December 24, 2025 | Christmas Eve @ Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – Buffalo, NY
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Merry Christmas!
I bought a car recently – a Subaru Forrester. Let me tell you … there are a lot of differences between this car and my Ford pickup. My new car has so many buttons, bells and whistles, safety features, and alert sounds that my truck didn’t – it can be overwhelming!
What if I decided to drive my 2025 Subaru and treat it the same way as I did the 2017 Ford F-150? Are they the same vehicle? The same vintage? Do they have the same buttons and alerts? Is there anything wrong with driving them the same way? No … but, unless I get curious about the features and the buttons … unless I ask questions like “What is this for?” I probably won’t experience all that this new car has to offer. So, our curiosity leads us to read the owner’s manual, play around and experiment, push buttons and see what happens.
But … it’s Christmas Eve and we’re not here to talk about cars, but we are here to talk about getting curious about Emanuel – God with us. We are here to ask questions like, “How can these things be?” We are here to get curious and even get a little playful as we explore for ourselves “What is this for?”
Yes … in many ways, we celebrate Christmas the way we have always celebrated Christmas. We decorate, put up lights, have parties, exchange gifts, and come to church. But “What is all of this for?”
Is the purpose of what we do only about celebrating the birth of a child 2,000 years ago? Yes … it is about celebrating Jesus actual birth, but what about Emanuel – God is with us? This is not a past-tense question, but a present-tense one. The God who came to us through the birth of Jesus is the same God who comes to each and every one of us now… today… here… in this moment. In many ways, this is like the difference between the features in my truck versus the features in my new car. You and I have grown, human history has evolved, and the God made known to us is not stagnant. So, we get curious … we experiment … we play … we experience the reality of a loving and a living God who promises to be Emanuel – God with us. This is the God who was with us, is with us, and will continue to be with us. God continually comes not merely as a matter of history, but to be an active part of your life and my life.
We hear in this Christmas story those pieces of the story that are nostalgic that we love to hear. In fact, as I read the gospel according to St. Luke, I was hearing the Peanuts Christmas special where Linus recounted the story from Luke 2. As we get curious about Emanuel – God with us, we also witness Mary & Joseph who have experienced so much over the previous year of their lives. How many times must they have asked themselves, “What is this for?”
We hear the radical nature of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) as Mary glorified God and said that God “has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; … has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” As we get curious and even playful about these words, we see how challenging, important, and relevant they are!
Through this Christmas story, we witness that something significant was happening. So significant that it caused shepherds to get curious and come in from the fields. So significant that it caused magi from the East to get curious about what they were witnessing as they studied the movement of the stars. They were so curious, in fact, that they packed up their stuff and made the long journey to Jerusalem. Something significant was happening. Did they know or understand it all? No. It was also so significant that it caused King Herod to be so threatened and so afraid of the birth of this child that he called for the slaughter of all children 2 years old and younger.
When God comes near to us as Emanuel – God with us, that coming near is significant every time. When God comes near, we are invited to do the Work of Christmas. Our invitation tonight, whether this is your first Christmas or you’ve heard these stories dozens of times, is to get curious about whom the prophet Isaiah spoke: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Our invitation is to get curious about Emanuel – God with us, as we celebrate the history of Jesus’ birth, but also notice our own relationships with God and where God has come near. When God comes near, that connection does not leave us unchanged.
Theologian and civil rights leader Howard Thurman wrote a Christmas poem called The Work of Christmas.
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.
This is our invitation … not just to celebrate Christmas, but to live Christmas. Jesus Christ, the light of the world, came into the world and passes that light on to us. Our invitation is to know and to celebrate the birth of Jesus, as well as to get curious about how God calls us to do the work of Christmas in our time as we do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with Emanuel – God is with us (Micah 6:9).
We are invited to love God with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves … yes … including those whom we perceive as enemies. Together, we live the question, “What is this for?”
In the name of Jesus. Amen!
Epicurious Lutheran 