Sermon; Christmas Eve 2025

Merry Christmas!

First and foremost, we are glad you are here.  Whether this is your first time to Saint Luke’s, or whether you worship here on a regular basis, we are glad you are here.  Whether you live in Buffalo, or whether you have come from elsewhere, we are glad you are here.

No matter where you fit within what I have just said, whether you are a visitor or a regular, a local or from elsewhere, we are all on a pilgrimage of sorts.  Not an actual pilgrimage to Bethlehem, and not a pilgrimage as grueling as the Camino de Santiago, but a pilgrimage nonetheless.  Tonight is our yearly pilgrimage to join in the story of Jesus born in a back room where the animals were kept.  Tonight is our yearly pilgrimage to hear the story of a child laid in a feeding trough.  Tonight is our yearly pilgrimage when we hear the prophets of old and look for the time foretold.  Tonight is our yearly pilgrimage that takes us both into the past and into the future.

As we make our pilgrimage tonight we remember the past.  We remember the story of Christ’s birth, the manger, the angels, and the shepherds.  Maybe we remember a pageant or two with adorable little sheep and a precocious Mary.  Maybe we remember worshipping with family members at a midnight mass.  All of this remembering is part of our Christmas pilgrimage. 

We make pilgrimages, in part, to remember and RE-member.  We do it, in part, to connect and bind ourselves to something bigger, to something mystical, and maybe to something eternal.  These pilgrimages bind us together with other pilgrims and with God.  They take the DIS-membered parts and RE-member them together.

This pilgrimage we participate in tonight is also done every Sunday.  Every Sunday pilgrims come together and are RE-membered into the Communion of Saints through the Body and Blood of Christ.  And tonight we both remember and are RE-membered into the mystical story of God made man in the person of Jesus.

But as we remember this particular night and this particular event, let us also pay attention to the details of this story.

In the story from the Gospel of Luke which we just heard, we are told that Mary lays the baby Jesus in the manger because there was no room for them in the inn.  We are also told that a host of angels appeared to shepherds who were watching over their flocks out in a field somewhere.

And the Gospel of Matthew gives us the story of the magi coming from far away to bring gifts and honor the new king.  That gospel tells us they first went to Jerusalem because that’s where you would expect to find a king.  But he wasn’t there.  Instead he was found in Bethlehem, a small town and not the home of kings.

I bring up these two different stories not to question them or to cause you to doubt the accuracy of each, but to notice what we often overlook.  Amid our festivities and gatherings, amid the music, candlelight, and worship, amid all of that is the recognition that Jesus did not come in power and glory.  He did not come in kingly fashion.  He did not come to be noticed by the rich and powerful.  He did not come to take a prominent position and be hailed as king.

Instead he comes to a place that has no room for him.  He is found first by the unknown and unnamed, the shepherds, who most people probably overlooked.  The magi find him as a toddler living an unremarkable life in a small town.  This is the God of those who have been told there is no room for them.  This is the God who calls the unknown to be a part of his life.  This is the God who focuses on those living on the outskirts.

As we make our pilgrimage to worship God Incarnate and be RE-membered into the Body, let us also remember what we often overlook.

Jesus arrived in a back room and was placed in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn.  How many people are shuffled to the back room or out-of-the-way places because there is no room for them in polite or mainstream society?  Divorced women (yes, that’s still a thing), teenage mothers, lgbtq people, people of color, people of different nationalities, people of the wrong weight, people with learning disabilities, people with addictions, people with physical ailments.  The list is long.  These are the people our current society tells, “There is no room for you here.”  But God is the God of those who are told there is no room, and we need to remember that.

The birth of Jesus was first announced to a group of unknown people living out in a field.  Even today, and even here, there are unknown people living on the margins who go unnoticed.  Are we willing to take the same notice of them as the angels did?  If we do, do we not only tell them where they might find Christ, but do we allow them to be part of our story?

The magi came looking for Jesus in prominent places and among prominent people.  That search initially led them to people who would use God for their own devices or as a prop to gain political power and favor.  But that search eventually led them to the unexpected place of Bethlehem.  In our various pilgrimages let us follow the example of the magi and remember to look for God in unexpected and out of the way places; because as we see over and over again, God doesn’t operate as we do.

On this Christmas Eve may we remember why we come to worship.

May our pilgrimage RE-member us into the Communion of Saints and the Body of Christ.

May we remember and RE-member those who have been told there is no room and/or have been left out on the margins.

May we find God in unexpected places.

Finally, may we look to the past to remember how God included those whom society left out. 

May we look to the future as WE work to RE-member into the Body those whom others would keep DIS-membered.

And may the love of the Incarnate God live through us this Christmas season and beyond.

Amen.