+ The Nativity of Our Lord – Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2025 +
Service of Lessons and Carols
Genesis 3:8-15; 17-19; Genesis 22:15-19; Isaiah 9:2-7; Isaiah 11:1-9; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-7; Luke 2:8-20; Matthew 2:1-12; John 1:1-14
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Wherever you find Christmas you’ll find a journey. A quest. An adventure. So Clark W. Griswold sets out with his family in his 4-wheel sleigh on a quest for the perfect Christmas tree. Kevin McCallister’s mother sets out on a journey from Paris back to Chicago where her son is home alone. Ebenezer Scrooge is whisked away on an adventure through Christmas past, present, and future.
Whether it’s over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house you go, or your travels are more local, wherever you find Christmas, you’ll find a journey. And this is no accident.
After all, the first Christmas is the story of a pilgrimage packed with God’s promises. A grand and gracious odyssey wherein God became man. Jesus, the Son of Mary and Son of God, goes on a holy journey to justify and rescue sinners. The holy God comes down; a humble birth from a humble Virgin in a humble town. Christ embarks upon a Christmas quest to seek and save the lost.
The difference is, however, that this Christmas quest really happened. Not once upon a time. Not in a galaxy far, far away. But in the days of Caesar Augustus. When Quirinius was governor of Syria. In the City of David. In Bethlehem of Judea.
And our Lord’s footsteps of this first Christmas pilgrimage echo throughout Scripture. The trail of this holy journey stretches all the way from Christ’s cradle back to the dawn of creation.
That’s where the Christmas road begins. Not in Bethlehem, but in Eden. Why at Jesus’ birth are we going back to the beginning?
Before the angels pierce the night with their Glorias. Before the shepherds make haste to the holy child in the manger there’s this: a trail of tears and sin and death that leads all the way back to Paradise lost. A world gone wrong. And people broken. Lost. Stumbling in the night. Aching and longing for life. Wholeness – in ruins and brokenness. Shalom – spoiled and shattered. Light – overshadowed by darkness. Life – swallowed up by death. God and man…and man and woman – fractured by rebellion.
And yet…there’s a glimmer of hope in the darkness. Already in Genesis we hear the pitter patter of our Lord’s infant feet running around the hallways of this world. The Lord who walked in the cool of the garden with man promised that one day he too would be made man. And tread the serpent under foot and stomp him into the dust forever.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
What was foretold in Eden is fulfilled in Bethlehem. The Seed of Eve came forth in the Seed of Mary. God in the flesh steps foot onto our trail of trespasses. Jesus walks head, feet, and hands first into the mess of our sin and brokenness.
And so the Christmas road goes ever on and on…
Just around the bend is Mt. Moriah. The place where YHWH told Abraham to traverse with his son, his only son Isaac. The son of promise. Of blessing. Of the covenant. It was a sojourn that ended in sacrifice. A pilgrimage that ended in a pyre. But not for Isaac. YHWH spared Abraham’s son. Why? So that in the fullness of time, further on down the Christmas road, he sent forth his Son, his only begotten Son. From all eternity, sent to save all humanity. Isaac was spared the sacrifice so that Jesus would become the sacrifice for Abraham, Isaac, you and me, and the whole world.
And so the Christmas road goes ever on and on. Our holy trek leads us further down the trail from Abraham and Isaac to Isaiah. He walks with us as he did with Israel - in the darkness. In the night of sin. In the abyss of idolatry. In the muck and mire and messiness of our broken lives. But Isaiah holds a torch. Sacred fire gleams forth in the night. A lighthouse in the gale. A word of promise.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone…For unto us a child is born. And unto us a Son is given.
Even the flora and fauna of this groaning creation declare the coming glory of Christ’s birth. Along the Christmas road there are many stumps. Snags. Dead marshes. But a root sprouts forth. A shoot from the stump of Jesse. A righteous branch will be born, bearing neither bark nor wood but our very flesh and blood and bone. He comes in the Spirit of the Lord, and is the Lord incarnate. And his resting place - in the manger, in Mary’s arms, on the cross, and in the grave - his resting place is glorious. For he is your rest.
And so the Christmas road goes ever on and on…from Eden to Isaiah. And from the child the prophets foretold, to the promise fulfilled. The Christmas road winds down the trail of history and Scripture. From Malachi to Mary. Centuries of silence. And yet, not all who wander are lost.
God sent a messenger. Gabriel is sent to Nazareth of Galilee. Out of the long, dark years of wandering, the Christmas road reaches its terminus. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
From Nazareth to the nativity. From Gabriel’s declaration to Mary’s delivery. The days were accomplished. Promise made. Promise kept. What the prophets had long foretold was fulfilled. She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger.
And yet Mary and Joseph and the infant, incarnate God are not alone on the Christmas road. Shepherds hit the trail as well. The night sky opened up. The hillside came alive with a holy tremble. And good news filled the air.
Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
They made haste. They sprinted down the Christmas road and found their Good Shepherd, and yours, lying in a manger. A lowly birth for lowly shepherds and lowly, lost sinners like us. Fellow pilgrims on the Christmas road.
The magi, also join this pilgrimage of promise, following a star to the toddler who is Light of Light. And very God of very God. Begotten. Not made.
From Bethlehem to Jerusalem. From Jesus’ cradle to his cross. From the arms of Mary to his arms stretched out in rescue. From being surrounded by shepherds to being surrounded by and dying for sinners. Tonight the Christmas road goes ever on for us as well.
Christmas is a journey. Not our journey to find God. But his journey to find. Save. Rescue you.
At Christmas, our Lord calls us to a grand and gracious adventure. Come to the manger and discover the good news that God himself has made his own pilgrimage to rescue you and bring you along the Christmas road. A road that winds over hill and dale, up the hill to the cross, down under the earth and into the grave, but out again alive in resurrection.
Christmas is a journey. Jesus’ holy quest to save you and bring you from sin and sadness to freedom and joy. From darkness to light. From death to life. And from this broken, fallen, messy world, to resurrection, new creation, and our eternal home in Jesus.
A blessed Christmas to each of you…
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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