A Christmas Eve morning meditation for the People of First Austin

A Christmas Eve morning mediation for the People of First Baptist Church of Austin, Texas

December 24, 2023

Written by Rev. Carrie Houston

On this fourth Sunday of Advent, you’ve probably realized by now that the service is different than you’re used to. For starters, worship is a whole hour earlier! We are glad you made it a point to come a little earlier. I hope you grabbed a donut or taco and a cup of coffee, chatted with a beloved friend, and you look forward to what Christmas Eve holds. 

This service is a special and unique one, one filled with church members who bring their gifts of music as an offering of love and worship this Christmas Eve morning. This service has been a long held tradition here at first Austin and we are glad you could share in it with us.  

While the service has a different flow and feel than our traditional worship services, this is still a time of worship! Each artist is a worship leader this morning in their own unique gifts and talents. May we see God in each person, in their vulnerability to share their gifts and in their time of preparation. May our hearts view this morning less as a performance and more as a way to connect to our god who deeply loves the uniqueness of a fellow human being. 

We are so glad you are here. 

The Christmas season is characterized as one filled with excitement and anticipation.   We gather with family, share traditions, eat lots of food and lots of yummy treats.  We carefully craft our list of gifts for family and friends then face the crowds in the stores fighting for the same items. We fill our calendars with Christmas parties, evenings looking at Christmas lights, and holiday concerts or ballets. We book the photographer for our family Christmas cards, and then assemble, stuff, address and mail Christmas cards to all our friends. 

There is also an unwritten expectation that Christmas time is the season where we reconcile with estranged loved ones, forgive past wrongs, and look towards the new year with a commitment to do better than last year.  We are expected to suck it up and not talk about politics or religion or anything controversial that might rock the boat. There are late nights wrapping presents, cleaning the house in preparation for guests, and traveling far distances. 

If I’m honest, I’d say that Christmas is my favorite time of the year, but it’s also the season that runs me the most ragged. I look forward to it while simultaneously dreading it.  Maybe your experience is different than mine, and for that, I am so glad it is. But how many of us run as fast as we can to Christmas and then collapse on the other side of the finish line, wishing we had a whole other Christmas season to recover from it all? 

On this last day of advent, on this Christmas Eve, let us rest in the unending, radical, unconditional, extraordinary love of our God who would come to earth as a little baby to show us the ultimate way of love.  The sacrificial, selfless, kind of love. Let us collapse into the arms of a God who cradles us in our exhaustion, who gives us rest when our souls feel uneasy, anxious, and troubled. 

Our god of love tells us that we are enough as is.  Jesus doesn’t expect your house to be meticuluiousy clean for your in-laws arrival, or that the Christmas day menu is something worthy of ina garten’s table to be loved.  There is no expectation from Jesus that you lose 10 pounds to fit into that holiday dress for Jesus to want a relationship with you.  Jesus doesn’t expect you to hide who you are just to avoid conflicts with close-minded friends.  Jesus’ love allows us to rest in the truth that our very being is worthy of love from the second we were born. Just as we are. 

This morning, I hope you find some rest in these truths, that your busy spirit finds some solace in the fact that you don’t have to have it all together to find love of the Savior. You are enough. Right now.  Right here.

I’d like to end with a blessing written by writer Jonathan merit.  Let the words bring you comfort and encouragement for the remainder of this season, whatever it holds for you-

In this season of cocktail parties, blessed be the uninvited and home-bound. May you find unexpected 

    embrace right where you are. 

In this season of homecomings, blessed be the estranged and the orphaned. May you feel the love of 

    your chosen family.

In this season of lavish gift giving, blessed be the cash strapped parents and friends on fixed incomes. 

    May you and yours remember what matters most.

In this season of lazy vacation days, blessed be the hourly employee.  May your hard work and overtime 

    pay help you breathe a little easier.

In this season of glitzy date nights, blessed be the third wheels and all who lack a plus one despite their 

    best efforts.  May you remember that you are lovable and enough. 

In this season of perfectly curated portraits, blessed be the members of hopelessly dysfunctional 

    families.  May you find moments of peace in the tempest of your togetherness. 

Written by writer Jonathan Merritt