How often have you heard the phrase or description “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”? But what if it’s not?
What if Christmas doesn’t bring alive warm happy memories for you?
What happens when there is an empty chair at the table and Christmas becomes a reminder of a lost loved one or a broken relationship?
One person observed, grief and Christmas go together like fire and ice.
And while that might be true, the reality is, that for some people grief is a natural part of the Christmas season, and they can’t be separated. Christmas will always be a reminder of a loss. A reminder of someone who’s no longer there, for whatever reason.
Or maybe Christmas with all its excesses is a reminder of how little you have. You can’t provide the things your kids want, and they don’t understand why Santa treats the other kids better than he treats them.
In Merle Haggard’s 1973 song, If we Make it Through December, he sings these words,
Got laid off down at the factory
And their timing's not the greatest in the world
Heaven knows I been working hard
Wanted Christmas to be right for daddy's girl
I don't mean to hate December
It's meant to be the happy time of year
And my little girl don't understand
Why daddy can't afford no Christmas gift.
Or perhaps this Christmas will be another reminder of children that will never be yours.
For some, the approach of Christmas might as well be advertised with Dante’s words “Abandon all hope, you who enter here!”
And people just don’t understand. If you don’t put on your Santa hat and a Jolly face you are called a Scrooge or a Grinch.
Perhaps your favorite Christmas song isn’t Jingle Bells, or White Christmas, instead perhaps you find yourself identifying more with the words of Elvis’ hit Blue Christmas and it seems almost as if he wrote them for you.
And you know exactly how Elvis felt when he crooned, “When those blue snowflakes start falling, that’s when those blue memories start calling.”
And for some of you, blue memories are a very real part of the Christmas celebrations.
If Christmas is more blue than white for you, then I want to offer up some hope, hope for today.
Today we will experience the shortest day and the longest night of the year.
We know what it feels like to be in darkness. Others have called it “the dark night of the soul,” or “the winter of our discontent.”
But remember it may be the longest night of the year but tomorrow marks the beginning of the journey back to the shortest night of the year.
In 2022, Angela and I had the opportunity to tour Stonehenge. And the guide was telling us about all the craziness that went on at Stonehenge at the celebration of the summer solstice.
Which is one of only two times each year that the inner circle is open to the public, the second is the Winter Solstice. Which doesn’t attract nearly as many people. They often see over 20,000 in the summer and only less than a quarter of that for the winter celebration.
And he told us that what many of those who come on June 21st didn’t understand, was that wasn’t the date that the builders of the Stonehenge would have celebrated. They weren’t celebrating the day the light began to fade. No, they celebrated on the winter solstice. The day the light began to return.
Our theme this Christmas has been, Gifts from the King, and over the past few weeks Rob and I have preached on the gifts of Joy, Love and Peace.
This morning, I want to take you back the scripture that was read for us earlier, in particular verse 13. Romans 15:13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The first Christmas is often romanticized and sanitized, we have a Christmas card perspective of the entire event, with angels in white, pristine shepherds and weary travellers in their royal robes all of whom are gathered round the happy couple who have just welcomed their child into the world in a spotless stable. Really?
The world that Jesus came into was a dark and dangerous world. The fact that Jesus was born in a stable wasn’t the first choice of his parents and probably not the thirty first choice either.
But there was no room for them anywhere else. Any lodging that might have been available in the small town of Bethlehem had already been taken by pilgrims who had returned to their hometown for the census and if by chance there were any rooms to be had they would have been out of the reach of this poor couple.
The Christmas story tells us in Luke 2:6–7 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
Luke doesn’t tell just tell us that there was no lodging available, he says there was no lodging available for them.
I wonder if there lodging was available for others. Others with a higher social standing, or perhaps to pay the inflated prices that went along with the census crowds.
And so, they were relegated to a stable, a barn, the abode of animals. Not the pristine image that we see on Christmas cards and arranged on mantles but a working barn, with all of the smells and noises that accompany a working barn.
I’ve mentioned before, that as a kid, we had horses and because of that I spent a lot of time around barns and stables and the critters that occupied them.
And I can assure you that even when you work hard at keeping them clean, they are not the most hygienic or sweetest smelling places around.
But I would suspect that 2000 years ago in the occupied country of Israel that Jesus wasn’t the first or the last child to be born in less-than-ideal circumstances.
2000 years ago, the country of Israel was a country with very little hope. For four hundred years they had lived under the rule of various occupying powers. The Romans were simply the last in a long line of those who had oppressed the people of God.
Four hundred years. Think about it, it was just a little over four hundred years ago Samuel de Champlain had just established Port Royal.
Four hundred years. That’s the entire history of European settlement in Canada. For us it is ancient history, and for Israel that was the length of time they had been under the tread of oppressors. First the Assyrians, then the Babylonians, then the Greeks and now the Romans.
Politically they were ruled by others. Morally their country was bankrupt. Religiously the elite lorded their knowledge over the common people and the people of Israel were living without hope.
And more than anything the birth of Jesus was a statement of hope.
Instead of letting the people of the world continue in their downward spiral, God interrupted history and entered the world as a child. John wrote this about the birth of Jesus in John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. As dark as the darkness might be, it can never extinguish the light of even a single candle.
Christmas Offers up the Hope of the Father. Christmas wasn’t just an afterthought of God, one of the most memorized verses in Bible, God’s word tells us John 3:16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Initially, men and women were created to have fellowship with God, but our rebellion and sin broke that relationship.
It had nothing to do with God and everything to do with us. Reminds me of the old couple driving along in their pickup and she said, “How come we don’t sit all cuddled up in the front seat like we used to? To which he replied, “I haven’t moved.”
It was because of that rebellion and that sin that darkness entered the world, and that darkness has entered our lives.
Whether it be the darkness of betrayal or the darkness of illness or simply the dark emptiness that we sometimes find ourselves in, it has all been a consequence of sin. Not necessarily our own sin, but sometimes it is.
Sometimes we are where we are because of choices we made, and sometimes it’s because of choices somebody else made, and sometimes it’s because we live in a world broken by sin, and that brokenness touches every life.
And even in the darkness and the brokenness, God never gave up on humanity.
For thousands of years God had reached out to humanity offering them options and guidelines for mending that broken relationship. Each time being met with rejection.
Listen to these words again. John 3:16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
I know that sometimes that seems really broad. We think of God’s love being divided by the 8 billion people on earth, and there doesn’t seem to be enough to go around.
But God’s love isn’t divided like a pizza, because we don’t each get a portion, we each get the whole. If only pizzas were like that.
And so, we can read that a little more personally, John 3:16 “For this is how God loved you: He gave his one and only Son, so that if you believe in him, you will not perish but have eternal life.”
And let’s take it one step further and read it together, John 3:16 “For this is how God loved me: He gave his one and only Son, so that if I believe in him, I will not perish but have eternal life.”
Can you believe that today? Can you believe that God loves you, and that on that first Christmas he gave the greatest gift that he could give? He gave his son for you!
You see, the Father doesn’t just come and sit with us in the darkness. He provided hope when he provided a light to shatter the darkness.
Listen to how John introduces Jesus in John 1:1–5 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
Christmas Offers up the Hope of the Son Jesus wasn’t given as an unwilling sacrifice. It was his love that allowed him to come and his love that led him to the cross.
But it wasn’t a nebulous kind of love, it was a love that was filled with compassion for the widow who had lost her son in Luke 7.
It was a love that allowed him to affirm the worth of the woman he met at the well in John 4. Men didn’t talk to strange women at the best of time and yet Jesus strikes up a conversation with this woman, and then we discover that she had been married and divorced five times and was presently living with a man who wasn’t her husband.
And yet, even with that knowledge, Jesus didn’t walk away, didn’t judge her but instead he affirmed her worth and offered her a hope for a better life.
When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died, we see Jesus dealing with the fragility of the human state. The scriptures tell us that as he stood before the grave of his friend and he wept.
He didn’t tell those who were there that Lazarus was in a better place. He didn’t try to remind them that their loved one and friend was no longer suffering. He didn’t attempt to bring them comfort with the words of Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
And even though all of those things were probably true, that isn’t what Mary and Martha, and the others needed right then.
And so, Jesus, the Son of God, stood with tears streaming down his face as he thought of the pain that his friend had endured. As he thought of the empty place that would be at the family table that night. And as he thought of all the unfulfilled dreams and a Lazarus shaped void that would replace their brother.
So, he spoke the words they hadn’t even dared wish for, and Lazarus lived again.
And there are those here today who wonder why Jesus didn’t offer the same gift of a second chance to your loved one, but remember that eventually Lazarus died again, and Jesus didn’t offer him the gift of physical life again but offered him what he offers each of us, the gift of eternal life.
Paul wrote in Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, which isn’t very encouraging but listens to what comes next, but, and you remember the first law of Hermeneutics after the “But” comes the truth. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Many of us grew up singing the children’s song Jesus loves me. Do you remember the words?
Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong; They are weak, but He is strong.
Chorus:
Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.
We are still weak and he is still strong and we still belong to him because still he loves us so.
And that is the gift that Christ still offers to us today. The gift of his love and the gift of his grace, and the gift of hope.
But the Son doesn’t just come and sit with us in the darkness. He wants us to be light to chase away the darkness of the world. Listen to his words in John 8:12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
To put this verse into context, it follows the story of the woman who had been brought to Jesus after having been caught in adultery. The entire, cast the first stone story.
Often people will finish the reading when Jesus tells the woman in part way through John 8:10–11 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I..”
But that wasn’t all that Jesus said, let’s finish the verse with what Jesus actually said, John 8:10–11 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
And then he tells the woman, and her accusers and his followers that he is the light of the world, so they wouldn’t have to continue to walk in darkness.
And when Jesus told his followers about his impending death and His return to the Father they panicked, what would they do without Jesus?
And so, Jesus told them John 15:26 “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.”
You see, the Jesus doesn’t just come and sit with us in the darkness. He came to provide with a light to shatter the darkness.
Which brings us to the fact that Christmas Offers up the Hope of the Holy Spirit
I am a big fan of the New Living Translation but sometimes I think I wouldn’t have used the word advocate. The word that the NLT translates as advocate is a Greek word that can mean advocate or it can mean comforter.
And I understand that concept of the Holy Spirit interceding on our behalf and being our advocate.
But often in the here and now what I need and what I want is a comforter. Someone who will reassure me and comfort me.
If you read through the New Testament, it becomes very apparent that when Jesus returned to the Father that he didn’t leave his followers alone. And the Spirit is still here for us today. As you read your bibles you discover that the Holy Spirit is still here. And he still guides us, and he still teaches us, and he still empowers us, and, yes he still comforts us.
You see the Holy Spirit doesn’t just come and sit with us in the darkness. He reshapes us, and restore us, and as he teaches us how to live again, he gives us hope for tomorrow.
And so, to finish there are two scriptures that I want to point you to. When it seems that we’ve reached the end I love the words of Romans 4:18 Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—
And God still offers us the gift of hope. Even on this the shortest day of the year, Jesus still tells us as he told those who gathered on that hillside 2000 years ago, in Matthew 5:4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
We are just ten days from 2026, I’m embracing the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson who wrote, “Hope Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'it will be happier'...”
And this morning, I want to pray for you the same prayer that Paul prayed for those early Christ followers two thousand years ago. Romans 15:13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
