the basis of those memories of the past, takes new hope for the future.3
Remember: God brought the exiles home.
Remember: God ended the war.
Remember: God has acted in your life in countless, surprising ways.
Remember: God created you and sustains you to this day.
Christmas morning invites us to linger on Hope Street, to remember, to stand in awe of the Light no darkness can overcome, to dance with abandon, to break forth together into singing.
A child is born…for us. The Lord has comforted his people. Good Christian friends, rejoice!
1 Read Tommy Mac’s full account here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history
2 Mark Douglas in Feasting on the Word: Advent Companion
3 http://www.joanchittister.org