Luke 2:8-14

“The Peace of Christmas”

I want to begin this morning by sharing with you a beautiful Christmas story. One day, God called all the Angels of heaven together for a special choir rehearsal. He told them that he had a special song that he wanted them all to learn … a song that they would sing at a very significant occasion. And so, the Angels went to work on it. They rehearsed long and hard, with great focus and intensity. In fact, some of the angels grumbled a bit, because God insisted on a very high standard for his choir … sort of like how Russ does for our choir. But, I’m sure there’s no grumbling in our choir.

Well, as time passed, the choir improved and mastered this special song, and finally, God announced that they were ready. But then, he shocked them by telling them that there would be just one performance of this great song they had worked on so hard on. They would sing this song only once. Again, some of the angels grumbled. I mean, this song was so extraordinarily beautiful and they had worked so hard on it, surely they could sing it more than once. But God only smiled and told them that when the time came, they would understand.

Then finally, the night came. God called them together and he gathered them above a field just outside of Bethlehem. “It’s time,” God said. And so, the angels sang their song. O my, did they ever sing it! “Glory to God in the highest… and on earth peace and good will toward all.” They were awesome! What a special night it was!

When the angels returned to heaven, God reminded them that they would not sing this song again as an Angelic choir, but if they wanted to, they could hum the song occasionally as individuals. One angel was bold enough to step forward and ask God why. “Why can’t we sing it again? I mean, we did it so well! It felt so right! Why can’t we sing it again?”

“Because,” God explained, “The gift has been given. My son has been born and now earth must do the singing!”

Once each year, Christmas comes around to remind us of this … that “The gift has been given. God’s Son has come to earth and now we must do the singing!” And look at how we have tried. Without question, one of the most beloved parts of Christmas is the music! I am so looking forward to this evening as our choirs will sing. The good news of Christmas is so awesome … it’s so full of wonder, that it’s not enough to just talk about it. Like the Angels, we have to burst forth in song. We have to sing it!

Think of all the powerful anthems of Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, Rutter, Bach, Davis, and Landes. There are the beloved carols like: O Little Town of Bethlehem; Joy to the World; The First Noel; O Come All Ye faithful; and Silent Night. Then there are the secular songs like: Jingle Bells; and Silver Bells; Winter Wonderland; and I’ll Be Home for Christmas.

Recently, I was in a department store doing some Christmas shopping and of course, Christmas music was playing. I was getting into the spirit of it all with everybody else. But then, they began to play Natalie Cole’s song, “My Grown-up Christmas List.” Maybe you’ve heard it? In the song, Natalie reminisces about how when she was young, she sat on Santa’s knee and told him about her childhood fantasies. And then she sings about how, even though she’s all grown up now, she still has dreams … things she would like for Christmas. But her list isn’t just for herself anymore, it’s for the world we live in.

Her “Grown-up Christmas List” includes things like:

“Lives that won’t be torn apart;
and wars will never start;
and time will heal the heart;
(that) Everyone will have a friend;
and right will always win;
and love will never end.
This is my lifelong dream,
my Grown-up Christmas List.”

As I listened to that list, I found myself wishing the same right along with her. Clearly, that song captures a longing that is within us all. It is a longing for the peace of Christmas. “The peace of Christmas,” you say. “There’s no peace at

Christmas!” Indeed, this can be the most un-peaceful time of the year! I mean, there’s shopping to do; gifts to wrap; shelves to stock; parties to attend; food to cook; decorations to put up; schedules to coordinate; and crowds to fight! There is no peace at Christmas!

No … not if that is what we spend all our energy and focus on. The only place we can find the Peace of Christmas is in the Miracle of Bethlehem. For when we focus on the Miracle that took place in Bethlehem, we hear the song of the Angels, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace and good will toward all!” When we focus on the Miracle of Bethlehem, we discover that real peace comes only from being made right in our relationships with God and others. That’s the real gift of Christmas.

If you want to find the peace of Christmas this year, then you have to first be made right in your relationship with God. That is the starting place. And this is why Jesus came. Jesus came into this world to bring us peace. And first and foremost, he came to bring peace between us and God. As Paul wrote, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” - Romans 5:1. The gift of Christmas is that Jesus Christ came into this world to set us right in our relationship with God. Jesus came into this world to save us and to reconcile us back to God.

You may remember the story about the elderly couple driving down the street one day. They were listening to Christmas music on the radio as the man drove the car through the busy streets. As they were listening to the beautiful music of Christmas, the wife became nostalgic and she said, “Herbert, do you remember how we were when we were younger … how we used to sit close together as we drove along? It was so wonderful back then. What happened?”

With his hands on the steering wheel, Herbert said, “I don’t know, but I haven’t moved. I’m still sitting in the same place.”

Christmas comes each year to remind us that God is not the one who has moved away from us. We are the ones who have moved away from God. We are the ones who have gotten so focused on other things and other passions, so that we have drifted away from Him.

This week while I was in the store, I heard the announcement over the store intercom, “We have a lost boy here! If you have lost your little boy, please come to the customer service desk.” That’s every parent’s nightmare. I happened to be near the customer service desk and so I could see the little boy crying and being consoled by one of the store clerks.

I have often wondered how I would handle that, if I was the parent who was being paged over the intercom. I mean, how embarrassing that would be to have it announced all over the store that you have lost your child? Can’t you just imagine the stares of onlookers making judgments about how irresponsible you are? So, I decided to stick around and see this irresponsible parent for myself.

Being a parent, I know how quickly children can disappear. And just like any of us would be, the mother approached the counter greatly relieved to be reunited with her child. The reunion was celebrative, with lots of hugs and words of love, and of course, a warning never to do that again. It was a beautiful sight. They had been separated from one another, but now they had found each other and were brought back together. And I thought to myself, that this is the real miracle of Christmas. Through Jesus, God has sought to reconcile us.

Though most people’s attention was focused on the mother and her son, I found myself drawn to the store clerk. She was the one who spoke over that loudspeaker and served as a reconciler between the boy and his mother. They had gotten lost from each other because the little boy had wandered off, but the store clerk had gotten them back together again.

In the same sense, Jesus Christ came down to this earth to reunite us with God. That’s what that word “Emmanuel” means … “God with us!” As Paul says in Colossians 1:19-20, “For in Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”

God comes to us in the Christ Child to seek and save the lost. And the only way that we can have the peace of Christmas in our lives, is to let the Christ of Christmas bring us back into a right relationship with the Father who loves us. It is only through his grace and mercy can we be set right with the One who made us. This is the greatest gift of Christmas.

So, the first step toward experiencing the peace of Christmas is to be set right in our relationship with God. The second way we find the peace of Christmas is to be set right with ourselves. Psychologists tell us that we can’t be at peace with life and other people until we are at peace with ourselves. It’s what they call “a healthy self-esteem” or “inner peace”, which is just another way of saying that we need to be right with our selves.

Maybe you’ve heard about the man who wrote a letter to the Internal Revenue Service. It read: “Dear Sirs: I underpaid my tax bill for last year and I can’t sleep at night because my conscience is bothering me. Enclosed is $600.” He then added a P.S., “If I still can’t sleep, I’ll send the rest.” Like this guy, some of us are not at peace with ourselves.

Some years ago when Rick Pitino was the head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky, he did a very noteworthy thing. He suspended three of his star players in one of the most crucial games of the season. The reason was because he noticed them laughing and snickering as they watched the film of the previous game. As he silently studied them, he realized what was so funny to them. They had tricked the referees and the other team by slipping someone to the foul line that had not been fouled. In other words, one player had been fouled, but another player (who was a better foul shooter) had slipped to the line to take the shots – a clear violation of the rules of basketball.

Coach Pitino said that the players thought it was all a big joke … that they had put something over on the officials and their opponents. But Pitino didn’t think it was a laughing matter. To make his point, he suspended three of his best players and made them sit out of a very important conference game. He said, “I want to win games for sure, but I also want my players to know the meaning of integrity.”

Let me ask you something. How is it with your soul? How is your sense of integrity … yours sense of honesty, ethics, and virtue? We live in a world where these things are becoming increasingly blurred and in short supply. How do you feel about your life right now? About who you are and what you’ve done?

I want to underscore a point here that is a fundamental part of Christmas. The only way we can be at peace with ourselves is to welcome the Prince of Peace into our hearts and lives. The only way we can be right with ourselves is to be made right by the One who can cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

As the Angels proclaimed, “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior.” Jesus came into this world to save sinners … to offer God’s forgiveness and grace that cleanses us of our sins. He came to empower us to live changed lives … lives of integrity and righteousness. So, one of the best gifts we can give ourselves and our loved ones at Christmas this year, is to be at peace with ourselves. And only Jesus Christ can make this happen. This is part of why he came.

So, if we want to find the peace of Christmas, then first we need to be made right in our relationship with God and secondly, we need to be made right with ourselves. Thirdly, we need to be made right in our relationships with other people.

In our church and in most of our homes, during this time of year you will see branches of mistletoe hung. We have it hung here in our church. If you were here for our Hanging of the Greens service, you heard this. But some may wonder why we have mistletoe hanging in the church. If you see people kissing under the mistletoe, don’t worry, we’re a very close family here.

But do you know where the custom of kissing under the mistletoe came from? Actually, it came from the Druids in Northern Europe. They believed mistletoe had curative powers that could cure lots of things, including separation between people. When two enemies happened to meet under an oak tree with mistletoe hanging above them, they took it as a sign from God that they should drop their weapons and be reconciled. So, they would drop their animosities and embrace one another under the mistletoe.

When the missionaries moved into northern Europe they saw this mistletoe custom as a perfect symbol for what happened to the world at Christmas. At Christmas a new age dawned. It was to be a time of peace, a time of healing, a time of reconciliation, and a time for embracing one another. For as the Angels sang, the glory of God would be “peace on earth and good will toward all!” That’s what the mistletoe is really about and this is what Christmas is about. It is being made right in our relationships with others.

When prophesying about the promised Messiah, the prophet Isaiah said, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:6-9)

God's ultimate goal for humanity is peace. That, “The wolf will live with the lamb; the leopard will lie down with the goat.” Even those who have long been adversaries, God says, will someday live in peace. This is why, on that first Christmas the birth of Jesus was announced by the host of Angels, singing, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:14)

The recurring theme in all the Christmas passages is that of “peace”, because God desperately wants us to experience it. It breaks God’s heart that nations cannot live together peacefully. It breaks God’s heart that families and friends and even churches cannot live together peacefully. Scripture makes it very plain, God wants us to be at peace with one another.

So, if you want to have a peace-filled Christmas, seek to be made right in your relationships with others. If we are at odds with another person. If we’re alienated or estranged from one another, go in the spirit of Christmas and seek to make peace.

For the sake of peace in your life and theirs, drop your pride, your resentment and seek to make things right.

Because here’s the thing we need to realize. Our ability to love, forgive, reconcile, and live together in peace is the greatest witness we have for the presence of Christ in our lives and in our world. Our refusal to love one another. Our refusal to forgive, to reconcile, and to live together in peace, is the greatest destruction of our witness for Christ. Yet, external peace—getting along with others—only becomes possible when we experience God’s peace within our hearts.

The truth is, we may not see world peace between nations until the Second coming of Christ, when God comes to set all things right. But until that day, we can experience his peace within our hearts. We can experience his peace in the midst of turmoil; tragedy; conflict; fearful conditions, such as financial crisis or failing health.

And we can experience the peace of Christ in our relationships with one another, when we invite the God of peace into our hearts to abide there.

Remember that shortly before Jesus faced the cross, he said to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” -John 14:27

You see, Jesus came into this world to bring us peace… God’s peace. God comes to us in the Christ Child so that we might be set right with God, set right with ourselves, and set right with other people. No matter where you find yourself today, know that you can experience this peace of God. It's available for the asking. To know the God revealed to us through the Christ Child and to invite him into your life, is to know his peace.