“Mary, did you know?”

Christmas Eve - 2025 

Luke 2: 1-20 - BRCC - Pastor Deb

Grace to you all on this Holy Night, and may love’s light of peace shine upon each of us.

As we gather together in worship on this Christmas eve, many of you have loved ones here and/or coming to your homes with lots of food, presents, activity and joy ahead.  For others this might be a quieter night, where memories of loved ones, and past Christmas celebrations are carried and pondered in our hearts.   For me, I am remembering  my mother tonight, who passed away this year at the age of 97, and is no doubt experiencing her first Christmas in God’s presence, reunited with my dad and so many others she loved here on earth.  It’s comforting for me to ponder the outcome of her life of faith and trust in Jesus.  My mom was from that era when a new bride had a “cedar chest” that she filled with precious items to bring into her marriage, or to keep treasures of her life’s milestones, hopes and dreams.  For us kids, Mom’s cedar chest  was filled with “wonder.”  Sometimes mom would allow us to look as she opened the chest and showed us what she had stored.  There was her wedding head-dress and veil; wedding photo album, several wedding gifts like hand crocheted pillow cases, table cloths and napkins; silverware that was only used at Christmas and Easter; baby blankets and newborn clothes from the births of her six children; baptismal certificates; cards…and most mysteriously, several drawings she had made in high school of various movie stars of her era.  As we cleaned out her cedar chest after her passing, we pondered each item, sharing the stories they held.  Some were from moments of sheer joy, but others, like her drawings, were weighted with lost choices.  You see, my mom loved to draw and was pretty good at it.  She did a few of those Norwegian plates with the intricate swirls and characters.  But she told us that my dad reminded her that they were running a farm with six children, and there wasn’t time or money to spend on art.  And so, those early drawings represented a loss in her life, something she gave up along the pathway of life.  For her 90th birthday, I painted a watercolor for her of a hummingbird hovering over a flower, and she lit up!  I sometimes wonder if God gave me a desire to paint in some sense to fulfill a desire carried by my mother.  Who knows?  God’s timing is often different than our own and can look inactive before it comes alive.

Luke recounts the beautiful Christmas story for us tonight in which the news of Jesus’ birth unfolds in a most unlikely way, to lowly shepherds at watch during the night.  Pondering the stars…listeningnig to the quiet.  It must have been like spectacular northern lights, but with angels singing with glory and wonder.  An angel spoke  directing them to a sign…to a new born baby, wrapped not in a blanket, but in bands of cloth and in a barn.  Off they went.  Can you imagine what Mary and Joseph must have thought to have sheep farmers come into the intimacy of their birth experience?  

Luke tells us that when the shepherds finished speaking - when the excitement settled and the noise faded - Mary treasured up all these words and experiences, and pondered them in her heart.  Luke doesn’t say that Mary understood, or tried to explain.  He tells us that she KEPT and she PONDERED.  She gathered these thoughts, if you will, into the cedar chest of her heart as something of invaluable worth.  Mary treated these moments as something too important to lose, and too fragile to rush.  She didn’t force meaning onto them.  She held them….and pondered.

Do you ever have late night or early morning ponders?  I find myself often awaking early before the sun comes up and discovering that my mind is quiet enough to listen in ways I don’t make time for during the day.  Perhaps a sermon illustration will pop into my mind; a misplaced item I couldn’t find in the busyness of the day will be remembered; a worry or a need will emerge and become the impetus for prayer.   Faith, in so many ways, looks like “listening twice.”  Once when we hear the story…and again, when it is quietly pondered, treasured and held.

My grandmother, whom I cherished, would save all the worn out clothing and fabric around her home and piece them together in a quilt.  I still cherish the quilt she made for me as a wedding gift way back in the 70’s.  I am sure she must have laid out each piece of fabric like a giant puzzle and pondered where each piece could fit to reveal the beauty and love she meant to give to us.  Mary pondered. To ponder is to bring things together.  To lay them side by side.  Promise next to reality.  She must have been remembering what the angel had said when he announced God’s plan for her to give birth to a baby named Jesus;  she must have relived the joy Elizabeth felt when her babe leaped in her womb; She must have wondered about the circumstances that brought them to Bethlehem; and timing of Jesus’ birth, and now these shepherds who have a tale of wonder and surprise.   “ What will God do next?”  comparing that thought to what she could see before her.  Mary wasn’t doubting; she was listening more deeply.

 Luke tells us she did this in her HEART - the place where Scripture says our lives are shaped.  This wasn’t just curiosity on Mary’s part, but FAITH FORMATION.  God was not only doing something through this child, but through and within her.    

Notice the contrasts in the details Luke gives us.  The shepherds speak; Mary is silent.  The shepherds make known; Mary makes room.  The shepherds return glorifying God; Mary remains, remembering, pondering, treasuring.  Both responses are faithful - but Mary’s faith is quiet, patient and enduring.  She embraces the mystery.

Mystery is NOT the enemy of faith, but the INVITATION for faith.  Sometimes faith doesn’t shout.  Sometimes faith sits still and keeps what God has done closely held.  And sometimes the holiest response is not explanation, witness or action, but attention and trust.

Like keeping a private journal meant for only your thoughts, not ALL faith is performative.  Not all faith is immediate action or radical change.  Before sermons are preached, before parables are told, before the cross is even imaginable, Mary shows us what discipleship looks like.  In its most important form, discipleship always begins and grows through receiving the WORD and letting it DWELL DEEPLY.  PONDERING, TREASURING, HOLDING IT CLOSE…WAITING…LISTENING….and trusting that God reveals meaning over time, His truth is revealed slowly…surely….and in the quiet of our hearts.  My prayer for each of you tonight, is that you will not only know joy with your loved ones, but a quiet, peaceful night, in which you too can ponder Mary’s story in your hearts.  

Let us pray:  Holy God, on this quiet night, teach us to treasure what you have done and to ponder your work without rushing to understand it.  Give us hearts like Mary’s - open, attentive and willing to hold your mystery with trust.  As we carry this night with us, let your peace dwell deeply within us.  We receive the gift of your Son with gratitude, wonder and hope.  Amen.