Grace and peace to you from God, our creator and sustainer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that abides in each of us.

Well, at midnight tonight the Season of Christmas officially begins, the first day of the twelve days of Christmas.  I know for most of you the Christmas season really started the day after Thanksgiving because the retailers invited you to come shopping.  For others, you probably began celebrating Christmas long before that because the radio stations invited you to listen to Christmas music.  But for the Church, we begin to celebrate Christ’s birth tonight.  Tonight, we finally see the baby in the manger.  But to be really honest, for me, I began to really experience the joy of Christmas this past Sunday evening because of an invitation I received.  You see, last Sunday our children here at Salem had their Christmas program, and it was AWESOME!

Now, it is not often that a pastor gets to come to the church and sit in the pews, and it is rare that a pastor is not expected to lead whatever it is that is happening.  Last Sunday evening, though, when Jill, Dana and I came to the program, I just got to walk in, sit down, and enjoy the incredible program.  There was a real excitement in the air.  Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters and friends were all here waiting with anticipation to watch the kids tell this ancient Christmas story.  As the kids came down the aisles, they came dressed as shepherds, and animals, Mary, Joseph, wise men, and some even came dressed in their PJs.  And as they came down these aisles, you could feel that something special was happening.  They were excited, they were filled with energy, and you couldn’t help but smile as they looked around trying to find their family.  All of them, though, they were whispering, “It’s a boy!  It’s a boy!”  As I listened to them tell this ancient story of the birth of Christ with joy and excitement, I realized that they were inviting me to remember and participate in this story, as well.  Me, the pastor, felt invited to experience Christmas as it was meant to be experienced, through Christ.  Whether they knew it or not, Sunday night our children issued an invitation not only to me, but to the entire congregation to come and experience the real joy of Christmas, Jesus, the Christ.

You know, it is a very simple story.  It really isn’t hard to tell, and it is a story that probably all of you know; yet, we all need to hear again and again.  Our text this evening from the Gospel of Luke is a great example of how simple and invitational this story really is.  Luke tells us that while Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem because of the census that was required, “the time came for [Mary] 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.”  All by themselves, Mary and Joseph found a quiet place for the birth.  Notice that Luke says nothing about animals, or other people, or wise men.  He just says that Mary gave birth to a boy, wrapped him in cloth, and laid him in a feed trough, probably full of hay, to keep him warm and comfortable.  To be honest, this would not have been an unusual scene for the day.

Not too far away, though, another amazing thing was happening.  An angel sent from God was announcing this simple, but incredible, birth, and he offered an invitation for those present to go and witness this great thing that had happened.  “Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.”  The angel issued that invitation to go and see this great thing to shepherds working in their fields.  Shepherds?  You mean to tell me that the first people to hear about Jesus’ birth were people who didn’t normally attend Temple worship services?  Shepherds didn’t really practice the Sabbath observances because of their jobs.  For the most part, shepherds were non-religious, crude and vulgar people, and to be really honest, they didn’t smell very good either.  I mean, think about it.  These were men who slept in the fields with their flocks.  They were generally pretty rough group of people; they had to be if they were going to be good shepherds and protect their flocks.  These aren’t exactly the kind of people you would expect to be the first to be invited to see the new king, the Christ child, the one called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Really, God!  In a world filled with such people as Emperor Augustus, Quirinius, the governor of Syria, Herod, and so many other royalty and world leaders that could really get this news out, you chose stinky, smelly, and probably not-so-religious shepherds to come first and see?

Yes, shepherds.  And therein lies the Good News.  God’s invitation for the world to come see this great thing He began, this news that God was now in the world living among us, was issued to the least likely bunch of characters I can think of, and it was now up to them to tell the story and invite others to come and see.  And what a job they did!  When the angels left, the shepherds immediately went to see and to share the story with all who would listen.  Of course, after that, they went back to work in their fields, but while working they obviously continued to tell the story.

So often we have preconceived notions as to who can share God’s story and who can witness for Christ.  We have preconceived notions as to who should be here and what we should look like when we worship.  Do you know that recently I had one person share with me that they hadn’t been coming to worship because they had been out of work for a long time and they no longer had decent clothes to wear?  Wow!  Apparently no one told God or His angels that one had to be well dressed or well versed in Scripture to worship our Lord.

The Good News tonight is that Christ is born.  He came into this broken and darkened world to be a new light, a light that would shine brighter than any light, and he is not going away.  God came to us as a human so that we might come to know that he loves all of us, even those who are not very religious, those who don’t always come to worship, and those of us struggling with our jobs, our families, our very lives.  God says tonight, Do not be afraid, I bring good news of great joy, this night I want you to know that I am here and I love you as you are.  Tonight we are like all those who were gathering in Bethlehem that first Christmas night.  Some are here because we always worship here, some are here because we have traveled from a distant place to come home, and some are here because someone made us come.  But no matter why you are here, God wants you to know this night is for you.  No matter why you came, you are invited to participate in this simple story.  Like the shepherds, we have come to see, and like the shepherds, we are called to leave here and live lives that glorify and praise God.   From here, we are invited to return to our homes and places of work glorifying and praising God.  We do that not only with our lips, but with how we live.

The shepherds went because God extended them an invitation they couldn't refuse. They may not have been worthy of such an invitation, but God said, Come and see this great thing I have done for you.  So tonight, no matter why you are here, I hope you know God is inviting you to come and see and believe in Jesus.  I pray that each of you knows this invitation comes with love.  No matter where you are in your lives, the Good News is God loves you and God invites you to come experience His love.  Amen