We are only a few days away from Christmas, almost there, almost home. Our Christmas Homecoming will take place, whether we celebrate alone in the privacy of our own place or we are with family and friends, crowded beyond capacity, in their home.  Our Christmas Homecoming is not a house but the experience of Christ which is your heart. This was our stated mission as we began the season and our sermon series. We prepare the places where we live for Christmas. We also need to prepare the home which is your heart to receive the newborn king.

 

There is still time to make it home for Christmas and continue your journey. This was our second affirmation. Christmas is a journey, not a destination. We miss this, particularly as we round the corner of the last shopping weekend and head for the 25^th.  When we make Christmas a destination we overlook the importance of our spiritual journey, from Bethlehem to Easter to our final “home with God, when he will dwell with us and we will be his people.” (Revelation 21: 3, paraphrased)  

 

Today, our theme is “Home with Christmas.”  Are you at home with Christmas? That is to ask, “Are you comfortable with the story of Christmas?” Before you answer too quickly, let me tell you how one of your fellow members answered. He said, “I really like Christmas. But when I seriously think about a virgin birth and shepherds with GPS like navigational ability and a caravan of Magi following a star, it takes on a fairy tale like quality. Like the angels--who sees angels flying around in the sky? I have trouble getting comfortable with that part of the Christmas story. So I don’t think much about Christmas other than it being the birth of Jesus.”

 

Some of you are nodding. This connects with you. There is much in the Christmas story that is outside of our modern, western world view. Instead of wrestling with the story, most of us treat these elements as simply decorations around the birth of our Savior.  We suspend belief. The result is we’re never completely at home with Christmas.

 

For instance, what about those angels? Have you ever seen an angel? I’ll admit to having some degree of trepidation in asking you that question. Someone might raise a hand and talk about meeting a Clarence Oddbody on a bridge outside of Bedford Falls. When it comes to seeing angels, I want one better than an old man in a dressing gown who hasn’t earned his wings. I like Nancy Noel angels or Roma Downey who played Monica on Touched by an Angel.

 

Even if we are uncomfortable with the idea of celestial beings flying around, at Christmas we are forced to accept them. They are all around us. We make snow angels and hang angels on our trees; we bake them into cookies and send them out on our Christmas cards.  Angels are a given even if none of us admits to an encounter with a Clarence trying to earn his wings.  

 

There is a reason for this disconnection. Much of our preconceived ideas about angels come from medieval tradition, instead of the Bible.   The plump, fluffy, dimpled creatures with wings hardly represent the angels of the Bible. Angels, scholars tell us, are not gods, and they are not ghosts or spirits of the dead. They do not spend time "trying to earn their wings”, despite the bell ringing moral to It’s a Wonderful Life. Angels were created separately and were given free will, just as humans were. That's why there were fallen angels, like Satan. It is why the angel is described as “an angel of the Lord”. This isn’t a fallen angel. This angel is doing God’s work. While we don’t think much about angels not serving God, the first century Jews did. 

 

It may also be why the angels in the Christmas story always start off saying, “Do not be afraid.”  It seems to be what all angels say. It’s like they learned it in basic training before they were sent into the field by God.  Can’t you see God saying, “Now look, don’t just land and start in with ‘Thus saith the Lord stuff!’ Remember what we taught you here. It is very important that you begin with the words, ‘Do not be afraid.’”And I can also imagine one of the weaker student angels, not listening carefully, raising a wing and asking, “Why do we have to say, ‘Do not be afraid?’” And God says, “Never mind why! You’ll understand when you get there. Just do it!”[1] I can promise you if an angel appears before me I want to hear the words “Do not be afraid.”

 

 The word “angel” is a transliteration of the Greek aggelos, which literally means “messenger.” In the Bible, sometimes angel messengers take the form of human beings, as is the case of Abraham offering hospitality to three strangers, unaware that they are angels. Other times the angel messengers come in a dream, as is the case of Joseph in the gospel of Matthew. Luke wants us to understand that angels have the responsibility to announce, instruct, guide and protect. Thus Gabriel announces to Mary her conception, instructs her on how to act, and guides her to Elizabeth where she was protected from community scorn.  The angel of the Lord that stands before the shepherds announces who Jesus is, instructs them on their role, and guides them to Bethlehem. For Luke, these messages could not be received it was not for the angel messengers.[2]

 

What is important for us today is this. Angels exist through the eyes of faith and faith is perception. Only if you can perceive it can you experience it.[3] The principles of the first Christmas, the shepherds and Mary and Joseph, all have the faith to perceive that God might use messengers to communicate with them. The believed that God might want to speak to them.

 

I like the way the theologian Frederick Buechner describes these messengers we called angels. “Sleight-of-hand magic is based on the demonstrable fact that as a rule, people see what they expect to see. Angels are powerful spirits whom God sends into the world to wish us well. Since we don’t expect to see them, we don’t. An angel spreads his glittering wings over us, and we say things like “It was one of those days that made you feel good just to be alive” or “I had a hunch everything was going to turn out all right” or “I don’t know where I ever found the courage.” [4]

Some of us don’t have room for such creatures so we explain them away. This isn’t to demean your faith. It is simply to say that some of us can’t believe things that we aren’t at home with, that aren’t literal or within our five senses.  There is precedence for this even in the Bible. I’ve already said that Mary and Joseph have very different experiences with angels. Joseph’s messages from God come through dreams; Mary has the angel Gabriel stand in front of her. Clearly, they have different abilities to perceive when it comes to angels.

 

The book of Malachi in the Old Testament is prophecy. But, if the name Malachi is translated literally from the original Hebrew language, it is “messenger.” This might make Malachi an angel instead of a prophet. Is that possible? I don’t know and I don’t know anyone who knows.

 

I do know this. Sometimes God sends messages to us in some pretty unusual packaging and if we’re not attentive, if we’re not looking, if we’re not listening, we can miss it. This is why it is important to get comfortable with Christmas, to be at home with all of the elements of the Christmas story. Through the angels, God is sending important messages. The first proclamation comes from the solitary angel standing before the shepherds. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”  (Luke 2: 10-11) Without this message, we don’t know that Jesus is the Messiah, from the Lord and is not just born for the throne of David but for all people. Take away the angel and you lose the message. Lose the message and you have simply another birth.

 

Then, the angel army…that’s what a heavenly host is, proclaims: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."  (Luke 2:14) This group of messengers is declaring God’s desire for humanity, delivering the message that with the gift of Jesus, God hopes for peace to come to earth. Jesus is the great Prince of Peace who will bring a new heaven and a new earth.

 

The angels play a critical role in the Christmas story as do all of the elements. It is why getting “at home with Christmas” is important even if we’ve never had an encounter with an angel and aren’t eager to start having them.

 

Perhaps this is why the author of Hebrews writes, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Heb 13:2) I’ve always found comfort in writing my own translation about these angel passages, simply substituting messenger for angel. “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained messengers unaware.” “A messenger of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 

 

But the messenger said to them, ‘Do not be afraid.’” (Luke 2: 9-10)  It makes a difference, doesn’t it? At the very least, it gets the wings out of the way, which isn’t in the story anyway. Maybe you can start getting at home with Christmas just with that little change in translation. Or maybe a story will help.

 

John Duckworth writes about a small congregation that has a tradition on Christmas Eve of a testimonial service. They gather to share with each other how God had blessed them. The theme one Christmas Eve was “Angels We have Heard on High”. Prior to singing the familiar hymn, the pastor read from the book of Hebrews, the passage I made reference to just a moment away, about entertaining angels (or messengers) unawares. Just as he finished reading the passage, the door blew open and a haggard young couple entered the back. They both wore torn and dirty clothes. He had a bushy beard and she was pregnant. Because it was Christmas Eve, the little church was full. So they had to make their way all the way to the front pew. There was no hiding this couple.

 

There was a stir through the sanctuary. “Wonder if they’re even married? Someone murmured. “Can you believe that?” another whispered loudly. “Straight off the streets I bet” a third offered.

 

The pastor calmed down the congregation, motioned to the organist and together they sang Angels We have Heard on High. Then, he asked, “Anyone want to share a brief word of testimony?” He emphasized brief but there was an audible groan when Old Gabby took the microphone. Everyone knew her as the congregation eccentric who was always going on about something. She started in that night, going on about this and that, talking loudly and then softly, singing and laughing, literally wearing people down with the length of her witness about angels. Slowly but surely, all the members who lined up behind her sat down. They were simply unwilling to wait her out. When the last sat down, she suddenly stopped talking and sat down. This gave the young couple from the street the opportunity they needed to take the microphone.

 

The young man began, “I don’t know nothing ‘bout talkin’ in church”, he began, “but me and my old lady, uh…my wife, we really need a place to stay. I ain’t got no job.” Then he sat down. The pastor really had no choice but to respond graciously. “We appreciate your sharing with us. I think we can help. By the way, what’s your name?”

 

“I’m Joe. She’s Mary.”

 

I know. Too neat and everyone in the congregation thought so too. There were snickers. Someone whispered, “Yeah right.” It was awkward but it was Christmas Eve and what could you do.

 

In the fellowship time later, a good number of folks talked with the young couple. Several offered places to stay the night. One man talked to Joe about a job. Old Gabby just stood in the corner, ignored by everyone, sipping coffee and nibbling on a cookie.

 

Suddenly she looked at her watch, put down her coffee cup and started for the door. She mounted her three-wheel bike and began pedaling slowly out of town. When she reached the edge of town, she stopped near an empty field. The highway was deserted. Only the stars and heaven watched as she climbed the sloping hill. A dog barked in the distance.

 

“Christmas Eve”, she said to herself. “Just like the first Christmas Eve when we sang of His birth. That was easy compared to this assignment! Well, time to go home now.” She smiled, closed her eyes, and reached heavenward. “Goin’ home,” she whispered, “going home.” [5]

A story like that sneaks up on you with the message that it offers, particularly when you allow for the possibility that God might want to communicate with you. That’s our challenge at Christmas and yet, that is Christmas. God came down from heaven so that He could communicate with us, through angels and shepherds, wise men and a young couple, and most of all, a baby. Sometimes God sends messages to us in some pretty unusual packaging and if we’re not attentive, if we’re not looking, if we’re not listening, we can miss it. It’s why we need to be “at home with the entire Christmas story” because we never know when the door might open and a messenger arrives.

 

It might be a messenger in white robes with a brilliant countenance. It might be a shabby young couple looking for shelter. It might be an odd old woman on a bicycle. It might be someone next to you right now. It will be a surprise, so you must listen. And what you will hear will be a message of “great joy for all people” and a great joy for you.

 

 

 

 

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