God's Gift of Experience

Rebecca Sheridan
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Luke 2:1-20

    I am one of those people that loves listening to Christmas music radio stations.  Christmas music on Spotify, too, but in the car, it’s Delilah all December!  She shared a statistic a few days ago that three-quarters of American adults prefer to receive experiences over physical gifts for Christmas.  This made sense to me; while I am amazed every year at people who find stuff to give me that I love, I especially appreciate tickets to a show or concert, or a restaurant gift card, a ski trip or surfing lessons, and so on.  Through generational studies I’ve looked at, there also seems to be a trend for millennials and younger to invest in experiences over products. Antiques are out, for example.  Minimalism and simplification are in.  It’s not that we’re spending less – we’re still plagued with overconsumption and materialism this time of year in particular, but we spend differently.  In addition to stuff, many of us really value experiences.
    So, what experience are you hoping for this Christmas?  What an experience the shepherds had that first Christmas night, huh?  The multitude of the heavenly host praising God and an angel with bright light telling them to go to Bethlehem, then finding a baby lying in a manger. I’m guessing this experience was not on any of the shepherds’ bucket lists!  That first Christmas night was not an experience they could have planned for in advance or believed in their wildest dreams could happen to them, but for those shepherds, it did!  And the angel reminds us that this Christmas night experience happened for us, too!  We weren’t there to see it happen, but the angels’ message to the shepherds is for us to hear tonight as well, “Do not be afraid; for see—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.”  “To YOU is born a Savior.”  That’s a you-all, plural, but it also is a very personal message, to each one of us, directly, Jesus is born.  Jesus is born for lowly shepherds, wise men, and foe everyone else in between.  Good news of great joy for all the people. Jesus is born for us, to save us.  Thanks be to God!  God gives us an experience of a lifetime, the experience of all our lifetimes: knowledge of salvation, peace for all our fears because God-with-us, Emmanuel, Christ, the Lord.
    My guess is many of us love Christmas because of the experiences of this holy time.  Singing carols, lighting candles, and being with one another here tonight, eating a lot (probably too much) good food, time with family and friends we may not see that often, special decorations all around, Christmas classics on the radio.  We look forward to the experience of Christmas each and every year!  The gifts around the tree are great, but Christmas is special for so much more than that, we know that.  As Christians, we celebrate that Christ is our greatest gift.  
Tonight, we can ponder how even though we weren’t there to share the shepherds’ experience that first Christmas, we have been blessed to experience Christ in our own lives in amazing ways.  Maybe you have a powerful story of healing, or a time when you became a Christian or came back to the church.  Maybe it’s a more ordinary time when you sensed Christ’s presence with you and felt his comfort and peace.  Maybe it comes in worship here tonight or at other times in singing and praying together, taking the wine and the bread, body and blood of Christ at Holy Communion.  Maybe it was in a one-on-one conversation with a friend that you’ll never forget.  God sends us Jesus, born as a baby in a manger, to experience all that we experience, from birth to death!  God sends us Jesus so that we might cherish all life as a gift, and celebrate the life and salvation we have in him.
The gift God gives us at Christmas, the gift of Christ, is one that keeps on giving.  It’s realizing that Christ was born as Jesus of Nazareth but Christ continues to come to us today, lives through us and among us, can be seen and experienced through one another, and will be with us still beyond the end of our days.  So whatever is on your Christmas wish list, know that if you’re looking for an experience, God’s got you covered.  Experience Christ this Christmas, and may the light and love he brings carry you well into the New Year.  Amen.