"It was the night before Christmas...and all through the house not a creature was stirring" so goes the well-known Christmas poem. Well on that first Christmas night creatures were stirring in the fields around about Bethlehem. Hungry, wild dogs and wolves were prowling in the shadows eager for a mouthful of mutton. Shepherds had to have sharp eyes to watch over their sheep, guarding them from beasts who might at any moment leap from behind a rock to capture and kill a defenseless lamb or a sheep too clumsy and slow to escape. Yes, creatures were stirring on that first Christmas night.

Predators, sheep, and shepherds weren't the only creatures stirring about. There were heavenly creatures stirring this night, too. God dispatched His holy angels into the darkness of that Judean night. They would break the silence of the evening with a sermon and a song that human ears had never heard before.

The shepherds, of course, were overcome with such a heavenly stirring. They did not expect to see the glory of the LORD revealed from the skies that night. Luke reports that "...the glory of the LORD shone around them and they were greatly afraid." Who wouldn't be afraid at such a sight? The shepherds need not be afraid. These heavenly visitors are not an omen of some great evil about to befall these poor herdsmen. Not at all. Instead they come to announce the birth of One who will dispel all of our fears and give us the peace of heaven. So the angel preaches the first Christmas sermon: "Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find the Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."

"Do not be afraid"- that is the first gospel of Christmas. "Do not be afraid" because God has stepped into the darkness of this world. God has not left us alone in the black night of sin and in the shadowlands of death. The baby who is born this night is the very Sun of Righteousness. He is the Light of the world, the light that no darkness can overcome. The poet says of death: "Do not go gently into that dark night but rage, rage against the dying of the light." Jesus does come gently into this dark night. "How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given," we sing in the Christmas carol. In the silence of the stable, our Lord comes to us wrapped in our flesh with our blood flowing in His veins. He comes not in might and majesty but in the gentleness and tenderness of an infant. He does not rage against a dying light. He does not swear at a dimly flickering wick. You remember the old saying "It is better to a light a candle rather than curse the darkness." That is what God does in giving us His Son.

God does not stand outside and curse the darkness that our sin has brought upon us. He does not rage against the dying of the light. He does not wait for us to figure out a way to make our own light. Instead, He comes into this dominion of darkness, to bathe us in the glory of His light. He comes that we might become children of the light and of the day who cower and hide not under the cover of night but walk in the radiance of His redeeming grace. So we sing in Martin Franzmann's great hymn:

"From the cross thy wisdom shining Breaketh forth in conqu'ring might; From the cross forever beameth All thy bright redeeming light. Alleluia, alleluia! Praise to thee who light dost send! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia without end"

That is why the angel announces that this Child is our Savior. If we had needed information, God could have sent us an educator. If we needed technology, He could have sent us a scientist. If we needed money, He could have sent us a financial planner. But we needed and we need something more. Our deepest need is the need for salvation, for life with God through the forgiveness of our sins. That is what Jesus came to bring us. Apart from Jesus there is no salvation. That is why the angels direct the shepherds to the place where Jesus is, His manger bed. There they will find God wrapped in swaddling cloths. The angels do not invite the shepherds to look within themselves for the light, but to go to Bethlehem where the Christ Child is bedded down in feed box. They go to Bethlehem not to look in pity on this child whose first hours are spent in such crude conditions, but rather to see with their own eyes the pity that God has on us sinners in His coming to be our Savior.

So let every creature stir this holy night, in heaven and on earth, in praise of the Father who has given us His Son. Let no tongue on earth be silent in His presence. The Son is cradled here tonight in Scripture and in Sacrament to touch you with the tenderness of His mercy, to cast out your fear, and to give you heaven's peace. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.