A Verse for Christmas

For Christmas Eve, 2005

Texts: Isaiah 9:2-7; Luke 2:1-14

It’s Christmas Eve, and we’ve all made it here,
to Clarkson Road to sing and lend ear
to the stories that we tell on this holy night,
how once in darkness, God gave a great light.

“What’s wrong with this minister?” I might hear you say,
He’s speaking in rhyme and making words play.
It’s something from my home, a tradition I learned,
a Christmas message with a slightly new turn.
So listen, and enjoy, I hope you’re not adverse
to a short little sermon completely in verse.

So we come here this night weary and tattered
from shopping and mailing and many tasks scattered.
We’ve searched high and low, for that perfect, little gift,
that will bring to a loved one some cheer and a lift.

Some started early, many started late,
but most agree and there is little debate:
That a gift that says everything is so hard to find,
that we buy anything at all and hope they won’t mind.

“There is always an out, of course,” we can say,
“after all, isn’t that why we have Boxing Day?”

But tonight is what matters, where we see through it all
‘midst candy cane, tree lights, and decorated mall.
We gather to listen, to hear the precious story again,
of that first wondrous Christmas, where it all began.

We listen to prophets, speaking from of old,
proclaiming light amidst darkness and hope to enfold.
We listen to Luke’s story, where the angels did sing,
of the holy Christ child and shepherds wand’ring.


But wait and give pause, because there is something more,
to the stories of Christmas and all of our lore.

We come this night because it’s the thing to do,
but this really means something to both me and to you.
The tales of the Gospel speak more to our lives,
than any gift or idea that we alone can devise.

It’s from more than tradition, or doctrine, or Book,
This is the myst’ry of God, and it’s worth a good look.
God is more than we can truly comprehend,
despite volumes of trying, our efforts don’t end.

We’ve wrestled, we’ve tried, to put God in a box,
A definition, an answer, a key to the lock
that will answer the questions in life that we ask;
but we find this to be an ever elusive task.
For every definition and answer we provide,
there are ten more questions in our thoughts collide.

So some give up, claiming there is no God,
and others shrug their shoulders and find it quite odd
that in a world where darkness seems so strong,
how an infinite God can be if everything is wrong.
But if this is all there is, then there is no hope,
and all we would have is an unemployed Pope.

But we are here this night, and this we proclaim,
there is more to this life than our day to day game.
We seek meaning and fulfillment to give us that spark,
to live with the knowledge that we are a part
of something larger, and greater, beyond what we are,
and that is hope shining in the light of a star.

It shone over Bethlehem in days long ago,
its light heralding good news to earth here below.
That somehow our infinitely creative God
has come to us all, in spite of our flaws.

God comes to us? How can this be?
We’ve looked for God, and we didn’t see…
but it is turned all around, can we not tell?
God comes to us in Christ Emmanuel.

You see, in all our efforts to seek God’s face,
We forget that little miracle that we call “grace.”
We can’t find God when we try all alone,
God finds us when we’re far from home.

“So what brings you here tonight?” a question I throw,
“We had to, we wanted to, or I don’t know!”
These are all replies that I’d expect, and frankly I’ve said,
in years past when listening to sermons I’d dread.

So there’s poetic justice in this as you’ll see,
I never expected to be in ministry.
But I learned the hard way this starts from above,
God whispering to our hearts, revealing Divine Love.

So grant me this, and I’ll venture to say,
that your coming here, now was more than just “Hey!
why don’t we go to church!” or some such fling,
because I know that God is there amidst all things.

So what speaks to you as in your pews you sit?
A memory, a carol, or a candle now lit?
Is it a reminder of something deep in your past,
or is it a hope for the future, of love that will last?

You see, tonight is more than just sermon and song,
God speaks a Word to our hearts that long
for hope, for peace, for joy, for meaning,
for Christ’s love, it’s more than just dreaming.

Somehow we’re touched, as we come here and gather
by stories of shepherds, of angels singing together
of the Messiah’s birth, how once long ago,
God came to us in a way that we can know.

In the fullness of time, and for all people to see,
God, infinite and loving became a baby.
This year especially, I’ve been blown out of the water,
‘cause I now see it in the eyes of my own little daughter.
For once, and maybe for only a glimpse,
in a moment of time God truly makes sense.

This is the Holy gift of the little Christ child,
in the baby Jesus, so tender and mild;
God comes to us long before we ever do
to open our hearts and make all things new.

So there is more to this night than just candle and song,
God, in all wisdom, invites us to respond:
Live whole lives in Christ’s joy, hope and peace,
Love justice and kindness so that war may cease.

Feed the hungry, yes! and server the poor,
Welcome the stranger, and live even more.
For the Christ child tells us amidst this season’s wear,
that we are precious, and wanted, and God truly cares.

And so I wish you well on this holy night,
that as you depart you might see Christ’s light.
Hear God speaking new meaning into your lives
Giving hope that you’ll see the world with new eyes.
It is truly a mystery in which we dwell,
and we proclaim midst darkness, “all will be well!”

And now I finish, but before I retire
I speak in the name of God who creates, redeems, and inspires.
Who comes to us in ways we hardly ask or imagine,
and to whom we respond with a great Amen.