Beyond the Sentimentality of Christmas

Audio Recording of “Beyond the Sentimentality of Christmas” recorded in worship (09:39)
Christmas Day
Texts: Isa 52.7-10; Heb 1.1-4; Jn 1.1-18; (Lk 2.1-20)

These words from John have no shepherds, no angels, no magi from the east, and yet they evoke in us the same warm feelings that we get from Luke’s and Matthew’s stories because these old familiar words recount for us what we know to be true: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. These words are sentimental and spiritual, reminding us of all the times we have heard them, and all that they have meant to us, not unlike Christmas itself. Whatever else Christmas is, it is a time of year that is strongly tied to our memories—both painful and pleasant—our families, and our traditions. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why we await it with such eagerness.

However, as we gather this Christmas morning, we know that when we wish each other “Merry Christmas,” we are wishing for so much more than just the nostalgia and the sentimentality and the sense of brotherhood among women and men everywhere. The Christmas about which we read in the Bible is not just a celebration of one baby’s birth or a season of warm thoughts and warm hearts; the Christmas about which the evangelists write is a brimming societal and political revolution.