Advent IV, December 23, 2012
Kids Christmas Pageant Sermon@

One of the most important pieces of furniture at Christmas is the Manger. A manger is a place where hay or grass is put for cows, horses and donkeys to eat. Today we are going to go to the manger and explore it.

On the First Christmas Eve, the first one to come to the manger would be the Innkeeper. He would put hay or grass in it for the cattle to eat. The next to come to the manger would be the Innkeeperfs Cow. She would be hungry and would be looking for some nice, fresh, tasty hay to eat. Then she would go off, lie down and rest for a while. The next to come to the manger might be Mary and Josephfs Donkey. He too would be hungry after a long journey carrying Mary. He would be looking for some nice, fresh, tasty hay to eat. Then he would go off, lie down and rest for a while.

The next to come to the manger would be Jesus. He isnft coming to eat, but rather His Mother Mary lays him down on the nice, soft hay because there is no nice bed or cradle for the Child. So, there in the hay, the Lord of the Universe is resting; not in some grand palace, but in a humble place. But the Heavenly Father is not embarrassed by this humble bed. The Lord who made the ivory and gold for the palace crib also made the grass and hay for the manger. He is at home everywhere.

The next one to come to the manger might be the Cow again. She is hungry. In the middle of her hay she finds a Baby. She is annoyed. She has no interest in such things as human babies. She is a cow. If she could speak she might say, gMoo. Hey, kid, thatfs my hay. Moooooove over!h She is annoyed because Jesus has disrupted her life. He is in the way. She only wants the hay.

The next to come to the manger that night would be the Shepherds. They had heard the Angels say, gToday your Savior, Christ the Lord, was born in David's city. This is how you will recognize him: You will find an infant wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.h When they found the child, they were overjoyed. Jesus lying in the hay was perfect for them. Being shepherds, they knew all about grass and hay and how it was the food that gave life to the sheep, and so livelihood to them as shepherds. They saw that the Christ had come to them.

Today we, too, come to the manger. What do we find? Do we find the Christ Child, or do we only find hay?

There are some people who donft believe in Jesus, so they only see hay. Jesus gets in the way at Christmas time. They donft want all that religious stuff. They are like the cow or ox who says, gMoo. Hey, kid, get out of the hay. Moooooove over!h They like the greeting gHappy Holidaysh or gSeasonsf Greetings.h What they want to find in the manger is presents under the Christmas Tree. The hay is all they want. The trouble with that is that hay doesnft last forever, but the Christ Child does!

At the other extreme are the folks who donft want any hay in the manger. For example, Jews, Muslims, Unitarians, and the like who do not believe in the Triune God. They feel that God Almighty is so pure that he could never get messed up in the ordinary, maybe even dirty things of this world. The trouble with that is that such a god would not get messed up in the ordinary sins and evil of this world; he would not take upon himself the sin the world and die on the cross to forgive our sin and give us eternal life. Such an attitude that does not accept Christ coming into the world is not Christian.

There are some good Christians who do not like the hay for a different reason. Sometimes there is so much hay that the Christ Child gets lost. This hay is all the decorations and parties and Santa Claus and reindeer and presents and other stuff. Sometimes it is hard to see Christianity in Christmas. Or we can get so tired by the parties that we have no energy or time to go to church and really worship God. We need to know how to control the hay problem so that we can worship Christ with a pure heart. The heart becomes pure when we confess our sin and so are forgiven and become pure in heart through the work of Christ who died on the cross and rose again for our salvation. This is the real meaning of Christmas: that Christ came down to this world and was born a human in order to save humans. That is why there is hay in the first place.

Personally, I like the hay at Christmas! I like the decorations, lights, candles, presents, and all the good food. I like the songs. I even like the secular Christmas Season songs like Jingle Bells and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. I even like the sad Christmas love songs, like, gItfll be a Blue Christmas without You,h or gLast Christmas I Gave You my Heart.h I love Santa. I love the department stores that really only want the hay, the money, but they just prove that Christmas is too big to be celebrated by only a handful of Christians. I love the hay; I want to say to the Christ Child, gHey, moooooove over! I want to be with you. I want Jesus to be with me and be my Savior, now at this Christmas and for ever.h Christ came to the simple and humble things of this world, this is where we are. Christ came to save us.

Hallelujah! Merry Christmas! Amen!

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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