Christmas Stories
David C. Myers
December 24, 2008
5:00 pm Service
Luke 2:1 - 20
I have long felt that one of the most meaningful parts of Christmas are the stories. And when you stop to think of it, so did the early Christian Church. The very first writings about Jesus did not include stories about his birth - or even his early life - they were added about 30 years later. Paul's letters, the first writings barely even mentioned Christ's specific parables and teachings. The Gospel writers began to shape a biography upon which we could begin to get glimpses of the person Jesus. But even the first of the Gospels, Mark, omitted Jesus first 27 - 30 years of life, beginning with His baptism by John at the River Jordan. We only get the wonderful Nativity Stories in Matthew and Mark.
The Gospel of John also omits the stories of Jesus infancy and His youth, and only writes magnificent poetry about the significance of his birth and youth. John's biography of Jesus begins with John the Baptist giving testimony about the "Lamb of God."
But stories, especially Christmas stories, are especially important for us to fully understand the meaning of Christmas. And stories are also necessary because Jesus taught us with stories. Jesus knew that when trying to help us understand the meaning of life and our relationship with the Creator, nothing but stories would do. Stories transcend the specific scene. Stories expand our awareness. Stories connect to our daily lives. Jesus was the master story teller as he taught us in parables and stories about everyday life.
So how do we describe what Christmas is about? Through stories. How do we explain to people that Christmas is not frozen in a crèche scene? How do we tell them it is about God coming into this world as one of us?
Louis Cassels, said it this way, in a very short story called, "The Parable of the Birds":
Once upon a time there was a man who looked upon Christmas as a lot of humbug. He wasn't a Scrooge. He was a kind and decent person.
But he didn't believe all that stuff about Incarnation which churches proclaim at Christmas. And he was too honest to pretend that he did. He simply could not understand the claim that God became a person. It didn't make any sense to him.
One Christmas Eve, his wife and children went to church for the mid-night service, but he stayed at home. It began to snow. "If we must have a Christmas," he thought, "it's nice to have a white one." He sat down by the fire to read the newspaper. A few minutes later he heard a thudding sound, followed by another, and then another. Birds, caught in the storm, and in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his window. Now they lay huddled miserably in the snow. "I can't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze," he thought. "But how can I help them?"
He thought of the barn. It was a warm shelter with no wind. He put on his coat and overshoes and tramped out through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light.
But the birds didn't come in.
"Food will bring them in," he thought. So he sprinkled a trail of breadcrumbs from the birds to the sheltering barn.
To his dismay, the birds ignored the crumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried shooing them in the barn. They scattered in every direction - except the warm barn.
"They find me a strange and terrifying creature," he said to himself, and I can't seem to think of any way to let them know they can trust me."
"If only I could be a bird myself for a few minutes, perhaps I could lead them to safety."
Just at that moment, the church bells began to ring in the distance. He stood silently for a while, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas.
Then he sank to his knees in the snow. "God, now I understand," he whispered as if in a prayer. "Now I see why You came to earth in Your Son."
"And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth."
And while that story tells us of God's need to come to the world in the form of His only Son, Christmas is really about how the Word became flesh - not just in Jesus 2,000 years ago, but God comes to us in the flesh - or each and everyone of us every now - in even surprising ways. In the one of the concluding parables of Matthew's Gospel Jesus reminds us that this God made flesh, Jesus the Christ, comes to each of us as we meet those who have no food, those who have no clothes, those who are sick and those who are in prison. Whatever we do to the least of these, we do to the Christ. This too, is what Christmas is all about.
Leo Tolstoy many years ago penned the basis for this skit, when he wrote a short story called, "Martin the Shoemaker". Not only does this tell the meaning of Christmas, it gives us marching orders about what we are to do with our lives. I present to you the Chevy Chase UMC players:
The Chevy Chase Players re-do "Martin the Shoemaker".
Christmas is indeed a time when "the word became flesh and dwelt among us." May you be the gift of Christmas. May you share the abundant love God has given you with those to whom find love a stranger. May you be the Christ that is God's love to all you meet! You just never know when the face of Christ will meet you!