Shepherds and Other Outcasts
This is the sermon I preached on Christmas Eve at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Luke 2:1-20. On a long winter evening, we gather to proclaim the coming of the light. Isaiah announces that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Paul reminds us that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all. In this familiar account of Jesus’ birth, the evening sky is bright with the heavenly host singing, “Glory to God in the highest.” Amid our broken world, we proclaim that the prince of peace is born among us. (Sundaysandseasons). After all the shopping, cleaning, cooking and preparing and after trying to make ends meet; keeping a distraught family together, struggling to get a job and worrying about a loved one serving overseas—after all the stuff that makes our lives crazy—the short, simple, peaceful word that we are of infinite value and worth to God is perhaps just what we need to hear tonight. We long and hope that God will counter the ch...