Sermon Details
- Pastor Name: Jonathan Cornell
- Date & Time: December 24, 2013 | 11:00pm
How appropriate it is that we gather here tonight, wrapped in warm candlelight. As the rest of the world gathers around festooned dinner tables, filled with the finest food they can provide, gifts wrapped in bows and ribbons, here we are gathered for another gift, this one wrapped in a different way. We sing songs, join our voices in prayer, and listen to the story of how God quietly and without much hubbub slipped into history just as each one of us did, in the form of a helpless baby.
Fifty years ago last month, a similarly subdued event took place. Overshadowed by the headlines that President Kennedy had been shot and English Author Aldus Huxley had died, one of the most important voices for Christ, CS Lewis, quietly left this earth—with not more than a handful of people present at his funeral to remember him. But what’s become of him since is nothing short of miraculous.
Isn’t it ironic how such momentous events happen with comparatively few people actually paying attention—yet the long-term impact is immeasurable? We profess this Christmas Eve that this is the pivotal event in all of human history, the event that literally defines all human life. The book of John says that in him was the light and life for all humanity. This event happened with only a few people actually looking on. But maybe it’s better this way. Maybe competing for press coverage or celebrity spectacle only diminishes the mystery and wonder of Jesus’ birth.
There is much that competes for the center: center of attention, center stage, center court. But what occupies the center of our lives?
Download the entire transcript here:Christmas Eve 13
