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[ Pause ] [MUSIC - "HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING"] Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn King.

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♪ Peace on earth and mercy mild ♪ ♪ God and sinners reconciled ♪ ♪ Joyful, all ye nations, rise ♪ ♪ Join the triumphant stars ♪

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♪ With the herald angels' thronging ♪ ♪ Christ is born in Bethlehem ♪ ♪ From heaven an angel sings ♪ ♪ Glory to the newborn King ♪

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♪ Christ, our highest heaven above ♪ ♪ Christ, the everlasting Lord ♪ ♪ Late in time behold him die ♪ ♪ Offspring of a virgin's womb ♪

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♪ Hail him folks, the high and sea ♪ ♪ Hail him heart and hand and knee ♪ ♪ Hail the sweet and the meek ♪ ♪ He reigns over the land of the earth ♪

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[music] This is our college day, the day when we recognize... [no audio] I'm going to read from the New International Translation text, Isaiah chapter 52, verses 7 through 10.

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"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns." Listen. Your watchmen lift up their voices. Together they shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.

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Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends

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of the earth will see the salvation of our God. The subject of the message, Home for Christmas. Christmas is a family festival. Being home for Christmas makes the celebration memorable meaningful. The language of our text is a vivid description of homecoming. As

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captives in Babylon. Israel has long looked forward to the day when she would be free, free to return to Jerusalem, free to go home. And now An unknown bard who for want of a better name we call Deutero Isaiah, second Isaiah

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envisions the homecoming experience. The messenger who heralds the news of homecoming is the bearer of

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good tidings. He comes with quick feet marching to a jubilant beat in a processional

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freedom march for captives who have come back home. Now two cities are prominent in the focus of this homecoming experience,

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Babylon and Jerusalem. To celebrate Christmas in Babylon is to be away from home and to celebrate Christmas under strange and unfamiliar

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circumstances. For Babylon is the land of estrangement, where people are victimized by anxiety, ambiguity, and absurdity. Babylon is a land of bondage.

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Frederick Douglass in his autobiography, gives a rather moving description of how African-Americans celebrated Christmas as slaves in this country.

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This is what he says. "The days between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve were allowed the slaves as holidays. During these days, all regular work was suspended

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and there was nothing to do but to keep fires and look after the stock. We regarded this time as our own by the grace of our masters.

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And we therefore used it or abused it as we pleased. Those who had families at a distance were expected to visit them and spend with them the entire week.

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The younger slaves, or the unmarried ones, were expected to see the animals and attend to incidental duties at home. The holidays were variously spent.

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The sober-thinking, industrious ones would employ themselves in manufacturing corn brooms, mats, horse collars, baskets, and some of these were very well made.

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And another class spent their time hunting possums, coons, rabbits, and other game. But the majority spent the holidays in sports, ball playing, wrestling, boxing, running, foot races,

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dancing and drinking whiskey. And this latter mode was generally most agreeable to their masters. A slave who would work during the holidays

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was thought by his master undeserving of the holidays because if he worked and made $3 during the holidays, he could get the idea that he could make $300 during the year and that he could buy his freedom

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and be free and this was dangerous thinking. And then Douglas concludes his description of activities of slaves during the holidays by saying this, not to be drunk during the holidays

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was disgraceful. That was how the slaves were expected to celebrate the Christmas holiday period. Dwellers in Babylon have a certain way of celebrating.

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Babylon is a long way from home for the people of God. They have been consigned to captivity there because they have departed from the keeping of God's law. But at this particular time, which the prophet describes,

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joy comes with the news that the day of freedom is at hand. The Lord of Israel is king. Your God reigns. He is king of the universe.

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He rules. He's in charge. So homecoming is arranged. It's a time of reunion and restoration.

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To be at home for Christmas is to make the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. Home for Christmas! This is the desire of our world, expressed in so many ways. Because at this season of the year, the airports are crowded and the highways are crowded.

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people who are making a journey, some from far and some near, to be home at Christmas. We remember the words of that popular lyric, "I'll be home for Christmas, you can count on me. There'll be snow and mistletoe and holly in the tree. I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams. And so in the the babble of our time, the

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confusion of our daily living, the bondage that we experience in the spirit, the oppression, the exploitation, the injustice, we want to be home for Christmas. We want to be free. We want to be recipients of the redemptive power of the eternal. And how beautiful it is, the Prophet says, for the feet of those who

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bring good news concerning home. I think one of the experiences that come to mind is when you're away in college, when the time came to gather mail, we all gathered there, and many times even before the office opened, we would see the mailman, and we'd want to know from the mailman whether or not you got a letter from home. And as the mail would be picked up, you could see the reaction of those who were there.

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were there. Sometimes there was a reaction of joy because they'd gotten word from home and there was good news, there was something in the letter, in the way of contributing to the support of the student there. You could see joy on their face and then sometimes when they were told that there was no mail, there would be a look of dismay. God comes to be

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with us and really the important thing of what it means to be at home for Christmas is to depart from the celebration which is so characteristic of the celebration of Christmas in Babylon where we are concerned primarily with our good rather than with God. To be at home with God is to be at peace with ourselves, is to be at peace with one another,

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is to be at peace in the world. To be at home with God in the celebration of Christmas is to have an abiding concern for justice, is to have that love which is the love of God manifested in our lives, home for Christmas that was the experience of Joseph and Mary. They were required to go

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to Jerusalem rather to Bethlehem which is just six miles from Jerusalem six or eight miles from Jerusalem and they were required to go there because of a mandate that had come a decree from Caesar Augustus. Every man had to go to his home and register there and Joseph was of the lineage of David and this was

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his home so he has to make the journey to Bethlehem. Bethlehem to be at home there and as he comes to Bethlehem he comes with a great burden. His wife is expecting a child and so he makes this home a journey in spite of all of the difficulties. It's not a convenient time to be on the road, but

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nevertheless he and Mary make that journey. And there's something special about Bethlehem. Not only is it Joseph's home, but it's also the home of David. You You remember that story when David was in his early days of his reign. He said, "Oh, I wish I had water from the well at Bethlehem."

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He longed for water from the well at home. He had some mighty men and they broke through the lines. They risked their lives and they brought back to David water from the Bethlehem well, home. There's something special about home.

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Home, yes, it means freedom. That's what it means to be at home. We're all meant for freedom, to be at home with God, to be as God made us to be,

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is to be able to enjoy that freedom which God has ordained for every person, which is the birthright of every human being, to have peace, to have justice, to have love,

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to experience the beloved community. That's what it means for exiles to go from Babylon to Jerusalem. And that's what it means for us today

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to make the pilgrimage to Bethlehem. Alex Haley is the author of a tale entitled A Different Kind of Christmas. The setting of it is in 1855.

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The leading character is Fletcher Randall from North Carolina. He's attending college up north in Princeton, New Jersey. His father is one of the largest slave plantation owners

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in North Carolina. And Fletcher is the heir to the family fortune. His father expects him to carry on the proud, prosperous Southern tradition.

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Young Randall meets three schoolmates who are Quakers. And then this experience after a visit with them to Philadelphia and staying in their homes and meeting some of their associates

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along with their family. Through a soul searching experience, Fletcher Randall decides to join the Underground Railroad. He returns home, determined to secretly work

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even against his family and all of the background that he has experienced and has at the time, work for the freedom of slaves and to risk his life in doing that.

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And in this journey toward freedom, they are to follow the North Star. That's the sense of direction that they have, just to follow the star. Just as those who came to the manger in the long ago followed a star, they were to follow

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this star, and this was a star that was to lead them home. For home, in this case, was the promised land. Home was freedom, the land of new opportunity. And so really to be at home is to follow the star that leads us on our journey across the

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hills, through the valleys, yes, leads us homeward for it leads us to Jesus Christ who is our Lord and our Savior. So at home for Christmas is to be at peace with ourselves, to be at peace with God, to purity of heart, singleness of purpose, to be at home for Christmas is to honor

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the Lord as the ruler of our lives. To be able to say in our heart of hearts that the Lord God omnipotent reigns. He rules, yes, he rules because I know that he rules in my life and he rules from the cradle he rules in a spirit of humility he rules not only from the cradle but he rules from the cross he rules in my

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heart so that's what it means that's the joy that's the celebration of the season proclaim it, sing it, shout it, celebrate it. Home for Christmas oh that's what it means says the Prophet, "Bring good tidings, get up on a high mountain, say unto the cities of Judah, 'Behold your God, announce the fact that God is in charge and the

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chains of bondage are broken.' For he sets the captives free, the Lord comforts his people, ruins of Jerusalem are restored, come home, freedom is yours, come home, justice is yours, come home you who are weary, come home and here I am to that abiding and meaningful relationship with God that is the most wonderful thing that has ever

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happen. So as we come to this time of invitation, we have not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord of life, a personal commitment to him. We are still away. We may be celebrating, but we're celebrating in Babylon, but to make that pilgrimage to the Holy City, to make that pilgrimage to the Bethlehem manger, to make that

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pilgrimage is the most important event that we may have in our lives. And as we sing now the hymn of invitation softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. For no matter where we may be in a physical sense, it's a spiritual pilgrimage that we are to make in order to be at home with God, at home

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with Him in spirit and in truth and love and commitment and loyalty. We invite you to come now as we extend the invitation to accept Jesus Christ. Everybody softly and tenderly. ♪ Softly and tenderly ♪

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♪ Jesus is calling ♪ ♪ Calling for you and for me ♪ ♪ See what the poor devil's ♪ ♪ He's waiting and watching ♪

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♪ Watching for you and for me ♪ ♪ Come home ♪ ♪ Come home ♪ ♪ Come home ♪

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♪ Come home ♪ ♪ Dio, I'll wait for you ♪ ♪ Come home ♪ ♪ When it's late and early ♪

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♪ Jesus is calling ♪ ♪ Calling, O sinner ♪ ♪ Come home ♪ ♪ What should we tell him ♪

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♪ And Jesus is pleading ♪ ♪ Pleading for you and for me ♪ ♪ Why should we linger ♪ ♪ And heed not his mercy ♪

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♪ Mercy's for you and for me ♪ ♪ Come home, come home, come home, come home ♪ ♪ You who are weary, come home ♪ ♪ Firmly, sweetly, tenderly ♪

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Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home. Come home. Come home. ♪ Ye who are weary, come home ♪

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♪ Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling ♪ ♪ Calling, O sinner ♪ [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]