December 24: The Empty Chair

The Empty Chair

December 24, 2023    Christmas Eve Service

In many of our homes, someone will be missing at the table tonight. There will be an empty chair: the chair where a parent or grandparent used to sit, or where a son or daughter  or some other family member was. For some, it’ll be the first year this chair has been empty. For others, it’s been empty a number of years. Why is it we notice the absence of loved ones so much more at Christmastime?

For some it’s because the family member died during the holiday season. For others, it’s because Christmas was one of those holidays everyone in the family got together.

          We respond by trying to stay real busy. We stay busy with all the work that has to be done in the kitchen, putting together awesome Christmas feasts. We stay busy with all that has to do with exchanging presents. We stay busy with all the cleaning and picking up and fixing up that’s needed to prepare for company to come. We stay busy by doing things with family.

          Our busyness keeps us from having to think too much about that empty chair, doesn’t it?

          But once in a while it hits us. Actually when we least expect it. We’ll remember. We’ll remember some event we shared together. And we’ll miss them. We’ll feel this pain deep down inside our heart. And tears will flow. A sense of loneliness will overwhelm us. At this point no one really knows what we’re experiencing. We’re all alone in this dark void. Our hand reaches out but there’s no one there.

          What is it about our loneliness and helplessness? Doesn’t it feel worse when we’re with people who have it all together or who have never experienced the type of loss we have? We look at them and say to ourselves, “They don’t understand. They don’t know what it’s like to feel so lonely, so helpless.”

          Even God’s hands are tied, aren’t they? You talk about someone who has it all together. He’s the measure for what it means to have it all together. He is the all-knowing, all-powerful Lord over the Universe. He’s the last person who could ever understand us and be with us in our lonely, dark void.

          I’m sure it must have troubled God for a long time, trying to figure out how He could really love us. Every time God reached down, people cowered in fear or shook their fist or responded like obedient slaves. No one recognized that God’s hand reaching out to them was a loving one.

          A story is told about a powerful king. Everyone trembled in his presence. No one dared breathe a word against him for he could crush any opponent. But this king had a problem. He was in love with a poor maiden. He could see she was alone and he wanted to be with her. He wanted to love her.

          How could the King have a loving relationship with a poor maiden? His kingliness and power tied his hands.

The King could ride to her small forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving banners. He could bring her to the palace and crown her head with jewels. She would not be able to resist. No one could resist him. But would she love him? She would say she did, but would she really?

The King wanted a lover, not a slave. How could their love ever be equal and mutual?

          Finally the King decided to take off his crown and robe.

 He put on the clothes of a poor beggar and secretly crept out of the castle late at night. The next morning, he approached the maiden’s cottage incognito. He asked for assistance. Eventually they fell in love. He lived the rest of his life a pauper with the poor maiden.

          I’m sure it must have troubled God for a long time, trying to figure out how they could really love us. Every time they reached down, people cowered in fear or shook their fist or responded like obedient slaves. No one recognized that God’s hand reaching out to them was a loving one.

          So God took off their crown. They gave up their power. God took off their robe. (take off my robe) They gave up their glory. God gave up their kingdom.

God kept giving everything up till they were simply a helpless baby. And then God came down from heaven to what must have seemed like one hell of a world.  God came to live as one of us, as one of us. 

Our busyness keeps us from having to think too much about that empty chair. But once in a while it hits us. Actually when we least expect it. We’ll remember. We’ll recall some event we shared together. And we’ll miss them. We’ll feel this pain deep down inside our heart. And tears will flow. A sense of loneliness will overwhelm us. For no one really knows what we’re experiencing. We’re all alone in this dark void. It’s like all the lights are going out.   (turn off all the lights)

It feels cold and desperate in the darkness. Our hands reach out but there is no one there.

The good news is that on Christmas morning 2000 years ago God came down to join us. And that made all the difference.

The good news is that tonight that same God comes down again to join us. And that can make all the difference.

We reach into the darkness and discover God is with us.

We reach into the darkness and feel Their Hand.

We reach into the darkness and see the light.  (light a candle)

God has come to earth to bring us a light in our darkness, a hand in our loneliness, a heart who understands.

We’re not alone. Thank God we’re not alone.

Take this light and pass it along. As you do, say these words to the person beside you, “Thank God, we’re not alone.”