The Sunday After Christmas
Sermon
December 29, 2024

Yesterday I went to the store and as I was getting ready to pay for my items I heard another customer ask the cashier: “How was your Christmas?” Her response was “I am SO HAPPY that Christmas is over!” I found that a little sad, but then I realized that the truth is that for many people Christmas 2024 is already over!

This year, as I suppose, in other years, many people will have celebrated Christmas without celebrating Christ. Perhaps they heard the birth of Jesus mentioned in a carol or a Christmas song, but then it was ignored or forgotten. In this day and age, it seems that many folks have celebrated Christmas without celebrating Christ.

A couple of years ago while looking around in a local shop, I heard a woman complaining to her friend that she could not find any good Christmas cards to send to her friends. She actually said, “They were all so boring! What’s Jesus got to do with Christmas anyway?”

When I was in Private Practice working with clients who were often Alcoholics/ drug addicts or both, or from families where there was addiction, one of the questions I asked during the assessment was “Do you attend a church?” or “Do you believe in God?” The answer I received most often was a simple “No.” So I would ask them if they celebrated Christmas or Easter? The response was “Well yes!”

For many people Christmas is more about having an excuse for excess than about an opportunity to hear the truth about who Jesus was and is. Shops seem to like Christmas and Easter holidays. Here it is, today is the 29th of December, 2024, but some stores are already selling Easter candy for 2025!

It seems that the birth of Jesus, for far too many, is just a story, like Santa Claus, or the Grinch that stole Christmas. Christmas comes and goes and life moves quickly on. Perhaps, even in your own home you have left Christmas behind. Maybe the tree is still up, though it’s empty underneath. Maybe you had family visiting and they have already left for their own homes.

Perhaps all that’s left of your Christmas turkey is a nearly bare skeleton waiting to become turkey soup or some other favorite recipe for turkey leftovers.

All the preparation, all the excitement, all the expense and now it’s all over for another year.

How did Christmas 2024 feel to you? Maybe your Christmas wasn’t all you had expected. Or maybe you didn’t get what you hoped for under the tree.

I so hope that your Christmas included Christ this year. My hope is that you spent time thinking about the birth of our Savior, and my wish is that you took the opportunity to think about the real reason for the season.

Now that Christmas is over, maybe the excitement has passed and life is already returning to normal…Whatever normal might be in your life!

I wonder if at that first Christmas, Mary and Joseph were hoping for a return to normal, too. If you think your Christmas was busy it probably was nothing compared to that first Christmas.

I ask you to think back to the first Christmas. It was a seriously difficult time for Mary & Joseph. The long journey to Bethlehem was not for a nice little winter get away. It was a journey they made so they could go and pay their taxes. A journey that was not easy at the best of times, but when you’re nine months pregnant, either walking or in a cart or on the back of a donkey…it’s a journey worse than we can imagine.

Then arriving in Bethlehem, on what seemed to be the busiest day of the year because there were no rooms available anywhere. The telephone and the internet were a long way from being a reality – so Joseph could not call ahead to secure a room since those inventions, that we take for granted today, were not even a thought. But even if it had been an option, there still would have only been an offer to stay in some room like the smelly old stable complete with straw and animals. Then having to give birth in a stall, with no doctor, no midwife, no heat.

The first Christmas – the birth of Jesus – was one of the most important events in the history of the world; an event that changed the world and with it founded what each of us now enjoy…Our personal relationship with God.

As we gather in this space, let’s remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. His birth was a divine act of love, a heavenly gift to humanity. It was God’s way of showing us how much He loves us. And this love is what we are called to treasure in our lives, especially during the Christmas season.

When we think about the Christmas season, we often think about the gifts we give and receive. But the greatest gift of all is the gift of love. This is the gift that God gave us in the form of His son, Jesus Christ. And this is the gift that we are called to give to others. Not just in the form of physical gifts, but in the form of kindness, compassion, and care. For in doing so, we honor and become a living testament to His love for us. For me…this is the meaning of Christmas. Amen.