Luke 1:26-38

How long will you celebrate Christmas? One day? Two, including Boxing Day? Or perhaps,
like the song, will you celebrate 12 days of Christmas?

How long you celebrate Christmas really depends on how you understand the meaning of
Christmas.

Christmas can be a passing celebration. But the Christ of Christmas is eternal. The
angel said to Mary, "you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall
call his name Jesus. He will be great, and…of his Kingdom there will be no end."

Jesus once told this story about a farmer who sowed seed in his field. The seed has
only a passing impact in some cases. In other cases, it made a lasting difference. Matt.
13:3-9. If we apply this parable to Christmas, we learn something like this:

Some people are as hard of hearing as a concrete sidewalk. As they pound the pavement
doing their Christmas shopping, they hear the wonderful Christmas hymns tell of the birth
of the Saviour. But they turn a deaf ear and tune out the messages. The evil one diverts
their attention, and the songs of the Saviour’s birth bounce off them like echoes in
a deserted street.

Some people are like the gravel shoulders beside the road, where nothing can really
take root and grow. They really do enjoy celebrating Christmas. They love to sing the
Christmas Carols. They are truly moved by the story of Jesus’ birth, and they even
read it to their children at bedtime during the holidays. But their response to the story
of salvation is never more than skin deep. They are like the Christmas trees that decorate
their living rooms during the holidays. They have no root, and last only for a season.
When the flurry of Christmas concerts is over, they find it hard to worship the new-born
King, and they drop out again. After Christmas, their Christianity is discarded, and their
religious feelings are packed away like Christmas ornaments.

Yet other people are like rest areas along the highway. They stop long enough to smell
the roses. They actually keep their New Year’s resolutions for a while. Then along
come the pressures of too much trouble or too much success, and God gets squeezed right
out of their lives again. It is not long before they are racing down the road of life
again in pursuit of happiness, and the joy of Christ diminishes like a manger scene in the
rear-view mirror.

But there are others, like you, I hope. To what shall we compare them? They are like a
fertile field or a garden of delights. The message does not just fall on their ears. It
comes to life in the rich soil of their hearts. The good news of the Saviour’s birth
takes root and grows in them. They do not just hear the Word. It becomes alive in them.
Christ lives in them. They are like an expectant woman who carries a new life within her.
They are somewhat like Mary herself. They tremble at the good news that they have found
favour with God. The Holy Spirit overshadows us, and we are born again as the new and
eternal life of Christ indwells us.

Mary carried Jesus twice. First, she bore her child. She carried her child as a son of
man beneath her heart. After Jesus died and rose for her salvation, he sent his Holy
Spirit to her once again. And the second time, she carried him IN her heart as the Son of
the Most high. We too, by the power of God, carry the living Saviour in our hearts. And we
in turn, for Christ’s sake, are carried forever in the heart of God.

With man, a never-ending Christmas is beyond reach. But for the God of miracles,
nothing is impossible. To all who receive Christ the Lord, who believe in his name, he
gives the power to become children of God, born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
or the will of man, but of God.

May it be to us according to his Word, made flesh, which dwelt among us and dwells in
through His Spirit.

How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given!

So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming,
but in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters
in.

Amen

Prayer:

O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray;

Cast our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel.

Amen

Annunciation Hymn

The long-awaited Word has come, As promised, from above:

A message, borne from God’s own heart, Announcing a Saviour’s love.

"I greet, you highly favoured maid, The Lord your God is near. Now put your
anxious thoughts to rest;

You have no need to fear."

"Behold, I bring you blessed news, Announcing the holy One:

The Spirit of God will come upon you, And you will bear His Son."

We magnify you, O Most High, Whose love casts out our fear;

For unto us a child is giv’n;

The Lord our God is here!

Speak life to us, your servants, too, And let it be, dear Lord, With whom all things
are possible, According to your Word.

O Lord be merciful to us, Who put our trust in you;

O’ershadowed by the Holy One,

Be formed in us anew

(Tune – Crimmond: C.M. – "The Lord’s My Shepherd")

Pastor Joe Veltman

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