Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:1-20

Joy to the world, The LORD has come: happy Christmas! Christmas Day is one of those days on the Christian calendar when you know what you’re getting, and if you’re a minister preaching on the big day you know that the church service will write itself. Actually, I wish the service did write itself, my Sunday sermons usually take all day on the Monday two weeks prior to preaching, and I do most of the work myself; (I give Holy Spirit some credit). Even an order of service can take three hours to put together, choosing suitable songs and prayers. And today is a Wednesday, so that’s an extra! However, today’s message is kind of obvious, even if it did take some actual typing and thinking about. I know that I’m not the only one busy before Christmas, and I guess we’re all a bit like that; we know how to buy presents and wrap them, even if deciding what to buy for the man who has everything is impossible. We are adept at decorating our toddlers and our trees, and we can barbecue the salmon or roast the turkey on instinct. But it does take effort, and thought, lest on autopilot we gift-wrap the salmon and barbecue the toddler. Christmas is joyous, but it is also exhausting. Where’s an elf when you need one?

That’s why I am quietly happy about today’s Bible readings, and not just the stable story from Luke 2. It is important to me as a Minister during Advent to remember to be a Christian at Christmas; as I wrote in the local paper, with all of the work of my teaching and pastoring job I am still foremost a disciple of Jesus. Those of you who are parents to children who need active parenting during the summer holidays; and those who have only a few days off this week and need to set your mind back on the stock yard or the stock market on Monday, yet are wanting to celebrate how “Christ was born for this…” from your own Christian faith, may resonate with what I’m saying.

We have heard three Bible stories today, alongside the obvious one. Briefly, here’s why we need to hear them:

1. We read from Isaiah 52 that God sees our busyness, and honours it. How beautiful…are the feet, says The LORD, via the prophet, the feet of those who bring good news. Clearly this was written by a man who never wore socks during an Australian summer; my feet have been anything but beautiful in the last three weeks. Still, it’s good to know that God has noticed my work and thinks me lovely for doing it. This encourages me to continue to proclaim peace, bring good tidings, and proclaim salvation, even if only to remind all of you what God is reminding me in scripture and in prayer. I am also reminded that the work we have in December is about “telling good tidings of great joy”, which is more than the lines of a Christmas carol but is both the ministry of Christ (so my paid work has value) and God’s message to me (I am told that things are good and peace not panic is how it’s supposed to be). Thanks for telling everyone the good news, Damien, now put those lovely feet up and have a glass of Christmas spirit. That’s what we read from Isaiah 52:9, the good news is that God brings comfort.
2. We read from Titus 3 that we are justified by grace. The God to whom we belong, is kind and generous; we know this because when God lived among humankind for a time this is how Jesus was characterised. God is loving and patient, like Jesus, and like Jesus God fronts up to hypocrisy and injustice. Even if we had not been flat out busy for the past month God would still welcome us to the barbecue this afternoon, because the welcome through Christ is not about our missionary or moral efforts but about God’s grace and love. You cannot earn your place at the table, it’s a gift, so you won’t miss out so long as you turn up. No-one gets turned away, even if they turn up emptyhanded where everybody else brought a salad, a sorbet, or a slab. No, we are heirs having the hope of eternal life, and there’s nothing we can do to change that. That’s what we read from Titus, the good news is that God brings comfort.
3. We read from Psalm 98 that there is cause for singing because of the marvellous things done by God. It’s a new song because God has done new things: it’s not all three thousand years ago in Jerusalem, or two thousand years ago in Bethlehem. So what new things is God doing? Well it’s the same thing but God keeps doing it for every generation and era; salvation and faithfulness in love. This is the story of Christmas Day, and it is the story of Pomonal as we celebrate today. That’s what we read from Psalm 98, the good news is that God brings comfort.

So, from our busyness let us now rest, resting secure in our salvation. The turkey is in the oven, the presents are under the tree, the toddler is… somewhere, and the minister has a paragraph left to say before we are out of here and into those salads, sorbets, and slabs he mentioned earlier. Even better, God is with us, God loves us, and God has told us to celebrate and not be afraid. Joy to the world, The LORD has come: happy Christmas!

Amen.