December 21 2025
Jeremiah 31:31-34
I have to make a confession that might surprise some people, which is this: I don’t really like having a live Christmas tree. What you have to know, when I say this, is that Jennifer and I have had close to forty live Christmas trees decorate our home over the years. Even so, I don’t really like having to go out on a snowy day to the tree farm and pick out a tree which you hope will not be too big but will be anyways. Then when you bring it home and get it in the tree stand and find that it is impossible for this tree to stand upright. Of course, you will have to turn the tree just so in order to hide the gaping hole that you swore was not there when it was cut down. After that you get the ladder out to place the star up top and watch as the star droops to one side because as the branches are too weak to hold the star up. And on it goes, the fun with light strands and the placing of ornaments and of course, the daily watering. So, you are right to ask, just why do we keep on getting a live tree? The answer is that this whole messing around with a live tree is an important part of our family’s Christmas story. You see, for our family, the placing of a live Christmas tree in our house, has now become a part of the story that we have come to treasure despite the hassle and the mess. Our family loves to tell and retell the stories about the many different farms we have gotten trees at, even cutting one down on the way back from bringing Sarah home from college. We have had trees that came loaded with poison ivy, and trees that were so crooked at the base the only way to steady them was to wire them to a screw in the window molding. One time when the Christmas tree fell over, a special ornament was broken so we had to get a rush order on a new one to get it here before the arrival of Christmas. So, yes, these live Christmas trees are simply an indispensable part of our family’s Christmas story.
You see, a person’s whole Christmas experience is often captured by the Christmas story they hold dear. So, yes, even if the Christmas tree is a real mess, it nonetheless remains a vital part of the story of our family tells about Christmas.This is why that even though I may not always like having a real tree, I can still admit that the Christmas story we tell would simply not be the same without having one.
What we also all know so well, is that these Christmas stories that we love, are our stories, and no one else’s. So if you want to know us and the stories we treasure then there is no better way than to take the time to listen to the stories that we share, and this is never more true then when is comes to our Christmas story. Now what is also interesting about so many of the stories that make up our Christmas story, is that very few, if any, ever get written down yet they are hardly forgotten. No, the truth is that these stories are written down just not with ink. No, stories like our Christmas story, we might say, are written in love on the tablets of our hearts, the very treasury of all we hold dear.
You see, the very reason why we treasure the stories that tell of our life together is because of the love we have for each other. Only love is able to bind us together and unite us in the stories we tell, and this is the reason why we can say that love is the very ink that writes these stories upon our hearts. Perhaps this idea will help us make sense of our scripture for today. There we hear God tell Jeremiah about this new covenant that he is going to make with his people. God reveals that this new covenant will be not be written on stone tablets like the covenant sealed at Sinai. No, this new covenant will instead be written, strangely enough, upon the hearts of God’s people. We are left wondering just what might God be writing there upon our hearts? I believe that the answer is found in yet other profound claim by God in this scripture where he tells us that in the coming days all people will know God from the person held in the lowest esteem to the those due the greatest honor. The way we will know God will be just as we know each other, through listening to the story God is speaking. Now, it makes sense, doesn’t it, that these stories God tells to us are going to be held by us to as something to be treasured because they tell us of God’s great love for us. So there upon our hearts we will write the story that God is telling because we will want to speak of of his love forever. Our scripture tells us that the story that we have heard from God, the story that we treasure, the story of his love for us which causes us to love God in return, this story is called a covenant. A covenant, quite simply, is the name for this relationship of love that we have with God. This means that the story written on our hearts in love is not just a story of knowing God, but rather this story that we treasure is the story of knowing who we are, God and us, united together forever.
As we wait for the coming king, God speaks to us about our life together, a life marked by hope for we now have a certain future which God gives to us through his power. All God asks of us is to trust him. We must trust God that he is indeed able to bring life out of this dead end way of being that we have found ourselves in. This is how our story, the story of God and us united together, has its beginning. Well, as God continues with his story we discover that he desires that we experience a life of peace and rest. Yet God also wants us to know that such a life cannot be found by living apart from the rest of the world. No, God insists that we get busy doing everything we can to make the lives of our neighbors experience the same peace we are searching for, for when our neighbors live in peace then we too will find peace and rest. So now we find that this story we have with God has become intertwined with the stories of our neighbor as we take their longings and and we weave them into our story with God. The story God speaks to us, though, is far from over for he adds that we must catch hold of the joy in his heart. We are to become aware of how our God blesses our lives, even in the worst of circumstances. These blessings turn us toward God in gratitude and thankfulness. By faith we witness the joy of the God whose goodness radiates over us and in the flame of his joy we rejoice. So, yes, through us listening to all God has spoken to us have indeed come to know God. And not only that, but we also have stories of our experiences living with God, trusting him as we have gone along. These stories that we treasure in our hearts are stories that we can say are indeed, written there in love. This love is what writes the story of our relationship with God, a new covenant which binds us together forever. .
Now this sounds all well and good, doesn’t it? Yet as we are all so well aware, the world we live in is a world filled with many stories. These other stories we listen to can create fear and doubt to creep in, making us wonder about our future, destroying our hope. The peace we pursue is difficult in a world where it seems that everybody has an axe to grind. And joy, this is perhaps the most difficult of all because the world demands so much of our attention, we forget to be grateful for all that we do have been given by God. So to be honest, this love between us and God can become strained, as we begin to listen to every story except for the one story that really matters, the story God is speaking to us. So it is good that our God knows us so very well, because when our love stops writing our story, this is when God tells us again of our Christmas story, the Christmas story which speaks of God’s great love for each one of us. This Christmas story tells of how our God gave us a gift, a gift which forever speaks of God’s great love for all of us. When we hear this Christmas story we remember once again, that when our love grows weak and cold, God’s love is strong enough and certain enough to hold our relationship with him together, forever.
So, let us once again hear the Christmas story, the story of the long awaited king, God’s anointed one, the Christ, the one whose candle we are now ready to light. But first though, let us hear these familiar words of the Christmas story. Here is the story which tells of how God so loved all of us, that he gave us all the most precious gift, the gift of his own dear Son. God did this all so that we might know of a love that refuses to let us go. So, listen once again to the first few verses of the second chapter of Luke, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governed of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. Joseph went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judaea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and she laid him in the manger, because they found no other room available.”
This story about the birth of Jesus never gets old, does it? We have heard it so often we probably could recite it by heart if asked to do so. Yet, what is not recorded for us in this story is what Mary and Joseph kept within their hearts. You see, the reason why Mary and Joseph were part of the Christmas story is that they had first listened to the story God was speaking to them. As we hear in the first chapter of Luke, Mary heard of how God was going to bring forth the long awaited king who was going to bring righteousness and justice to the world, and Mary wanted to be part of this story. Mary became part of this story by simply saying “Yes”, to God when God called her to become part of his Christmas story. Joseph also listened to the story God spoke to him, and Joseph also said, ‘Yes” to God, and so he too played a role in the Christmas story. You see, the story of the giving of Jesus to the world is a story which required that Mary and Joseph respond to God with love.
Now most people who have heard the Christmas story may never have realized that they too, just like Mary and Joseph, have a role in the Christmas story. You see, the Christmas story tells of how Jesus is sent to us to be for us the, “Yes”, to all of God’s promises just as Paul tells us at the beginning of the first chapter of Second Corinthians. When God, so very long ago promised that a king would be born from the dead legacy of King David, God gave Jesus to be the, “Yes”, to this promise. Likewise, when God promised to give people a hope and a future, God gave us Jesus to be the, “Yes”, to this promise. The peace God promises us that we are to make with our neighbors finds its, “Yes”, in God’s gift of Jesus. And yes, God promises to fill us to overflowing with joy and this promise as well, finds its,”Yes”, in God’s gift of Jesus. Then at last we discover that what binds all of these promises together is the promise of God’s love to us, the promise that we at last might know God, and have a relationship of love with him, God and us united forever together, a promise fulfilled by the, “Yes”, of God’s gift called Jesus.
So Jesus, the, “Yes”, to all of God’s promises, is given to us at Christmas. All God asks of us is this: “Will you say,”Yes”, to Jesus? God wonders, will we be like Mary and Joseph who first listened to the story God spoke to them and then said, “Yes”, to God’s invitation to be part of this great story that began at Christmas. You see, the story of Christmas continues even today because all people are invited by God to enter into this story about a new king named Jesus given to us by God so that justice and righteousness might reign upon the earth. This king is given by God as a gift which expresses his deep love for every person. And all God desires is that we respond to his love by simply saying “Yes”, in love, to the one who is God’s, “Yes”, to us, this Jesus given to us at Christmas. Like all Christmas stories, our saying, “Yes”, to God may make our life a mess. Luke records that the world didn’t even have a place for Mary and Joseph on the night they needed one the most. But what Mary and Joseph did have is a place in the story God is telling, this story begun at Christmas. Just like God had a role for Mary and Joseph to play in this story he is telling, he also has role for each one of us. God invites all of us to be part of this story that began so long ago at Christmas. So today is a good day to become part of the Christmas story. Let us, right now, discover that our hope is indeed found in Jesus; that our rest and peace has been born in Jesus; and our abundant joy is caught from the joy radiating from the very face of Jesus.
(Lighting of the Christ Candle) As we light the Christ candle, we witness that Christ, our king, has been born. So now is the time for all of us to know Jesus as being for us the very, “Yes”, to all of what God has promised to us.
Here we normally conclude the lighting of the Advent candle with a prayer. Today, though, we are going to do something a little different. We are going to take a moment for all of us to have a time of quiet prayer. This is simply a time for us to respond to the Christmas gift of Jesus. During this time, I am going to play the beloved Christmas carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. Instead of singing along, try instead to listen to the story it tells. At the ending of the third stanza, we hear, “where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.” So, perhaps instead of singing this line we should be those meek souls who invite Jesus into our life, saying, “Yes”, to the one who is the one who is the, “Yes”, to all of God’s promises. Let us today enter into the story God is speaking, the one he began at Christmas so long ago.
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