This is a Christmas sermon from 1989. It is typed and highlighted. This was probably the last Christmas Day sermon that my dad preached in Wausau, as we were in Seymour by Christmas in 1990.

I’ve used Google’s OCR to transcribe the text from this scanned sermon.

STRAIGHT TO CHRISTMAS - Christmas Day 1989 - Luke 2:15

“After the angels had left them and gone into heaven the shepherds said to one another, ‘Come, we must go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”

Dear friends in Christ, grace & peace. . . . We have shared in the weeks of advent words of hope and promise, and even in last night’s worship we shared words of the prophets about a Savior who would come in lowly form to bring light into this world. Today we celebrate the truth of those old prophecies, and we give thanks that it is true–we have a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Thank goodness, thank goodness that God has brought this about. Thank goodness that our salvation does not depend on the plans and schemes of some human being. Thank goodness there is more to Christmas than special store-wide sales, more than red-nosed reindeer and special cookies and TV specials. Thank goodness that God is behind the events that we celebrate on Christmas Day. Thank goodness that God is in the process of bringing about the things that were promised thousands of years ago. Yes, thank goodness.

The shepherds went through quite an experience when the angel appeared to them. They were out in the fields, tending their flocks, minding their own business, when they heard this astounding news of a Savior being born nearby. After all the show of a sky full of angels, they decided “we must go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened. It was great to hear the angels, but they wanted to know firsthand about what God had done.

Today I am calling you to go beyond the words of the angel, beyond the promises of the prophets to go straight to Christmas. Sometimes when we are on a journey we get sidetracked by all sorts of interesting sights. Sometimes we get lost , sometimes we never do get to our original destination . For the past four weeks of Advent, we have been on a spiritual journey to Christmas. There is no time for detours, no more time for lingering along the way–we are here. It is time to go straight to Christmas. And when we go straight to Christmas we are going home. We are going to where we belong. We are putting things in their proper perspective. We are survivors of the advent journey—we have made it through all the pitfalls of this season before Christmas, and now it is time to go straight to Christmas–non stop.

It is time for us to get what we came to Christmas for. What is that? There was a middle-aged man who was shopping at a large discount store… and in front of him in a long check-out line was a friendly junior high aged boy. This boy turned around in line and started to make conversation. He said “I already know what I’m going to get for Christmas. I’m getting a ten-speed bike and a stereo-and that’s just from my Grandma.” The man said “That must be nice . " Then the boy asked “What are you getting, mister?” The man answered “I don’t really know. I really have everything I need. Maybe I won’t get anything.” The boy looked at him like he was from outer space: “Not get anything? You must be kidding. Christmas isn’t Christmas if you don’t get something " I suppose the boy was right, (Not in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense. Christmas isn’t Christmas if we fail to get beyond the glitz and glitter—going straight to see this thing that has happened. I pray that as we each go straight to Christmas, that we will all get something : like compassion for the needy, like outrage at the injustices of our society, like sympathy for those who hurt, like kindness, patience, self-control. If you haven’t gotten these, then you haven’t gone straight to Christmas. As we see for ourselves the wonderful things God has done, we come to know the love and grace of God, and we are changed, we do get something from Christmas.

One pastor’s memoirs tell how he often passed by the home of an elderly retired man on his rounds — this fellow seemed to always be in his beautiful garden, and he was always whistling. He asked the neighbors why the man whistled so much, and they said, ‘Ask him yourself.” So he did. The man said, “See my wife over there on the porch. She is an invalid and she is also blind. I whistle so that she knows where I am that I am nearby. I whistle to let her know that if she needs me, I am right here.” Christmas is God whistling to us to let us know how near God’s help is when we need it. God has come to us to say in such special ways: “I am here. I love you. I want to help you. Call on me with your problems and diff i Culties . Trust me.” Unless we hear God whistling, see God’s nearness in the Christmas story, we have not gone straight to Christmas. We have not seen once more this wonderful thing that has happened. All the hustle and bustle have just been so much business. Even after the gift wrap and presents are cleared away and the tree is out at the curb, God intends for us to hear that whistle of nearness in Jesus Christ. God intends that each time we share the sacrament and hear those words “My body given for you, My blood. . shed for you”, we know the nearness of Christ. Do you hear God’s whistle? Listen for it in the carols we share, in the lives that are touched by God’s love today. God is whistling for each of us in this assurance that the Word became flesh to dwell among us, full of grace and truth.”