Good News: Meditation for Christmas Eve

December 24, 1994

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Who is there who doesn’t respond to an announcement of good news? Is there anybody who wouldn’t like to hear some, who doesn’t NEED to hear some? We certainly hear plenty of bad news, don’t we.... radio, television, the newspapers keep us well supplied.... Or even closer home----even within our own families, within ourselves, within our own hearts we are aware of those things, those problems, those conditions, those circumstances which hang over the full expression of joy like a pall. IS ANYONE IMMUNE? Who doesn’t yearn for some word, some announcement, some news that would lift that pall and send us soaring?

Christopher Morley, the literary journalist, was thinking one day about the telephone and how it affected people’s lives. He says he began to think of all the people, in little towns, in great cities, out in the country...in motels, in the privacy of their homes, people everywhere, who at that very moment were waiting to hear a piece of good news on the telephone----

He thought about parents who might be anxiously hoping to hear the voice of an absent son or daughter.... “Mom, Pop...I’m O.K. I’ll be home soon.”

He thought about grandparents who might be pacing the floor trying to contain their anxiety until a voice came on the line to say, “It’s a boy...or it’s a girl...Mother and child are doing fine.”

He thought about young lovers.... or older ones.... who might be nervously hoping to hear the telephone ring and that special somebody say, “I love you.” He thought about all the relatives and friends who might be hoping to hear the report of a medical doctor saying, “The operation was successful. The patient is on the way to recovery.”

Morley thought about all those situations. And then he says he suddenly fervently wished he could call all the people in the world who were waiting by the telephone to tell them the good news they wanted to hear.

NOW HEAR THIS: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” WHAT AN ANNOUNCEMENT!

It’s the news the whole world needs to hear....GOOD NEWS.

WE ARE NOT ALONE. We are not abandoned. We are not left without invisible means of support. We are not cut off from the Source of life and hope.

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given....and His name shall be called WONDERFUL.... Does it mean that all bad news, all problems, all debilitating conditions and circumstances are suddenly erased?

NO, IT DOESN’T MEAN THAT. The coming of this Child into the world doesn’t get us off the hook, doesn’t make us immune from hardship, or misfortune, or bad breaks...the world goes on. But his coming does mean that SOMEONE IS WITH US ON THE JOURNEY, someone who cares.... deeply, someone for whom our lives, our destiny, our ultimate wellbeing is of paramount importance.

There’s something very big about that, and very special on this special night.... I wonder....Is there someone here this evening who has come to this service skeptically, only half believing that there is any truth in the old story, yet maybe hoping wistfully that it’s more than just a fairy tale---

NOW HEAR THIS---In Christ, nothing is too good to be true. Suspend your critical defenses long enough to let that truth set you free. HE IS THE TRUTH. That little helpless Baby embodies what is ultimately real. Think of it. That’s the good news.

Is there somebody here who has come alone, or without any other person to whom you feel any sense of real closeness? Is there someone who down inside even now knows too well the pain of isolation and loneliness? NOW HEAR THIS---Christ is the faithful Companion who truly hears and understands, who truly listens and supports, who knows completely and still stands by without wavering. He’ll never leave you. Think of it! That’s the good news.

Is there somebody here who has come bearing a load too heavy to carry much longer... a load too burdensome to lug around anymore and is about to collapse under the weight of it? NOW HEAR THIS---In Christ there is Someone to help you with that load. There is Someone to walk by your side and shoulder it with you. He came with a yoke he called “easy”, and a burden he called “light”. He came to bring rest and peace to those who were weary. He wants to do that for you. Think of it! That’s the good news.

Is there someone here tonight who has come feeling unworthy even of being in his presence... someone blackened by the dirt and grime of sin’s stench, someone perfectly aware of how short of the mark he or she is living.... the consciousness of it makes you ashamed.... NOW HEAR THIS---the most striking name his contemporaries called him when he was on earth was “the friend of sinners”. You can’t go beyond his redemptive outreach. Think of it. That’s the good news.

Or is there someone here who has come tonight with nothing left to cling to but the final shreds of a tattered despair.... who is reduced at this point to the level of saying, “What is there left for me? What do I have to live for... Why even try to go on?”

NOW HEAR THIS---No pit is so deep but what the love of God in Christ is deeper still. Nothing can separate us from that love.... NOTHING. Therein lies our hope and the hope of the world. Think of it. That’s the good news.

Christmas is a time of blessedness and joy. It’s that way naturally for many, maybe for most. But it doesn’t seem so for everybody. For some, it’s a tough season to get through. Is there any good news for those not dispositioned to hear good news? Is there any good news for those around whom the world at this time of the year seems about to close in darkness? Maybe just this.... the sheer tough-mindedness of it.

THE JOY AND BLESSEDNESS OF CHRISTMAS ARE NOT BASED ON EXEMPTION FROM ANYTHING, certainly not form life’s rigors. NOR ARE THEY A FROTHY KIND OF SUPERFICIALITY WHICH IGNORES THE REALITIES OF LIFE.

I remind you...when Jesus was born, Herod was king...He came into that kind of world. It was a world just like the world we live in right now...The difference is... the crucial difference is that now there is LIGHT shining in the darkness...and the darkness cannot put it out.

NOW HEAR THIS....God so loved the world that He gave.... gave his Son...for US. It’s the best news of all. In the world you have tribulation. But be not afraid, said the Son. I have overcome the world. And here at the manger is where it all begins.

We celebrate the radiant truth of it this evening. Christ the Savior is born.

Now as a symbol of the event which marks the coming of Christ the Savior as the light of the world, and the light he brings to enlighten our lives, we are going to light our individual candles from the Christ candle.

It was a dark world into which the Babe of Bethlehem was born. It was a world of violence, hatred, greed and jealousy...a world desperately in need of light. We can symbolize that by extinguishing the lights in the sanctuary, leaving burning only the light provided by the Christ candle itself.

Now we see this small but significant light that comes from the Christ candle. It stands out against the darkness. From his light comes our light. We’ll pass the light from the Christ candle so that by sharing it we extend his light to chase the darkness.

Now let us light our candles from the light that shines in the darkness, the light of Jesus Christ.