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CHRISTMAS EVE – THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORDDecember 24, 2024Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, TorontoPastor Tom SteersOUR OPENING HYMN 387 “Joy to the World” Lutheran Service Bookhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di_ajG4JD2YOUR PRAYER –Heavenly Father, on this holy Eve, we praise you for the great wonders you have sent us: for the shining star and the angel's song, for the infant's cry in the lowly manger. Father, we exalt and thank you for the greatest gift of all, our only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh in a little Child. We behold His glory and are bathed in its light. Be with us as we sing hymns of praise and hear and accept our prayers. This Christmas Eve we remember Your promise fulfilled; Christ our Saviour has come. Hallelujah! Amen.HYMN OF PRAISE: 368 “Angels We Have Heard on High”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt2zN4IKgHk CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION Page 184-185 of Hymnal Our First Reading Isaiah 9: 2-7 Psalm 100 Epistle Reading 1st John 4: 7-16 Our Gospel Reading Luke 2: 1-20 THE APOSTLES’ CREED Page 192 HYMN OF THE DAY: 383 “A Great and Mighty Wonder” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt4ZbIuobMg THE SERMON –Brothers and sisters, peace grace and mercy be to you on this Holy and blessed night through God our Father, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.In the past days and weeks people throughout the world and here in Toronto, faced hardship and conflict.In the news we’ve seen scenes of war, violence, and personal tragedies.And these difficulties in the lives of others may have been accompanied by challenges in our own lives as well.Illness, unemployment, housing issues, and family problems don’t take a break at Christmas.The world around us may seem to be in celebration, but within our hearts and homes are reminders that we live in an imperfect world.And framing all of this is the cold and physical darkness of winter. As we look out on the streets around us and watch our TV screens, we may also feel helpless in a world that’s affected by another type of darkness, a spiritual kind.And this was the state people were in for thousands of years, as a world, broken by sin, waited for light, hope, and salvation that was promised by God after Adam and Eve disobeyed their Creator.People, especially people of faith, who knew God through His Holy Word, waited for a miracle.And so, on this night we consider a miracle that mankind can never fully understand. No person could ever be amazed enough at this wonder: the incarnation of Christ, the birth of God in human flesh – Christmas.The Apostle Luke records the date and place where the miracle occurred in history: when Augustus was Caesar, and Cyrenius was governor of Syria, in the regions of Nazareth and Bethlehem. The miracle doesn’t take place in some mystical land beyond the rainbow. God doesn’t descend in a shower of gold or flying on the back of a mythic beast as other religions describe their gods coming to earth. No, true God, the eternal Lord, comes down from timeless Heaven to enter our world, our history, our flesh in humility, born to a poor couple in a stable.And we can’t emphasize the hard reality of that too much. God is not just an ‘idea.’ not just an abstraction. He’s a reality who exists, and who 2,000 years ago came into this world in the person of Jesus Christ. We hear the facts about Him recorded by eyewitnesses, established through careful checking into the facts, as Luke, the beloved physician did. The historical facts are important, and vital. But even more important is faith, faith that Christ is our Saviour, a faith that God’s divinely inspired Word works in our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit. And that’s a gift from God.The most important of gifts, because on it, is built our salvation.And that salvation is named Jesus. He was born as food for our souls, born of the virgin Mary in a town called Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means ‘House of Bread.’ And He fulfills this prophetic name of Jesus, which means, ‘The Lord saves,’ because He is the Bread of Life as the Apostle John quoted Him as saying. Jesus doesn’t demand royal treatment though. He’s laid in a manger, a feeding trough for working animals that surround the Nativity scene. May we, who are truly unclean and lowly, never be too proud to spiritually eat this Bread of Life by faith. May we always consider the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for what it is – a miraculous blessing, the true Body and blood of our Lord.So there in Bethlehem is Jesus, showing His purpose, intention, and mission, in the way He was born. He’s swaddled in strips of cloth to hold His infant body. He enters this life the same way we find Him after the crucifixion, wrapped in cloths. He’s born for the exact purpose that He should die and be wrapped in grave cloths.And this would be tragic if His were merely a human life. Christ is indeed human, a true child of His mother Mary. But He’s also fully divine, conceived by the Holy Spirit without the help of man. Therefore, He’s not only Mary's first-born Son, but also the first-born over all creation, the only Son of God.So, His death, is not ultimately tragic. Just the opposite, He willingly was born into flesh so He could have His body put on the cross, for us. Jesus gladly gave Himself into human death so that He could bring eternal life and peace on earth between God and man.So, He could break the spiritual darkness human beings had been stumbling around in for thousands of years without God’s light.This is the message of the angel who appeared to the shepherds. The angel even begins his message with the words: "Don’t be afraid." Don’t be afraid because the Lord and Saviour of all has come to free you from death and hell and satan. He comes to remove all fear by His incarnation, and death, and resurrection. Our sinful flesh allows us no perfection in this earthly life.Now, and then, fears do come, nevertheless, Christ will finally, and for all eternity, take away our fears, when He leads us into the new Heaven and the new earth that as our Lord, He’s prepared for us.Luke tells us an angel sends the shepherds to find their Redeemer, born as a baby. He says this Baby is none other than the Lord. So, He’s worthy of worship.Yet we, today, don’t seek a baby, since Christ didn’t remain one. Now, He is King of Kings. He rules over angels in Heaven, and over the leaders of the earth, and over all the universe He created at the beginning of time. Today, we look in faith to the Man who is also God, the one Mediator between the Almighty and us, who sits in glory at the Father's right hand, yet remains with us in Spirit, and in His Word and Sacraments. And that is someone worth worshiping and praying to, the one who’s earned salvation for us.Because we could have never done it for ourselves. So, this day we honour and remember the greatest rescue mission that’s ever taken place, a rescue out of true terror and darkness, our own rescue by God.It’s a love story, the greatest love story ever told, the love of God for us.Because of Jesus, we are counted as holy, our sins covered by Christ’s blood, by His glory, the same glory that shone around the angel and the Heavenly host.As believers, the glory of God covers our sinful human hearts so that we’re deemed righteous, for the sake of our Lord and Saviour.That is the message, and the true gift of Christmas – that God came as one of us, to save us. God became Man, so mankind could be redeemed by His cross. You have been saved by the sacrifice of the One who loves you. May this same Christ be with you tonight, and through whatever trials and difficulties this world may bring.The light of Christ has overcome the darkness. May Jesus, the light of world, comfort and strengthen you, and give you hope, now and forever.Amen. THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT THE LORD’S PRAYER Page 196 THE WORDS OF OUR LORD Page 197 THE DISTRIBUTION POST COMMUNION COLLECT (Left-hand column) Page 201 BENEDICTION Page 202 CLOSING HYMN 363 “Silent Night, Holy Night” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU5MGtDXM44