Don’t you just love Christmas? Most people do. Who here loves Christmas? It is so good to be together to celebrate Christmas. We love the festivities, the decorations, and, of course, the food. But Christmas is more than celebrating food and decorations. Do you agree? So, what are we celebrating at Christmas?

Whatever it is we are celebrating, it clearly must be good because why else would we be celebrating? Is Christmas good news for you? And if so, why is it good news for you?

To help me answer this question for myself, I look back to the story of the first Christmas. In the Judean countryside 2000 years ago, like lots of Rutland, there were sheep in a field. And in the sheep field, there were shepherds watching over the sheep. Then suddenly, angels came down from heaven to the shepherds. The shepherds were shocked and terrified. Where did these angels come from? But the angel said to the shepherds, ‘Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’[1]

At the first Christmas, the angels declared that Christmas was good news because Jesus the Messiah was born in Bethlehem, and he is the Lord and Saviour of the world.

This is the good news of Christmas; this is what we are celebrating. We celebrate that 2000 years ago, Jesus came to the earth so that God would be with us and we would be able to live with God forever. In life, sometimes we can find ourselves on our own, or maybe walking in darkness or difficult times in our lives. But Jesus came to the earth so that we would never be alone. We will always have the love of God with us, and Jesus, will always be with us as our light in the darkness.

One of the names for Jesus is Emmanuel, which means God is with us. This is the joy of Christmas. This is good news we celebrate, which leads us to get together, sing songs, share food, and hang decorations. We celebrate the birth of Jesus and the good news of God with us, and to celebrate this, we hold a party every year at Christmas. That’s what Christmas is about. A party to celebrate that Jesus has come to this world to be with us.

So let’s continue theses celebrations tonight and throughout this Christmas.

Amen.  

[1] Luke 2:10-11 [NRSV].