WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.080 It's an interesting story. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:12.880 In way interesting in the sense that it is so simple and so basic, a 2,000-year-old story. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:26.079 And yet so many Christians come together every year on this night, and we retell this very same story, the same story. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:34.960 Joseph and Mary coming together, traveling to Bethlehem, having trouble getting into the inn, right? 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:40.000 Then the shepherds are told about this Jesus being born. 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:44.560 Wise men are told about this baby going to be born. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:45.679 Angels appear. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:54.240 It's this event that in some ways magical and in some ways pretty darn basic and simple. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.640 And here we are telling this tale every single year. 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:07.599 I'm here to tell you, we got a lot of good Christmas stories in our culture that we could use on Christmas Eve night. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:08.879 This is what I'm telling you. 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:10.239 We've got good stories. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:13.840 How many of you have already watched It's a Wonderful Life for this year? 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:15.519 Did you get it in? 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.200 Some of you, I guess. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:22.159 You're not committed, you're not of the the church of It's a Wonderful Life. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:24.400 Miracle on 34th. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:25.840 Anyone got fans of that? 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:28.079 A few of you over there. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:29.439 Okay, some of you. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:32.879 Now, those are some good, some good movies, right? 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:34.719 The stories of Christmas. 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:37.920 There's these values that are being lived out, right? 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:45.280 And we've got uh Jimmy Stewart of all people fighting for the folks, fighting for deep, deep inner values. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:49.359 And boy, when he's hurting, we're hurting too, because it's Jimmy Stewart. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:53.040 And then the town comes together for him, and Mr. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.439 Potter doesn't get to win, right? 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.599 Good stories about Christmas, right? 00:01:57.840 --> 00:01:59.519 Miracle 34th Street, too. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:03.439 We get to believe in Santa Claus and good things like that. 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:04.239 Right? 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:07.120 We watched uh Elf just the other day. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:18.960 Even that one, kind of silly, but still this sort of fun value of the spirit of Christmas being awakened by this nutty elf that finds his way into the real world. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:22.719 Well, not really an elf, but you know the story, I'm sure. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:28.159 But here's this good story of the spirit of Christmas, these great stories that we got. 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:29.680 And diehard. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:32.560 Am I right? 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:47.199 We got John McClain out there fighting to protect whatever building it was he was protecting from Hans Gruber, who was just a simple robber, nothing better, had no values. 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:49.919 Good Christmas stories. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:50.960 Am I right? 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:57.199 We've got these stories, and yet we don't turn to them on Christmas Eve. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:03.759 We turn to this simple, simple story every single year. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.719 Two thousand-year-old story. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:13.360 I don't know if you ever ask yourself why we land there every year. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:21.039 Because it's not really the story that we're um tied to. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:32.319 I think it's more the story is pointing to some deep, deep beliefs and values that we as Christians hold really, really dear. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:40.159 These values and understandings about how the world works that are so important to us. 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:56.560 Like just the idea that when God was taking an opportunity to come to this world, God didn't come to the leaders of the world, God came to these fairly low people, Joseph and Mary. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:00.960 Didn't seem to have too much wealth, too much power. 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:15.039 There's a value there that's getting expressed by the Christian faith about how God appreciates all people, and not just those who are in power. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:22.319 I like too how the story includes shepherds and these wise men, these magi, the shepherds. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:24.800 I've preached before about shepherds. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:27.040 You ever been a shepherd before? 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:29.199 Do you ever want to be a shepherd? 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:32.000 It's a little bit of a rough life. 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:36.000 You're out there, your best friends are sheep. 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:41.360 You're hanging out with it's kind of dirty, a little bit lonely out there. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.680 Those are not jobs that people are hunting down. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:51.439 It's not definite, it's not folks uh uh beating down the door to get these shepherd jobs. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:56.240 These are people who are on the economic scale fairly low. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:01.759 And yet angels are sent to bring them to the party here. 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:08.879 And the wise men, the magi, were told that they come from far-off places. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:18.240 Not necessarily from this one spot, but from a broader sense of the globe, at least as they understood it in those days. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:28.480 I hear values getting expressed in this story, this simple story about how God was not trying to reach a small amount of people, God was trying to reach the whole world. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:45.120 And when we tell that story, when we hear it again year after year, we're reminding ourselves of that value that God has, of that God that we worship, that we follow, that we appreciate. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:06:39.040 Finally, I think maybe maybe most important about this story is the fact that God, the God who created all that we understand, at least in our belief system, the God that created everything that we understand to be, also loves that creation and loves the people in this world, uh the children of God, so much so that God sent God's Son to come and to be amongst us and to teach us about what life abundant was supposed to look like, how we were supposed to live in this world, how we were supposed to find richness in this world, how we were supposed to bless our lives in this world. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:46.399 I'd like to think it has something to do with an individual thing, but I think it's a communal thing too. 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:55.279 God wanted us to understand the depths of love that were present in our world and all around us. 00:06:55.439 --> 00:07:13.680 And on this day, when we celebrate the birth of Christ, it's a day where we remind ourselves of that belief that God loves this world and loves the people in it and wants us to share that love. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:19.040 So it's not just this simple, simple story. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:30.160 It's a simple story full of eternal truths that we want to embody, that we want to own. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:37.839 It's a story that we hear, but it's also a story we want to make ours. 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:52.399 And my prayer for you is that here in this Christmas season, you might be able to here on Christmas Eve and maybe Christmas tomorrow, be able to claim that story as yours. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:08:05.600 Be able to believe with some depth about that the reality of love in this world, and then dare I say, go on and live your lives beyond just tomorrow in that belief. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:16.319 That it won't be just this story or the Christian story, but it'll be your story. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:19.360 Amen.