And yet the readings themselves are not set on a small or modest stage. Each one has a context which is universal with implications far beyond the immediate and the here and now.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light”; “you have increased its joy”; “for a child has been born for us, a son given to us”; “ and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”; “he will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” The prophet Isaiah is predicting the birth of a future ideal monarch who will bring a reign of peace and justice for all. Christians have found in these words resonances of the birth of Christ.

The Gospel passage from Luke is the most familiar of all the Christmas scriptures. Unlike Matthew's birth narrative Luke has no kings and no Herod. Luke is all angels and shepherds. The problem with our nativity scenes is that we conflate the two thus confusing the integrity of each narrative. Luke does not begin with the context of the wicked local king Herod. Luke gives the birth of Jesus a much grander context: he begins with the Roman Emperor himself. “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.” The Emperor Octavius had been proclaimed Augustus, the August One, because his rule had brought peace to the empire, the so called Pax Romana. Titles were heaped on this fine emperor including Prince of Peace and even Savior. Not only does the naming of Augustus give a particular time to the birth of Jesus but his edict for a census provides the reason for the journey of Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

But Luke's naming of the Emperor has an even more important purpose to it. By the time Luke wrote the emperor's were a pale shadow of the mighty Augustus. Names like Nero or Diocletian struck fear and hatred into the hearts of their subjects. They were no longer seen as Saviors or Princes of Peace but rather as oppressors and persecutors. It is rather like contrasting the present with those short lived hopeful days after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism which so quickly went sour with the internecine wars in the Balkans and other parts of the former Soviet empire; with the ugly face of terrorism and 911; with warfare in the Middle East and with the current economic recession. By the time Luke wrote the world was a very different place to live in.

And so Luke is able to make a dramatic contrast between the Emperor Augustus who was simply a bygone dream with this child born in humble circumstances who will truly become the Prince of Peace and the Savior of the World. The angelic message says it all: “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the City of David a Savior who is the Messiah, the Lord.” And the contrast could not be more dramatic in the circumstances of this birth. This Savior is born in unlikely circumstances: away from home; in a manger in a stable; and witnessed by shepherds who were not the romantic figures we like to depict but rather people who lived on the margins of society. The shepherds received the angelic message: they went and checked it all out; they saw it all and talked of the heavenly messengers; and then they went on their way glorifying God for all they had heard and seen. And that is it. Luke has set the stage as it were for a much fuller narrative in which he fills out the story of our salvation.

But the shortest lesson tonight from Paul's letter to Titus is the most powerful reminder of the larger context for the birth of Christ which we celebrate. And that context gives some shape to and hope for us in our present context of economic recession and the uncertainty that it brings. Paul speaks of the coming of Christ in these terms: “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all”. That is the good news of God in Christ, of Emmanuel, God with us. God has taken this amazing initiative of being born one of us so that all (does it really mean all, that is including me and you?) will be saved, will enjoy life in all its fullness with God.

The birth of Jesus, this appearance of God's grace, has implications as they say. At first they may sound somewhat negative and alien. “Training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions (that is all those things that destroy human community like greed, hatred, cruelty, lies and indifference) and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly (that is practicing moderation for ourselves; living justly in regard to others; and giving due honor to God). But even more Paul recognizes that not only does the birth of Christ and all it entails in God's grand plan have implications for how we live our lives now but it also points us towards the Second Advent for which “we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” For Christians there is always that future dimension to faith; that “not yetness”; that sense of expectancy of more to come. For what we celebrate tonight is not the end of God's Salvation; it is the beginning. It is the first act of God’s great drama of Salvation. The story of our Salvation begins at Christmas but it also embraces Good Friday and Easter; Ascension and Pentecost; and the Second Advent when Christ will come in Glory and in Judgment.

Tonight we rejoice in the birth of Christ. We look with wonder at the child in the manger surrounded by angels, shepherds and animals. But as we do we remember the angelic message that this child is the Savior of the World, the true Prince of Peace, the one in whom justice and righteousness reside. This child is the true source of our hope and of our future. A Blessed Christmas to you all.