A Perfect Gift for an Imperfect Christmas - A Night for Weary Hearts
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
December 16, 2025
Though here within the Church we defiantly
proclaim that this is the season of Advent, and Christmas is still over a week
away, deep down even this stubborn old pastor knows in his heart of hearts that
we are already immersed in Christmas. There’s no denying it. We are
inundated with Christmas music on the radio, the Hallmark Channel is full of
Christmas-themed movies, and we see Christmas trees wherever we go. In my home I’m not waiting until Advent is
over to put up my Christmas decorations, and I suspect you haven’t waited
either.
The thing about Christmas though is that it
naturally makes us nostalgic, and the problem with nostalgia is that it never
reveals the whole truth, only an edited version of the truth which omits all
the ugly parts, not unlike those Hallmark Channel movies. Just the other day I was thinking about the
idyllic, perfect Christmases I knew as a little boy in Kane. And as I thought about those ideal childhood
Christmases, my disappointment grew at how very unprepared I feel for Christmas
this year, and how there’s no way I can ever provide that perfect experience
for my family.
And that’s when I realized that my childhood memories
of Christmas were more nostalgia than reality. The more I thought about it, the more imperfect I realized they
were – not because my family didn’t try hard enough – but just because life
happens, and life will always be imperfect.
As I look back now, without the fog of
nostalgia obscuring my perspective, I can see that my parents struggled with
Christmas just as much as I do, and perhaps as much as you do. I’m sure they worried as they
balanced their desire to provide gifts for us with the hard reality of all the
bills coming due. And I’m sure Mom was stressed
as she frantically put our big holiday meals together, and Dad was overtired
from his job and over frustrated from assembling the bicycle in time for it to
appear under the tree on Christmas morning. And then there were the other frustrations that arose at Christmas time
as a visitor lingered a little too long or a relative on Christmas Eve had a
little too much Christmas cheer.
Perhaps you’ve come here tonight because you
lament your inability to recreate the perfect Christmas from your
childhood that you lovingly remember. I
hope now you realize that those Christmases were far from perfect. And this Christmas won’t be perfect for any
of us either. With a deep breath, let’s
acknowledge that truth, accept its inevitability, and free ourselves from those
impossibly unreal expectations.
After all, as Peter wrote in our lesson, “for a
little while you have had to suffer various trials.” He doesn’t say that we suffer only if we
deserve it, or if we are flawed, lazy, or luckless. No, Peter says we all suffer
trials. No exceptions. No matter how hard we try or how good we
think we are, we all experience imperfection. Even at Christmas.
I can offer no better example than the Holy
Family. Could there be a worse Christmas
than the one they experienced? I imagine
poor Mary had to suffer the wounds of gossip as people quietly whispered that
Joseph wasn’t the father. Then imagine
having to travel so far, probably on a donkey, while being pregnant? And imagine having to give birth in the
discomfort of a cave, because the guest rooms were all full? But it gets worse. Despite all these hardships, you’ve given
birth to a healthy baby and now, in a mixture of exhaustion and exhilaration,
you just want to sleep and cuddle your newborn son. But who bursts in? A noisy army of angels and a smelly
collection of shepherds who you’ve never met in your life. And yet Luke tells us that Mary reacted to all
this chaos, discomfort, and imperfection by treasuring it all, and pondering it all in her heart.
How was Mary able to overcome all those
disruptions, disappointments, and imperfections and still find joy? The answer is clear: it’s because Jesus was
right there with her. His presence, and
all the hope and promise he represented, enabled her to overcome the
imperfection of the moment and to see the bigger picture of salvation and new
life that had just miraculously been born into our world.
Friends, amidst our disappointments and the
inherent chaos of this season, Jesus is our answer too. As Peter noted in his letter, by God’s mercy
we too have been given a new birth: a “birth into a living hope
through”… Jesus Christ. He is the
only true perfection in our lives. Especially
at Christmas we see how Jesus willingly enters the messiness of our lives. Solely out of love for us, he will experience
the aches and pains of a mortal body, grief and tears at the death of his
beloveds, and the disappointment of betrayal by one of his closest friends.
But in all this worldly imperfection he brings
forgiveness, redemption, a fresh start, and hope… so much hope. We all know that our world is full of
suffering. And all of us, whether here
tonight or not, likewise bear the marks of suffering. We all have weary hearts tonight, and it’s
likely we’ll have weary hearts many more nights as well. But like Mary on that first and very
imperfect Christmas, we also have Jesus, and he is more powerful than any suffering or inconvenience. By the grace
of God, here in the imperfection of this night, Jesus is being born anew in our
hearts, to comfort us, console us, care for us, and guide our way forward.
Indeed, in our imperfect lives, amid an
imperfect Christmas, Jesus is the most perfect gift we could ever receive. Thanks be to God. Amen.
© 2025 Rev. Scott E. Schul, all rights reserved
The Lesson: 1 Peter
1:3-9
3 Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth
into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and
into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in
heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by the power of
God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In
this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer
various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your
faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by
fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is
revealed. 8 Although you have not seen him, you love
him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice
with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 for you are
receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
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