Please open your Bibles to Luke 2:8-20 which we will read in a few minutes.
In this part of the narrative of the Christmas story we read of the encounter of the angels with the shepherds on the night of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.
With that in mind lets go ahead and read Luke 2:8-20.
In this very passage we see such things as:
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
And …
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those on whom His favor rests.”
And …
“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
And when we read these things and other things like the arrival of the Wise Men we get the feeling of everything being all warm and fuzzy like a comforting children’s story.
It is tempting to disconnect the birth of Jesus from the difficult parts of His life and when we do that it disconnects His birth from the real reason why Jesus came to earth.
Kind of like in this little video … (play The Christmas Connection video from Sermon Central)
Don’t we sometimes get the manger disconnected from the cross; the beauty of the birth of the Son of God disconnected from the gruesome crucifixion of the very same, the one and only Son of God?
Many people struggle at this time of year.
Christmas is supposed to be bright and cheerful but that manufactured cheerfulness just seems to increase the darkness in the lives of many.
That was how life seemed to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1864 when he wrote the words to the poem, “Christmas Bells” which later became the Christmas Hymn known as, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.
But before we read the words to that poem please allow me to read a little bit about the story behind the poem.
Tragedy struck both the nation and the Longfellow family in 1861. Confederate Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard fired the opening salvos of the American Civil War on April 12th, and Fanny Longfellow was fatally burned in an accident in the library of Craigie House on July 10th.
The day before the accident, Fanny Longfellow recorded in her journal: "We are all sighing for the good sea breeze instead of this stifling land breeze that is filled with dust. Poor Allegra is very droopy with heat, and Edie has to get her hair in a net to free her neck from the weight."
After trimming some of seven year old Edith's beautiful curls, Fanny decided to preserve the clippings in sealing wax. Melting a bar of sealing wax with a candle, a few drops fell unnoticed upon her dress.
Just then a beautiful breeze from the ocean gusted through the window, igniting the light material of Fanny's dress - which immediately engulfed her in flames. In her attempt to protect Edith and Allegra, she ran to Henry's study in the next room, where Henry frantically attempted to extinguish the flames with an undersized throw rug.
Failing to stop the fire with the rug, he tried to smother the flames by throwing his arms around Frances-- severely burning his face, arms, and hands. Fanny Longfellow died the next morning. Too ill from his burns and grief, Henry did not attend her funeral.
The first Christmas after Fanny's death, Longfellow wrote, "How inexpressibly sad are all holidays." A year after the incident, he wrote, "I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace." Longfellow's journal entry for December 25th 1862 reads: "'A merry Christmas' say the children, but that is no more for me."
Almost a year later, Longfellow received word that his oldest son Charles, a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac, had been severely wounded with a bullet passing under his shoulder blades and taking off a fragment of his spine. The Christmas of 1863 was silent in Longfellow's journal.
Finally, on Christmas Day of 1864, he wrote the words of the poem, "Christmas Bells."
"I heard the bells on Christmas Day - Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet - The words repeat - Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come, the belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along - The unbroken song - Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
‘Till, ringing, singing on its way, the world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime - A chant sublime - Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
That’s what we like to hear, isn’t it? Tidings of great joy, right?
But then the darkness of the past few years seem to rush back into Longfellow’s heart as he remembered the passing of his wife, the war wounds of his son and the terrible slaughter that was taking place on battle fields of his beloved nation.
By that time nearly half a million of fellow American’s had died on the battle field. Just in the previous July the Battle of Gettysburg had cost the lives of over 51,000 soldiers.
His son is wounded and he is still mourning the loss of his beloved wife.
And, so the poem takes on a darker tone when he writes:
Then from each black accursed mouth - The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound - The carols drowned - Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent - The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn - The households born - Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head; "There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong, - And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
This feeling around Christmas time is not unusual!
Do you feel like you are helpless in the struggle and that there is simply no hope?
Do you feel like you are weary, that your strength and endurance in the struggle is gone and there is no rest in sight?
Has your heart been broken by a friend or the death of a loved one and that love is just an empty word with no meaning?
Do you feel that you are unforgivable?
Perhaps the brokenness was caused by you and there will never be any reconciliation?
Is the wound in your heart so deep that it can never be healed?
What even makes matters worse is if you know in your heart that you have been the cause of the pain and hopelessness.
If that’s what you’re feeling the words Merry Christmas often feels like a knife in the heart.
Jesus Christ knows all of that!
That is why He came to earth, to deliver us from the tragedy of sin not only in eternity but in your life right now!
There is hope for the helpless and that hope is Jesus
Rest for the weary which can only be found in Jesus
Love for the brokenhearted that starts by crying out to Jesus
There is grace and forgiveness, real grace and forgiveness extended to us by Jesus
Mercy and healing, healing, wonderful healing of the deep, gaping wounds of sin.
And all of this comes through Jesus. He’ll meet you wherever you are if you
Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus
(Play the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLSKSlJ0-2s)
In all of his grieving Longfellow, the author of “Christmas Bells” knew this and the Lord helped him to turn his heart from the hopelessness of the civil war and the death of his wife to the hope that arrived on earth with the Christ Child when he wrote:
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead; nor doth He sleep!
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on earth, good-will to men!"
That is what Christmas is!
It’s not Ho-Ho-Ho that lasts for ten seconds and then is gone like a vapor it is this:
It is reconnecting the Jesus in the manger with the Jesus who walked on water, the Jesus who healed the sick, the Jesus who raised people from the dead, the very same Jesus who died on the cross for my sin and your sin, for my salvation and your salvation and who arose from the dead three days later!
We often think of Christmas as laughter and presents and parties but true Christmas joy and peace is found in the hearts of those who have come to the end of themselves and have cried out to Jesus for rescue.
When someone asks you, “Are you ready for Christmas?” they may mean have you gotten all of your shopping done and your baking done and have you sent out your Christmas cards?
But the real answer to the question is have you cried out to Jesus and received the greatest gift of all; eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord?
Closing comments and invitation if the Lord leads.
Closing prayer
