Nativity Scenes

A Sermon for Christmas Eve  

December 24, 2022

The Rev. Robin Teasley

 

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

 

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" 

 

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.  Luke 2:1-20

 

 

We have a Nativity set at our house. My parents gave it to us when our children were babies. It’s not fancy or overly expensive, but it is breakable, and I do treasure it. Every year I would set up the scene and every year the same thing would happen. I would notice that the figures I had so carefully placed just the way I wanted them had been moved around. I would put them back in their proper places, only to return later to find they had been rearranged yet again! On the day I found Baby Jesus in front of the television, watching Sesame Street, I decided the kids needed their own manger scene. I bought one made out of brightly painted indestructible wood so that they would leave my manger scene alone!  

But the funny thing is, my children were still more attracted to my breakable, fragile scene. Maybe it was because the figures looked more realistic. Or could it be that they knew on some level that life was special, holy, and fragile? Finally, I gave up trying to keep the scene arranged to perfection and began to delight in seeing the new interpretation of the Christmas story as told by my children each day. Joseph would be found watching over the stuffed animals, the shepherd would be herding Lego farm animals, and the kings would be wearing Barbie accessories or riding in a Tonka truck. 

 

Finally, I saw that it no longer mattered that they kept rearranging the scene. Did the scene exactly portray the story? Hardly! Yet the story holds. Every day, my children wanted to enter the story again as they played with the figures. Somehow children know, they sense, that all the figures in the manger are connected and tell a story. Children are better than we are, at allowing the details of the story to change, to be imagined, to be just fine, whatever they are.

 

Even as adults, we are captured by the Christmas story in some unexplainable way. Every year we too enter the story. We return over and over to this liturgy of Christmas preparation. We cook and decorate, we shop, wrap, send cards, and plan gatherings with family and friends. And then we come here, to the place where the story is told in word and song. We return to this place where we encounter the holy, Immanuel, God with us. We do this because in some mysterious way, this liturgy of preparation and worship connects us to one another and to God. It reaches into the deepest parts of us where Love resides.

 

I suspect we love this story precisely because life is not a perfect manger scene. The world is full of anger and conflict, grief and loss, injustice and poverty. Those we love may struggle with unemployment, addiction, depression, or incurable illness. Our lives, like the figures in the manger scene, are beautiful, precious, and wonderful, yet they are also vulnerable and fragile. Perhaps we gather at Christmas with all of our hopes and fears, because at Christmas we instinctively know the importance of our connectedness. 

 

 

It is the mystery of the Incarnation, God made flesh, that makes this connection for us. God sent his Son to come and live among us, to show us what it looks like to live in relationship with one another, and to help us recognize our need for community and love. The Christmas story is a story about community; God in relationship with us even when life is not perfect. 

 

And so, we gather here on this night, each of us with particular hopes and fears. We hope for something new, we hope for a better world, we hope for change, even as we fear it. But the angels, those messengers from God, tell us to fear not! Perhaps we might learn something from our children. They find it perfectly acceptable to move God’s people all over their little part of the world to spread the story. They are not so afraid of change; they delight in changing the manger scene every day. For children, there are no limits on where Jesus might go. They believe that we are all part of the manger scene, part of a larger story that can be proclaimed only if we leave the manger scene. 

 

No, we cannot keep all the figures in the scene perfectly placed, and like the porcelain figure my children moved all around the house, Jesus can be found anywhere if we will listen to the angels and fear not. If we enter the story, we will find Christ in the least likely places. In war-torn countries and homeless shelters, in hospital rooms and schools, in anonymous meetings, and even at home with our children, in the midst of their play. 

 

If we enter the story we will find and be found by God whenever we remember that God loves deeply those who, like Mary and Joseph, are in danger of having no warm, safe place to sleep tonight. If we enter the story, we will find Jesus embracing those who grieve, who suffer, who struggle to see the light.

 

May we be reminded by the beauty of this night that each of us has a part to play. Jesus invites us to enter the story, to follow him into every place imaginable. Which manger figures will we be, and where will we go next to tell the story?