Thank you all for joining us for this Christmas celebration. Merry Christmas to each and every one of you.
Today, December 21st, as we celebrate Christmas on a Sunday, it also marks the official beginning of the winter season. What does that mean? It means we are expecting cold weather, even though it hasn’t quite arrived this week. It is also the longest night of the year. December 21st, in the Northern Hemisphere, is the shortest day and the longest night. In many communities around the world, especially in parts of Europe, this day is known as “Blue Christmas.” In some places, people observe the longest service of the year, even an all-night service, because of the longest night. So today is a very special Sunday, falling on December 21st.
Throughout this Advent season, I have reminded you that there are three celebrations, or three aspects, within it: the past, the present, and the future. When we celebrate the Advent and Christmas season, it begins with the four Sundays before Christmas, and today is the last Sunday of Advent. The three aspects of Advent are these: the past, which reminds us that Jesus came in history. We remember and celebrate the birth of Christ. The present is also very important, because Christ comes into our hearts. He lives in our hearts every day. Christmas is not just a past event that we remember once a year; it is also a present reality that we experience daily, because Christ is born in our lives every day.
The future aspect of Christmas is that He is coming again. The Lord of lords and King of kings will return. The word “Advent” itself means expectation of coming. That means He has come, He is here, and He will come again. He came as Savior, and He will come again as Judge, as Prince, and He will rule this earth. That is what Christmas is all about. It is not just a once-a-year event, even though we celebrate with lights, colors, and festivities. It also points us toward the second coming of Christ, the Advent of His return.
Our responsibility during this time is to serve others, just as He served this world. He has asked us to serve until He comes again. That is the mission God has given us. It is not only about preaching a lot or doing many visible works to impress people around us. Those are good things, good programs, but ultimately Jesus showed us through His life that we are called to serve others and love others as we love ourselves. Yes, that is what God has given us to do with our lives in this world.
As we celebrate Christmas, we are called not only to serve others but also to step into the shoes of other people—to understand how they live and what we can do to help them in their situations. As I mentioned earlier, today we lit the love candle. Throughout this month, we have lit four candles: the hope candle, the peace candle, the joy candle, and today the love candle. On Christmas Day, we usually light the Christ candle. The love candle is very important because Jesus came as the epitome, the symbol, of God’s love. “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.”
The love that Jesus brought into this world as a baby in a manger was not limited to that manger. Love is both a noun and a verb. Love as a noun is beautiful, but love as a verb means action. Love must be acted upon. Without action, there is no love, and without love in action, there is no true love of God. That is what Jesus came to show us. He left the kingdom of God, all the heavenly blessings and riches, and came to live among us. He humbled Himself as a human being, suffered, and died the death of a sinner, even though He did not sin, and He rose from the dead.
Christmas reminds us of the power of God’s love in this world and calls us to live as people who spread the love of Christ to others. For many people and many families, this season is not a time of celebration. For them, it is a long and dark night. As I shared earlier, we recognize some families in this community whom we are able to help, and there are so many others. As a small church, we do the best we can. I continue to hear more stories of people struggling—struggling to raise their children, struggling through the daily walk of life.
That is what Christ did. He saw the needs of the people, and He went to them where they were. Many times, we expect people to come to church so that we can serve them. That is not the gospel. The church goes to the people. We go to where they are and where the need is. That is what God has called us to do, and Christmas reminds us that we are to reach out to those who are in need.
Many people are struggling. Many are broken in different ways. Families are separated. Children are separated from parents, and people are hurting. This is the reality around the world. So what does love look like in the face of such darkness? When the world feels dark and life seems unclear, when people don’t know where to turn, what does love look like?
The joy we spoke about last week does not mean that life is not difficult in this broken world. There is brokenness, harm, and hurt happening every day. There are moments when love feels distant, when pain is loud, and when fear of the future overwhelms us. But in the midst of all this, there is good news: God is present in the pain and suffering. The pain of the first Christmas tells us that it is often in pain that God shows up and becomes real.
The birth pains of Mary brought the joy of Christmas into the world. In the pain of life, we often experience what it truly means to be children of God. The story of our faith is not about humanity climbing its way up to God. Many religions teach that people must work their way up to heaven. But the Christian faith is the opposite. Heaven came down. Heaven came down in the form of love, reaching out to us where we are and where we were. Even when we were still sinners, when no one could save us, the love of God came down from heaven and reached out to us.
God could have left us where we were. He is a powerful God. He could have created another humanity. But He considered each one of us so valuable and unique that He wanted every single person in His kingdom. He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to suffer and die for us. That is the message of Christmas I want you to take with you today: God came down.
God did not wait for people to become worthy. Sometimes we look for “good” people to come to church, but God is looking for sinners. That is what people complained about when Jesus lived on this earth—He ate and dined with sinners. That is exactly what we are called to do: to reach out to the marginalized, the outsiders, those left on the edges. The love of God goes where it is needed most. That is what God did.
Love came down not only to be among us, but to walk among us, to talk with us, and ultimately to go to the cross and give His life for us. And love does not end there. He walks with us every day, and He leads us into the eternity He has promised. The love of God is never-ending. It stretches into eternity, into the coming kingdom where we will share that love together in the presence of God.
As we go from this place, remember that the love of God never ends. Even when you find yourself in dark moments, when you don’t know where to turn—whether in sickness, financial trouble, family problems, broken relationships, or deep hurt—remember that His love never fails. He guides us every day with His love, and He will lead us into eternity, where we will be reunited with our loved ones who have gone before us. That is the love of God.
May the good Lord bless us with these words as we leave this place.
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