The truth about Christmas is that we can so easily miss it as it passes us by because our eyes are fixed on so many other things. It’s not that we easily miss the day. No matter what you believe about Christmas or how much you pay attention to it, it really does completely invade our calendars and our lives once a year. There is no missing the actual day. But often things like presents, family, parties, lights, decorations, baking, preparations, credit card bills and traditions, sometimes all of those things begin to become the only lens through which we view Christmas. And Christmas comes and goes and we miss what we need most about Christmas. And the amazing thing is that the Bible tells us that those who were right next to the events of that first Christmas over 2000 years ago almost missed it too. They really barely noticed it. But when they finally did notice it, it brought them so much joy it could barely be contained. What they almost missed is the same thing that you and I are in danger of missing each Christmas. With our fast paced lives that baby king, that fragile savior in that manger, is still just as ignorable as He was on that first Christmas if we let it. So let’s take a look back at that first Christmas night and see what it has to say about our own Christmas two thousand and twenty some years later.

The Christmas story is one filled with joy and wonder. Over and over in the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke, Scripture says: “And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at His birth.” Angels tell shepherds, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Mary exclaims, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” When the wise men saw the star they “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” And it truly is a time of joy and wonder when we allow ourselves to stop and consider all that God has done. But embedded in the Christmas narrative is a dark and troubling moment that is easy to overlook amid all the joy: Herod murdering all the male children of Bethlehem. It’s hard to imagine among all the rejoicing something so tragic, and so evil as this. Joy seems to take a backseat to tears and weeping. So let’s look at this part of the story this morning and what it might be saying to us in our final week before Christmas. Because the troubling parts of the story have just as much to say to us as the encouraging parts.

We are in the third week of our advent series, “Missing Home” because many of us miss home during the holidays. But also because with all the frantic busyness of the holidays, it’s easy to miss what Christmas is trying to tell us. One of those things that we can miss is just how unbelievable some of the elements in the Christmas story are. Wise men being led by a heavenly object toward where the Savior lay. Angels and prophecies. But perhaps especially, the virgin birth of Christ. According to a 2017 study, a narrow majority of Americans still believe in the virgin birth but that number has been rapidly declining every year for decades. And some Christians will get mad about that saying, “Christmas is ruined!” or “We need to take back Christmas!” But we need to realize that Mary and Joseph didn’t believe it either! They needed a dream and an angel to tell them what was happening. Because a virgin birth IS unbelievable. Many of the elements of that very first Christmas ARE unbelievable. Even for those who hoped in its coming.

If you are accustomed to hearing the Christmas story you are used to it starting out something like this: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” But what we often forget is that there are 17 verses that come before that familiar start to the the account of Christ’s birth. Granted they aren’t very exciting for us. But Jewish readers and rabbis at the time regarded the first 17 verses of the Christmas account as a miracle on the same level as the parting of the Red Sea. We are in our Advent series leading up to Christmas called “Missing Home,” because many of us miss home during the holidays if we are away. But also because with the rush and busyness of the holidays, it’s easy to miss what Christmas says about our true home; it’s easy to miss what Christmas tries to slow us down to hear in the month to come. And it’s easy to miss all of the hope and fulfillment that are hidden in the first 17 verses of Matthew’s account of the Christmas narrative. So, let’s read it together and see how the Christmas story really begins.

There is another season that we can choose to enter into that comes between Thanksgiving and Christmas: the season of Advent. The word Advent means coming or arrival. And in modern times Christians typically focus the coming weeks of Advent on remembering and celebrating the anticipated coming of Christ as a baby in a manger, the long awaited savior born in Bethlehem. However, Advent was also a term that originally described waiting not just for the coming of Christ’s birth, but also describing our waiting for the coming of Christ’s final return. And we don’t want to miss that aspect of our waiting. That even now, with the hope we have of Christmas, we still await a final and better hope. We await our eternal home which we have been promised where there is no more fear, anxiety, sorrow, pain and exhaustion. We are calling our Advent series this year “Missing Home.” Because this is a time that we often long for home if we are away, but also because it’s easy among all the holiday clatter to miss what this season has to tell us about our true home. The heavenly home we are waiting for made possible by Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection over 2000 years ago. This morning as the first Sunday of Advent we are going to take the morning to look ahead to the hope and the home we are still waiting for in Christ’s return before looking back in the weeks to come to the hope that has already come in the manger.