Christmas Eve (Pastor Cheryl Lavornia)

This morning.

This morning I keep saying that. Sorry.

This evening we are in the midst of the story that we all know so well.

And so Luke one one through 21, there's a story that I'm going to condense

just a little, but I would like you to stand as I read this

from the Gospel of Luke.

In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree

that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

This was the first census that took place while Cornelius was governor of Syria.

And then everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up to the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea,

to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house

and line of David.

He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him.

And he was expecting she was expecting a child.

While they were there.

A time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.

She wrapped him in cloth and placed him in a manger

because there was no guest room available for them.

Father, we come tonight

because of this story.

We are centered around this story.

For all the things

that happen around Christmas, for all the ways in which we engage,

this is the story that we return to year after year.

So allow us to see more clearly,

to hear you and to be hold you in a way

that is just fresh and new.

We pray this in your name, Jesus.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So a few days ago,

my sister sent me a text and it said, I just found Jesus.

After two years of thinking that I had lost him.

I was really confused

because my sister has known Jesus since she was really little.

So I texted back,

Why didn't you tell me you were struggling so much?

And for two years,

losing Jesus

seems like something we should have talked about.

Then she sent me this picture.

I said, that looks super familiar.

She texted back.

It should.

It's mom's, and we grew up with it.

Okay, so I'm still not tracking.

Then she texted, this baby Jesus has been lost for two years.

His second coming came to happened this morning at breakfast

when I noticed that he was stuck in the rafters in the nativity bark.

Can you see.

That little shadow right up there

at the same time?

All of us.

Have or have had intentional blindness.

This is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when you fail to notice

an unexpected event or item in your visual field,

due to the being focused on something else.

It's selective attention.

Because we are so focused on one part of our environment,

we ignore all others kids.

That's why your parents are always looking for their keys

and they're actually in their hand.

Our spouses.

When somebody says, do you know where my glasses are?

And they're right on the top of their head, or parents.

That's why your kids can't find their toothbrushes each night.

This is why, in John's gospel, he writes about the birth of Jesus this way.

In the Gospel of John, it says, in the beginning was the word,

and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made.

Without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life.

And that life was the light of all mankind.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world,

and he was in the world.

And though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name,

he gave the right to become children of God.

The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory and the glory of the one and only son,

who came from the father, full of grace and truth.

So this advent season into Christmas,

I wonder how much we've missed of what is right in front of us.

Oh, it's easy to miss the impact of the story of Jesus,

because we are usually looking at everything else.

You know, 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, ten lords leaping,

nine ladies dancing, eight maids milking, seven sponges swimming, six

geese laying.

Yep. For calling birds.

Three French hens, turtle, turtle, turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

See, we are so easily distracted by the frivolity around us

that we miss God among us.

But another song we sang tonight.

O come,

all ye faithful, joyful

in triumph, O come ye to Bethlehem,

come and behold him.

Born the King of angels,

this is Christ the Lord.

We miss that Jesus came in the flesh to be among us,

so that we could behold him freely, see him.

But did you know that

seeing is a very complex process?

First you need light,

and that light enters the eye through the cornea,

and then second, the pupil adjust to the response to that light.

And then third, your lens focuses the light onto the retina and forth.

The light is focused into the retina and the optic nerve.

Fifth, transmits that visual information

to the brain.

But in reality,

many times we don't see what we see doesn't translate to our brains

in a way that is healthy or helpful, or God centered, or Jesus focused.

Instead, as light enters

our barely opened eyes,

we adjust to our own preconceived ideas.

We've already formulated.

And then our lens focuses on

what's important to only us.

And we skip all the way to step five.

But then we only translate our own prejudices,

experiences, loves, and hates

onto God, onto ourselves, and onto others.

That's why

2000 years ago, God brightened up the sky with a multitude of angels

and with a faraway star in the east, and gave us the child Jesus,

born as a babe, to change the way that we see

again, John wrote, the true light

that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

And later Jesus said of himself, I am the light of the world.

And so the invitation to us tonight

at this Christmas is this

will we accept his light?

Will we allow him to show us how to perceive him,

to accept ourselves, and to see the world as he does?

See, when we see God through Jesus his light,

we see a blind man who saw a lame man

who walked a royal official's son healed, a woman caught in sin, forgiven

a well, a child welcomed in a dead man called back to life.

When we see ourselves through Jesus's light,

we begin to imagine that Jesus is the same today.

So when we are blinded by our own doubts

and our own fears, he will give us sight.

When we are limping from the wounds of the of life,

he will help us walk in his light

when we need healing,

when we need forgiveness,

when we need to be welcomed,

he will be with us and see us

and still love us.

And when we see those around us

through Jesus's light,

we can love and behold them.

Because no matter how much they're

acting out, frustrating us, confusing us, or challenging us,

we know that God's light

is for them as much as is for us.

So we need to stop right now

and move from our

inattentional blindness to intentional sight.

So I'd like you to take a deep breath with me.

Take a deep breath in

and behold Jesus.

Behold his goodness, his faithfulness, his ever pursuing love for us,

and allow him to refocus your eyes.

Is your idea of God

from your experience of brokenness?

Was it formed because of something

someone else did or said that hurt you?

Was it passed on to you through expectation

of a God that you don't even recognize?

Maybe this is the first time you've considered

that God is inviting you to yourself, to himself.

Pause and behold him

right now.

Ask him to enter in, breathe in,

and ask him to enter in and give you sight to see him more clearly.

Is your

idea of yourself from your own experiences of failure

or hurt, or based on how well you've done or not done?

Maybe somebody spoke something bad over you

and you've believed it for so long.

Pause.

Behold him beholding you.

Ask him to show you how he sees you.

Is your idea of others from your experiences with social media,

or the news or gossip or hurtful bullying,

or just plain life?

Maybe you've been struggling with someone

because their actions don't really tell you who they are.

They they challenge you, they they hurt you

or they confuse you.

Pause

and behold the other

because God loves them to

ask Jesus to show how you how he sees them

and enter into that place.

When we truly behold Jesus allowing his light

to be our sight, we are more than a flicker of light.

Instead, we become part of a cacophony of thousands

and thousands of flickers of light that blaze his glorious light.

So I'd like to

end tonight with us together, saying a prayer around this concept.

So, I will say the first part,

and you can say the part that's in bold.

Can we get that prayer up there?

For you

who are filled to the brim with happiness.

For you

who are mourning the loss of family and friends, Jesus

words

for you who feel like you are tripping about in darkness.

Jesus is.

For you who rest in gratitude and contentment

in Christ.

For you who feel the ache of loneliness,

this is.

For you who are seeking the true meaning of Christmas,

Jesus Christ.

Come, let us worship the birth of our Savior.

Come, let us worship the true light that gives light to everyone.

Amen.