**sermon art: Rob’s Christmas Cookies Ready to Deliver

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church—December 24, 2025, Christmas Eve, The Nativity of Our Lord

[sermon begins after the Luke reading; the Isaiah reading is at the end of the sermon]

Luke 2:1-20 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ All went to their own towns to be registered. ⁴ Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵ He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.
⁸ Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹ to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them, ¹⁹ and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.

[sermon begins]

My husband is arguably a contender for king of the chocolate chip cookie. I know, it’s not the classic Christmas cookie per se but when is a cookie a Christmas Cookie? This is akin to the age-old question about whether Die Hard is or is not a Christmas movie.[1] Many years ago, Rob modified and remodified a chocolate chip cookie recipe and began baking these massive cookies for his clients at Christmas. Don’t bother asking, he does not divulge his secret recipe. When our kids were small, he would take them along on the adventure of cookie delivery.

Rob thought the pandemic would end the tradition, but his clients set even more hope on receiving the home-baked, ooey-gooey, chocolatey goodness. They start asking about the cookies in November. Our kitchen was a one-man flurry of flour and chocolate, hand-squeezed into dough, scooped onto rotating cookie sheets for many hours totaling 22 dozen cookies, before delivering to clients. Are they Christmas cookies? You decide.

Rob’s cookies are a bit like the Christmas story itself. There’s a hefty heap of mystery with a daring dash of hope. There’s breathless anticipation. And there are a lot of people paying attention to the final creation.

Christmas engages our imaginations beyond the cookies and kitschy décor that we know and love. One Christmas miracle is that we keep returning to the hope-filled story of a very young woman, an adoptive father, and a baby asleep on the hay. Our return to this story and the hope we feel is almost more mysterious than the mystery of God showing up in a baby. Perhaps it’s because he’s more than a baby. At Jesus’ birth, the angel announced, “good news of great joy for the all the people.” In the baby Jesus, the mystery of the good news unfolded through his adulthood right on through today.

Isaiah wrote about a child born to us—a child who counsels, who is everlasting, and who brings peace. That child sounds like someone worth welcoming and worth knowing. As it turns out, that child sounds like a Savior worth waiting for with breathless anticipation. Perhaps it’s because, if you live long enough, it’s obvious we need some saving. We need saving from ourselves and from the harm we inflict on one another even when we’re trying to do good. Why is it that we do not do the good we want but do the very things we know aren’t good?[2] We need something, that’s for sure. The self-help project isn’t working. A community of hope may be just the thing.

In the Gospel of Luke, the angels sang a starlit announcement to the shepherds who were ready to hear the good news of this child’s arrival and eager to see it for themselves. Maybe they needed to be saved from themselves and each other too. Their awe of the angel encounter inspired hope amid breathless anticipation. Who knows what they were expecting during their hasty run from the field to the manger side, turning up at the manger sweaty and out of breath. Words tumbling out as they talk over each other to tell the story about the angel in the field. Mary and Joseph looking at the shepherds, the baby, and each other with exhausted amazed eyes, wondering what in heaven’s name is going on.

The angel told the shepherds that the sign of the Savior will be found in “a child, wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” Their anticipation, hope and haste turned into rapt attention towards this brand new little one. It fascinates me that the baby Jesus was wrapped in bands of cloth when he was born and the crucified Jesus was wrapped in linen cloth when he died. The bands of cloth around the baby tease our memory with what’s to come. Revisiting the Christmas story each year is worth another go round as our attention turns toward what this new life could possibly mean to our lives.

Here’s one thing that it means. Just down the street, on donated land from this congregation, Augustana Homes were completed by Habitat for Humanity and hundreds of volunteers from around the city. Affordable homes that hold hope in the form of three-to-four-bedroom townhomes for working families to call home. Going from a baby born in a manger because there was no room in the inn, to families who have recently signed closing paperwork for homeownership, may be a leap of faith, but it also makes perfect sense when told alongside the Christmas story.

On Christmas, hesitant hearts dare to hope regardless of the many reasons to end up at church on Christmas Eve.

Maybe it’s your habit or annual tradition.

Maybe it’s easier to be here with family than to be somewhere else without family.

Maybe your family is fractured, and you wandered in wondering if community can be found.

Maybe your faith calls you here in gratitude.

Maybe your life has become such a hot mess that church on Christmas Eve feels like a last-ditch attempt to find a way through.

Maybe the collective effervescence of singing together fills your heart.

Or maybe the peace of candlelight during Silent Night is good for your soul.

Whatever draws you here, you are cradled in this sacred space with the thousands of people who have gathered across time in joy, grief, and hope. Sinner-saints who gather to remind each other of the hope we share despite the anxiety of life, the disarray of politics, and the competition of culture. We are a community of hope, who support each other through suffering as we celebrate our joys and serve with our neighbors in compassion and action. We remind each other that God’s welcome through this congregation includes everyone. Being human is complicated. Being yourself shouldn’t be. You are welcome here.

If even that is too much to get our hearts around, let’s try our hands. When you come forward for communion, your hands held together and facing up make a manger for the bread given to you, imperfectly cradling Jesus’ presence as we eat. Despite our imperfections or, just maybe, because of them, the perfect presence of Jesus dwells within us, the holy One who taught us that there is nothing we can do or not do to make God love us any more or any less. This is definitely good news of great joy for all people, which also means that it is good news for you.

Like Mary, we treasure the story that the angels sang, and the shepherds told while we ponder the mystery in our hearts. The Christmas mystery inspires our anticipation, regardless of how breathless it may be, and draws our wonder to this ancient story, making it new again each year. We’re scooped into God’s timeless story and delivered to the world that God so loves. A world in need of hope-filled hearts. A world in need of a Savior who embodies everlasting peace. Merry Christmas!

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[1] Jacob Stolworthy. Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie? The Independent on December 22, 2025 Is Die Hard a Christmas film? | Culture | Independent TV

[2] Romans 7:19

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Isaiah 9:2-6

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
³ You have multiplied exultation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
⁴ For the yoke of their burden
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
⁵ For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁶ For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Great will be his authority,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.