Pastor Hector Garfias-Toledo + December 24, 2024
Christmas Eve
Words for the Beginning: Love Knows Your Name
At the heart of the Christmas story is an extraordinary proclamation: a Savior is born, and God has drawn near. Pastor Hector reflects on the profound reality that the love of Jesus, born in Bethlehem, is personal and knows us intimately. This love not only casts out fear but connects us to one another in compassion and joy. As we gather on this holy night, we are invited to hear the good news anew and live as witnesses to God’s boundless love.
Sermon Transcript
From automatically generated captions, and lightly edited for readability by AI chatbots
Grace to you from God, Abba, Father, Mother, Creator, and the Lord Jesus Christ—our Savior, our Lord, our sibling, a baby that was born in Bethlehem and is with us now. And we say, Amen.
Well, guess what? During the second service, I felt a little bit constrained. I had to kind of make my sermon shorter because this service was coming. But guess what? There is no service after this one—I’m free! And besides, we were singing this in the early morning, so why not? Are we ready to celebrate Christmas in the early morning?
(Silence.)
There is silence there; I think that’s the answer.
I was telling, in the previous services, that—based on what David said earlier—I met with a pastor who was telling me that sometimes she finds that when she is going to preach and reads the Gospel, she realizes that after reading it, there isn’t much else to say. The Gospel itself is the story. We don’t need to add more; the story is told by itself. And we are going to listen. I think that’s what happens with the Gospel, and with this specific story that we read today.
This is a story we hear every single year. We know it by heart, probably. But at the same time, it’s a story that, every time we hear it, speaks differently to us. There is this little text, this little piece, this little word that speaks differently to us. So tonight—tonight—I would like to invite you to spend a few minutes with me in really trying to be open, to listen to this story from a different angle, from a different perspective, and to be open for this story to really shake us and remind us of what’s behind this story we have already memorized.
"Do not be afraid, for I am bringing you good news, news of great joy for all the people."
If you notice, throughout the entire Scripture, there is a common message, a consistency in this message: the message that says, "Do not be afraid." From the very beginning of Scripture—in the Book of Genesis and the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch—or if we go to the prophets, or to the Psalms, or to the Gospel, or to the writings of the early church, we hear this constant and consistent message: "Do not be afraid."
However, I think—and you would agree with me—that maybe there are times when we wonder why it was, and still is, so important to continue hearing this message of not being afraid. You will agree with me again that we are living in a time in which fear has been used—misused—as a way to isolate and divide people. It has been used by political powers, by economic powers, by those who have, and by those who seek to gain more, to divide ordinary people and, in that way, either gain or keep their power.
Why, then, is fear used? Because fear paralyzes us. Fear immobilizes us and inhibits us from the activity and vitality of our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our communities. Fear separates us and prevents us from seeing God-given dignity in each other. We see only enemies in one another. Fear detaches us from God and from one another, to the point that you and I experience a loneliness that brings hopelessness and helplessness into our lives.
So the good news we are hearing again tonight is a countercultural message—an alternative understanding of how we are interconnected with God and with one another. We are interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent—not because we are doing this out of fear, or because of powers that push us to do so, or because of domination imposed on us, but because there is a God who has decided to have an intimate relationship with us.
"I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people," said the angel.
The good news is not wishful thinking for some unattainable future, somewhere, somehow. It is not this fuzzy feeling of the season, this temporary happiness that consumeristic society has made us believe Christmas is about. It is not this merry, Christmas-y feeling that bombards us, starting in June or July.
The good news is a joy that goes beyond all that. The good news is a joy rooted in the intimate, personal relationship of a God who knows us by name and says "yes" to you and me by taking our form and becoming one of us, one with us, one for us, and one in us.
The joy of such a gift—the affirmation of who we are and whose we are—transforms us. It transforms us into an extension of God’s divine compassion for the entire creation. This is shown, manifested, and lived out by walking life’s journey together, by releasing the gifts God has given us without fear, and by being agents of joy in this world.
The shepherds are the recipients and the pioneers of the high call to be amplifiers—megaphones—of the good news. God knows them intimately, as God knows you and me intimately. They, and we, respond by witnessing to God’s message for all creation.
Tonight, my siblings in Christ, the power of this good news gathers us in this place again—not only in this building, in this town, and at this time, but with the entire church of all times and places, and with all creation. It gathers us to open our hands, our hearts, our minds, and our voices, so that we can release the good news in acts of joy and transformation.
Let us be one with our siblings who experience darkness, hopelessness, shame, and disregard in a society too busy teaching us to compete, to hoard, and to reject those who are different. The power of the good news we receive in the Lord Jesus, who is born today, propels us to tell one another:
"Do not be afraid."
Do not be afraid, because in the moment God created us, God placed in our hearts a love that casts out fear. This love sets us free—free to live in a relationship with God, who is love, and with our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the manifestation, the living Word, and the reign of God among us.
The baby Jesus, who took our form and nature, is the God who decided to be born, to come as close to us as possible, to be with us in every human vulnerability. This is the God who knows you and me—all of us and the entire creation—by name.
"To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord."
May the blessing of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ—God with us—fill your hearts, your homes, and your lives, reminding you that you and I are known by name. May this blessing guide you as you return home, as you are with your loved ones, as you encounter those who need these words, or as someone brings these words to you.
May you, like the shepherds, go and "tell it on the mountain"—and there are many mountains here—that Jesus Christ is born.
Amen.
Comments