Christmas Vigil (Lessons and Carols)

​Rev. Shemwell
Various readings
12/24/23

Homily for Christmas Vigil (Lessons and Carols)

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Dear
brothers and sisters in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, this year at Bethlehem we
are celebrating on this Eve of the Nativity of our Lord, perhaps for the first time in our
history as a church, a service of Nine Lessons and Carols. Now this traditional
Christmas Eve service, conveniently called Lessons and Carols, originally comes from
the Anglican tradition and dates back at least to the nineteenth century. It was initially
popularized though during the First World War through the annual service held at
King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, England, which to this day is broadcast
globally.
About four years ago, I was blessed to be studying abroad at the University of
Cambridge for my second year of seminary. Every day I had the privilege of walking
right past that prominent chapel at King’s College, built over five-hundred-and-
seventy years ago, where the angelic voices of their boys’ choir perform the carols for
this famous service year after year. It was a remarkable site to stroll past on a frequent
basis. You know, England, like many European countries, is utterly replete with all
these gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking old churches; but unfortunately though, like
elsewhere abroad, they are nearly always empty, with well-afforded choirs singing to
the very few. The traditional Nine Lessons and Carols service broadcast yearly from
King’s College gets many online views and radio listens, I am sure. It is a beautiful
service – I highly recommend it to y’all. But how few actually attend Christian
services there at the chapel regularly.

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And the situation is no better in those historically Lutheran countries in Western
Europe, Scandinavia, and the Baltics. The state churches are embarrassingly vacant
for most of the year.
Of course, that sad reality is only symptomatic of a much greater, much broader
problem, one that reaches even to our own shores. People cling fiercely to the
trappings of the Christian faith, to Christmas and the cozy feelings of nostalgia, to the
caroling and good cheer, to Father Christmas himself, but what a scarce number in
this country actually concern themselves with the true meaning of Christmas – or how
few even seem to care about the ancient Christian basis for this now-thoroughly-
secularized-and-commercialized holiday. I mean, if you don’t believe me, there is
proof enough in the fact that so many take the time to come to church on Christmas
and at Easter, yet evidently only then. Rarely on a random Sunday of the church year.
Seldom on the many green Sundays after Pentecost do we see them. The old C&E
Christians, as clergymen often refer to them in private. The Christmas and Easter
faithful. Now I hope no one takes offense at that. It isn’t meant to offend, but if
anything, to exhort. So should it ever apply to you or yours at any time, just recognize
that that’s God’s law knocking hard at the door of your needful heart.
But anyhow, what we learn this night from our nine lessons and hymns, it is not
only a matter for a happy midwinter yuletide celebration. Instead, it matters every
Sunday, and every single day, and every moment of every single day. After all, what
exactly is the story we hear tonight? It is not merely the story of our Savior’s birth, but
it is moreover the story of all human history, from its fall from grace unto the birth of
its redemption. It is the story of sin and its ultimate defeat.

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It is the principal story of good versus evil. It is our story; it is the story of the
salvation of each and every one of us gathered here tonight. This isn’t only a story
from thousands of years ago and thousands of miles away. It is rather an ongoing
story that is very much alive today in 2023 in the hearts of Christians across the
nations, and in the lives of all sinner-saints. The Gospel doesn’t just matter on
Christmas and at Easter, it matters every day in between. Because every day we sin
and every day we need a Savior, we require a Redeemer. We need His cross, His
redemption, His cleansing blood. But in order to have that cross, as I’ve said before,
in order to have that fortunate salvation through the death of the Son of God, we must
first have His Incarnation, God’s blessed Nativity. In order for God to die, He first had
to be born. Easter needs Good Friday and Good Friday needs Christmas. All these
holy events and feasts hang upon one another. They depend on each other. Salvation
comes alone through the seed of the woman, remember? His birth is the beginning of
our deliverance. So the Christmas story has everything to do with every passing day
of our sinful lives. It does not only matter tonight, but each and every morning and
night of our God-given existences.
Regrettably, America is probably right behind most of Europe. I hate to say it,
but it is likely true. And most of you already realize that. Our churches are aging,
many are closing, and pastors are few. The pews are emptying all around, in every
denomination. To be sure, people still love the Christmas season, of course, its songs
and colors and tastes. They love the superficial aspects of it anyhow. However, maybe
that’s all they really love at the end of the day. That seems to be the woeful
implication.

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But you know what, dear friends, while we here remain ever faithful, and thanks be to
God for that fact, make no mistake though: we, too, may play some small part in the
problem. The church is declining because people have forgotten what the Good News
is really all about. They think that the church is just a nice place to go every once in a
while, where you dress up and treat it like a social club of sorts. It is a place of
familial obligation once every winter and spring. In other words, it is more routine and
rhythm than real religion. And know this, dear flock: that depressing impression did
not arise in a vacuum. No, the church, over time, fostered it, whether deliberately or
inadvertently. The church let herself become but a comfortable place without much
depth or substance or relevance. And for many people, that just isn’t enough to keep
them interested. And understandably so. People don’t need another social club, there’s
plenty of other places to go.
How so many in our country have completely forgotten what the Incarnation
really entails, or what the cross even means, for that matter. Countless people don’t
even know what the clerical I wear every day means – when I go to the grocery store
sometimes, dressed in black, people think I work there. The symbols of our faith that
were once so unmistakable have lost all meaning in our culture. People don’t know
about God’s law; they don’t acknowledge the extent of their sin. And if I’m being
honest, that is partly because the church has stopped speaking in an authoritative way
beyond the border of her walls. The church has kept the message to herself, for fear of
being rejected, for fear of being labeled foolish, for fear of political correctness, for
fear of running off wealthy parishioners, or just from outright laziness and apathy.

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And worst of all, the church in many places has really begun to look exactly like the
secular world around her. The world and the church have become all but
indistinguishable. Which is to say, the church is taking on the profane form of but
another hollow institution of this fallen world.
But we can’t let that happen. It is our responsibility, our duty to share the
message of the Almighty God born of a woman, the good tidings of the incarnate God
dead on a cross for the transgressions of the whole world, the gospel of the one true
God resurrected and ascended, now reigning from on high. And yes, we need to
remind the world that God will return in judgment, too. That’s the hard part, sure
enough, for the world loves its sins. But again, the thing is, that return in judgment is
actually very good news, because God reckons all believers righteous for the sake of
His Son’s atoning sacrifice. God’s grace remains free. It demands nothing of us but
faith. And that is the best news in the world. So it is imperative that we share it. Not
just during the Christmas season either. Not solely during Eastertide. But every day of
our brief lives. We owe it to the world to be set apart from it – and to share the Gospel
with it from the standpoint of sanctification.
Tomorrow, unto us a Child will be born. We confess that salvation comes
through the womb of the blessed virgin. The promise given at the exile from paradise
was fulfilled in the little town of Bethlehem, six miles out from Jerusalem. And so,
knowing that, we are obliged to our neighbors, to the entire world, to proudly share
this most joyous news with them. If we desire warm pews, it is on us to spread the
word to the lost. It is on us to broadcast the genuine truth about Christmas.

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Salvation is here. Born of Mary, crucified outside the walls of the holy city, buried in
a borrowed tomb, raised on the third day, all so that we, too, might be raised on the
Last Day. Therefore, take this news beyond these church walls, dear flock. And never
stop speaking it. Until our Lord comes again. There is certainly time to watch to lay
back and relax and watch A Christmas Story or It’s a Wonderful Life. There is time for
family and friends, for eggnog and carols and all the things we so love about this
Christmas season. But there is furthermore a time to tell others about its real meaning.
And that time is now… and tomorrow… and the day after that – yes, even the day
after Christmas. In the most precious name of our Lord, Whose birth we cherish this
holy night. In the name of Jesus. Amen.