While the birth of our Savior took place over 2000 years ago, I want to begin our Christmas sermon a little more recently. It’s the fall of 1944. Eduard Kaib, an architecht who was serving as a non-commissioned officer in the German army, had been captured by American forces in combat. Kaib became a Prisoner of War, and was sent to the United States to work in a POW Camp. Kaib was one of 3200 German POW’s assigned to work in the camp that was built near Algona, Iowa, in Kossuth County named Camp Algona. Here he was, halfway around the world, separated from loved ones, not knowing when the war would end and when he could be free from living his life behind barbed wire. As fall came, the realization that he would be spending Christmas away from home began to set in. He missed his home, his family, the special Christmas services in his church, and all the happy festivities of the season. So too did many of his friends in the POW camp. To say that it looked like there would be little, if any, joy to be found that Christmas in the camp would be an understatement. So, Kaib and his friends decided to do something about it. They worked long hours to create half life-sized figures to create a nativity scene. Made of concrete on a wire frame, and finished with hand carving in plaster, the scene began to recreate that first Christmas night. They put the baby Jesus at the center, situated on straw, with Mary, Joseph, and kneeling shepherds on either side. The wise men could be seen, approaching with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Behind them, camels being led by their drivers were traveling to the Christ Child, while shepherds are seated at a campfire listening to the news in our Gospel reading for tonight that “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Kaib and his friends paid for the materials with their own money, and found some level of joy in recreating that first Christmas with these figurines.
Out of all the things that could bring some level of joy to some prisoners of war, why did they choose to create this nativity scene? Especially in the midst of war, a time when it would be easy for them to doubt “peace on earth, good will toward men” that we typically associate with Christmas?
Today, we see a lot of nativity scenes, you may have noticed the beautiful scene we have displayed outside of the church, which has been given in memory of our departed loved ones. In a few moments, Marcus, Stephanie, and Anders Lange will be out here, dressed as Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus, to be a “live” nativity scene. Why do we love that scene so much? But more importantly, what do you think when you look at such a scene? That’s what we’re going to talk about a bit this evening.
In our Gospel reading for tonight, Mary and Joseph are making the long, arduous trip to Bethlehem to register for a census that had been ordered by the Roman authorities. Mary was pregnant, about to give birth to a baby boy. Her and Joseph had already been through quite a bit. First, an angel declared to Mary that she would be the mother of the long promised Savior, and give the baby the name Jesus. Her virtue would still be intact, but that would not shield her from the accusations of adultery, an offense punishable by stoning the offender to death. Even Joseph himself was skeptical at first when Mary told him that she was expecting a child out of wedlock. In fact, Joseph went so far as to seek to secretly divorce Mary, to save himself the shame, yet to also be merciful to Mary, to prevent her from facing being stoned to death. Yet, an angel appeared to Joseph, confirming to him the exact thing Mary had told him, that indeed, the child conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit. Now, Joseph found himself defending the very story that he himself didn’t’ believe at first. No doubt, a lot of people in Nazareth thought the couple had lost their marbles so to speak. Mary and Joseph I am sure had to endure the whispers behind their backs, those silent glares from others that say more than a thousand words could ever say. Mary and Joseph were now considered “those people”, the kind that we tend to think less of than ourselves by the Nazareth population. They may have even faced the scorn of their own families for all we know. No doubt, living in that kind of an environment in a small community was difficult enough, considering the circumstances, knowing that the explanation “Yes, Mary’s pregnant, no it’s not Joseph’s child, but that’s okay because an angel told us that the child is from the Holy Spirit” wasn’t going to be a story many, if anyone, in town would believe.
Now, they face the difficult trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register for the Census. Since Joseph was of the house and lineage of David, they had to make the journey to Bethlehem. It wasn’t an easy trip. Remember, the journey would have had to have been made by foot, over difficult terrain, under sometimes dangerous situations. Throw in the fact that Mary was due at any time, it made the trip even more difficult. Then, as they were arriving in Bethlehem, the time came for the child to be born. Joseph tried to find a place for them to stay, but there was no room in the inn. The only place they could find shelter was a stable. A place used for housing animals. And it was there, that this child was born. Not exactly the most ideal place to give birth, in fact, probably one of the last places one would expect a child to be born. Perhaps when you were growing up, and you didn’t keep your room organized as expected, you may have had one of your parents ask you “what’s with this place, were you born in a barn or something?”
But besides that, what made this child so different? Baby boys were born in Bethlehem all the time. What is it about this baby that made those German prisoners want to recreate the scene of his birth?
In the fields near Bethlehem, shepherds were out doing what shepherds do, keep watch over their sheep. It was a quiet, ordinary night until some angels came, and announced to them that the long awaited Savior of the world was born. The sign was this: You shall find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” The angels even had a song to sing about the baby: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom He is well pleased.” So the shepherds decided to go into Bethlehem and see this thing that the Lord had revealed to them. So they went with haste, and they found Mary, Joseph, and the Baby lying in the manger. With their own eyes, they saw that promise of a Savior fuflilled. They saw that this baby was the peace, was the goodwill, was the one who would save the world from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Then, they went and told everyone what they had seen in that nativity scene in Bethlehem.
Carrying on the mantle of the Shepherds that first Christmas Eve, those German prisoners worked for over a year, creating their nativity scene. Even behind barbed wire, halfway across the world, looked upon as “the enemy” by local folks in the Kossuth County area, they wanted to share the message of the Christmas angels with their fellow prisoners and with the residents of the area. These men knew first hand the wages of sin. No doubt, they had been on the battlefields, they had seen the horrors of war, they had seen fellow soldiers die, some of them may have even been unwilling participants in the war, and now found themselves imprisoned, unable to leave, separated from their family, friends, and life as they knew it back home. Their situation was, in a sense, like everyone else’s in the world, in that we were all prisoners of sin, death, and the power of the devil. Oh, we may not sin in ways that cause wars to be fought, or that even make the front pages of the newspaper, but we sin daily. We get angry with our parents or spouses. We put our needs ahead of our children’s needs. We look for ways to get ahead at work, even if it means taking advantage of others to get where we want to be. Instead of repentance, we look for excuses when God’s Word tells us what we’re doing or believing is wrong. We blame others for our lack of patience. We throw fits when we don’t get the gifts we were anticipating at Christmas, or when the gifts that we do get break right away or don’t work. You see, without that baby in the manger, we’d all face eternal separation from God, and all we’d have to look forward to is death and hell for eternity.
But, that baby didn’t stay in the manger. As both God and Man, he would grow up to live the perfect, sinless life you and I cannot. You see, He was born with only one ultimate destination in mind, the cross. You heard about that in the second verse of the well known Christmas hymn “What Child is This” when you sing: “Why lies he in such mean estate Where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christian fear; for sinners here The silent Word is pleading. Nails, spear shall pierce him through, the cross be born for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the babe, the son of Mary.” (LBW #40, v.2) Those tiny hands and feet would one day be nailed to the cross, that side would one day be pierced with a spear. He would go through all of that, so that we could have true peace with God, forgiveness of our sins, and eternal life with him. That’s the joy that we sing about at Christmas time. That’s the joy that those soldiers could find even in the midst of being prisoners of war. And that’s the message they wanted to share with their neighbors in a foreign land.
One year later, in 1945, Eduard Kaib and his friends had completed their nativity scene. They had used what little hard earned money they had made working in the fields nearby to pay for the materials, and were ready to show off their completed scene. But, they decided to have it placed near the edge of the camp west of Algona, so that the general public could view it. Among those invited to view it for the first time was a young Methodist minister, serving a rural congregation near the camp. This was his account of that night:
"One of my parishoners was a secretary in the head office. The camp itself was top security with civilians forbidden entrance. The secretary called asking if my wife and I would like to join a few in observing a very special religious event. We met her at the gate and walked approximately one half mile between the high barbed wire fences to a compound. Before we entered we were told we would be in a darkened area. The prisoners could not see us and we were to remain completely quiet. The night was very cold and awesomely quiet. Huddled in a small area we waited. It was chilly both by temperatures and emotional atmosphere. I knew we would be looking upon the captured enemies who had been fighting our boys and had taken the sons and daughters of our church family.
Into that cold crystal air came the guttural German sounds of a human voice. My two years of college German gave me the understating “Our Father God” was being addressed. It was Christmas and I was hearing the God of Luther and the church saints being addressed by men of war. I began to tingle within. I then heard a pitch pipe sounded. Very slowly a bit of light began to pierce the darkness and one could see these human forms more as shadowy presences. Then from the band of men came those beautiful strains of “Silent Night, Holy Night” sung in the original tongue. As the carol neared it’s close a spot was playing on Shepherds and sheep made of clay from the very soil of the camp and decorated with what colors could be mustered from the substances obtainable by men behind wire containments. Then appeared the Holy Family and Crèche. From Silent Night they moved from one familiar carol to another. They sang with gusto and praise. I was glad I was in the dark for there I stood, tears streaming down my face. We were giving inspiration on the Iowa hillsides in wartime and that deeper cry for Peace on Earth. Our bodies were cold, but our hearts were burning within. I saw these men, many miles from family and alone, imprisoned, praising God and pouring out their prayers for wars cessation. The concept of Christmas and the family of God became most real.”
Today, we live in a time where we try to find Christmas joy in so many other things, through gift giving, through parties, through festive characters, family gatherings, and so many other things. We live in a time of economic uncertainty. Some of us this year will sit down to our Christmas gatherings, and know that there is an empty place this year, because a loved one isn’t with us. Some of us or people we know are anxious about what lies ahead, wondering if we will still have our jobs next year or not. Unemployment is on the rise, and consumer spending is at an all time low. For a lot of people, a wish of “Merry Christmas” doesn’t seem to mean much. If anything, these difficult times remind us that it’s time to put “Christ” back into Christmas. Tonight, with the eyes of faith, look at that baby in the manger. Ponder what He was born to do for you. Realize that He is the peace, He is the goodwill for all. He is your savior, God in human flesh, come to give you the greatest gift of all, forgiveness of all of your sins, eternal life, and salvation.
As you all know, World War II did come to an end, those prisoners at Camp Algona were released and went home to their families, but the Nativity Scene remained in Algona, a gift from the German prisoners to the community as a permanent exhibit each Christmas. It is now housed in its own building at the Kossuth County Fairgrounds in Algona.
When I was 15, and my family had recently moved away from the only town I had known up to that point, far from friends or life as I had known it, my older cousin came to our house, picked up my brother and I, and took us to the fairgrounds in Algona to a little building. Inside that building, I saw the very nativity scene that Eduard Kaib and the German prisoners had created. There, a tour guide told us the story behind the nativity scene, how those soldiers so far away from home, created something that has brought so much joy to people for years. Today, that nativity scene built by prisoners of war tells those who are imprisoned by sin that their Savior has been born, and because of that Baby, they will be set free from their prison of sin for all of eternity.
The next time you view a nativity scene, with the eyes of faith, look at that baby. Remember what he’s destined to do. Remember that he’s born for you, lived for you, died for you, rose from the dead for you, and lives today for you, so that you may be forgiven of all your sins, and find peace, goodwill from God, this Christmas and always. Amen.
