Christmas in the Dark: Dec. 25, 2024

Year C, Christmas                               Isaiah 9:2-7                                          

          “The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.”  We hear a lot of Isaiah during Advent and Christmas.  We hear it in the music, especially in Handel’s Messiah.  If that is your only exposure to Isaiah, it would be natural to assume it’s meant to be a bit of a preview for the dramatic unveiling of the Christ Child. But that would be a disservice to the Book of Isaiah, and the Jewish faith.  The Book of Isaiah is one of the longest and most significant books in the Hebrew scriptures.

          Because it’s so long and covers such a long time frame, it is usually divided into three parts.  The first part was the prophet trying to convince people to change their ways, or they would be conquered by a foreign power. In the second third, the Babylonians invaded and the people were driven from their land.  Their city, the city of God was in ruins.   Some were left homeless and friendless, but most were taken away to Babylon to live as slaves.  In that section of the book, Isaiah provided a message of consolation.  He assured them that God would save them.  The final third of Isaiah describes life after the Hebrew people have returned to their home.  But it didn’t look like the way they remembered it.  They had to rebuild and start over.  There were no easy beginnings or endings in Isaiah.

          Our reading for today comes in the first section of Isaiah.  There is a warning, but there is also hope. One of the challenges of the people of Israel was their tendency to put their hope in human kings.  They believed that their kings were divinely ordained and if only they could find the right king, then they would be safe and secure.  In many ways the US was started with a rejection of this concept, the idea that one person or a line of people could be our salvation.  Yet we still fall into that trap, don’t we----thinking that one person can save us or worse yet, one person can destroy us.

          Biblical scholars and historians believe this text from Isaiah wasn’t necessarily talking about a messiah who would be born hundreds of years later, but the reign of King Hezekiah.  King Hezekiah was a good and righteous king.  Despite that, during his reign, the Assyrians invaded and Israel was conquered.  This was not what Isaiah predicted in our reading for today. Our reading for today predicted a great light and the end to war.  It says, “For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.” That was an allusion not just to the end of war, but the end of being the conquered.  That is not what happened. Not only were they conquered, King Hezekiah was followed by a corrupt king.

          One might wonder how prophetic Isaiah really was.  He promised a period of endless peace.  When we look at the Middle East, one would hardly describe it as endless peace.  Does that mean that Isaiah was wrong…or was he just wrong about that king---perhaps they just had to wait 500-700 years for the birth of Jesus.  Even the most passionate believers of Jesus Christ and his role as a savior and messiah would never try to argue that he brought a period of peace.  Look at any news outlet at any period in the history of our world---war has been a constant.  It is as reliable as death and taxes.

          And yet…I think Isaiah was on to something.  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those lived in a land of deep darkness---on them light has shined.”  We can never know the beauty of light until we have stood in darkness.  We can never know what it is to yearn for light until we have survived the night that seems interminable.  We can never truly fathom joy until we have experienced grief. 

          Isaiah knew that salvation would not come in a king or any temporal leader, but only from a God so intent on bringing light to humanity, he would enter the darkness with us.  For millennia, we have associated darkness with sin, pain and grief.  We have shunned darkness in favor anything that can bring us light.  Yet what we know is that new life always starts in the dark---whether it is a seed in the ground, waiting for the soil to soften enough so it can break through, or a baby in a womb waiting to be born, or Jesus in the tomb, waiting for Easter morning.  New life starts in the dark.[1] 

          Jesus, the person who we celebrate tonight and every night, was not born in a palace—in a place of light and glory.  He was born in a barn, more likely a cave as that is where people kept their animals at the time. You know what caves are—they are dark. He was born in a war torn country to people who have been conquered over and over again.  He was born as an infant, as we all are, the most vulnerable of all creatures. The movies always show this big light shining down on this scene, but in the Gospel of Luke, there is no star, there is only darkness and a few people who found their way through the darkness. 

          I think sometimes we come to Christmas service to hear this heartwarming story that kind of ties our faith up in a neat and clean bow.  But the beauty of this story is that it’s not clean and it’s not neat.  It’s not even magical.  It’s real and it’s only the beginning.  It is meant to show us that even in the deep darkness of our lives, a light shines—not in spite of the darkness but because of the darkness. 

It’s not just a light---it’s a fire, a fire that fought hard to exist—a fire that refuses to be covered.  But like all fires, it needs oxygen to keep going.  It requires that all of us fight to protect it and refuse to ignore it.  In a few minutes, we will walk out of this (slightly) warm church---leaving the soft glow of candles. We will all have to go back into the dark.  I want you to hold on to that fire, stoke that fire so that it burns bright enough, not to defeat the darkness, but to bring more life into places where most only see death.  That’s our calling as Christians, to be bearers of light and fire, because we worship a God who has not defeated darkness, but who enters the darkness with us and then lights it on fire.

---

[1] From Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor

You Count: December 24, 2019

Year A, Christmas Eve                  

Luke 2: 1-20                                                                                                                    

            I remember my first Christmas as a newly ordained deacon.  I was very anxious about reading the Gospel at the late service.  That church had a tradition of processing around the church (there were aisles on both sides of the pews) before reading the Gospel on big feast days.  It felt like a very long walk.  One of things I had practiced over and over again was the name Quirinius.  In doing so, it was burned into my memory so that every time I hear Quirinius, I remember my nerves on that Christmas night 14 years ago.  But this year for the first time, I started wondering, just who was this Quirinius and why does he matter.  Why did Luke bother mentioning him?  Luke saw himself as a bit of an historian.  He starts his Gospel by saying, “I too, decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you.” Therefore, it was understandable that he set this scene in the context of history.  But there was more to it than that.  He had to explain, why Mary and Joseph felt the need to take a very long journey to Bethlehem when she was extremely pregnant. 

            They were making that trek so that they could be counted for the census.  “All went to their own towns to be registered.”  The census was a required by the Roman Empire.  They required it so they could know how much to tax these people who were under their control.  It was also so they could determine how much military they needed to keep these people in check. As you can imagine, many Jews resented the census. When hearing the story of Jesus, we can never forget that he was born to a conquered people.  His family lived with few rights or privileges under the control of a foreign government.  They were making this difficult journey because it was required and the Romans knew they could make them do it.  It was dehumanizing. This is what powerful people often do to a conquered people (or anyone who might be vulnerable), they try to take away their humanity.  It was this world and family that Jesus was born into. 

            If you have been to church on Christmas enough times, you have probably heard the word incarnation.  It means that God was born in the flesh, as a human.  That’s spectacular for so many reasons.  But when you put it in the context of Quirinius and the census, it’s revolutionary.  This census, like so many things the Romans did, was an attempt to control people.  It was an attempt to take away their dignity, their humanity.  In the midst of this inhumanity, Jesus was born as a human baby to a woman, with even fewer rights then the men in this occupied territory.  It was like God was watching what the Roman Empire was doing, how they were wielding their power and he said, “Oh you think you can take away my children’s humanity, watch this.”

            While I admire God’s creativity and sense of irony, sometimes I wonder if God could have used more effective and efficient means.  If Jesus was born to a king, in a palace, he would have gotten a lot more attention. He could have had the weight of an empire behind him. Everyone would have followed him because he would have been forced on them.  But that is not what God wanted. God didn’t want to force Jesus upon people-- he wanted  to invite them into a relationship with Jesus--God in the flesh.  The Romans thought they had control over the Jews, but it was a flimsy and superficial control.  Jesus, being born as a human is a reminder that no power, no principality can ever take away our humanity.  Even if you are born in a barn amongst animals, you are a child of God, a human who deserves basic rights and more importantly, who deserves to be loved.

            The census was counting people so that they could be efficiently exploited.  In sending Jesus in the flesh, God was telling everyone on this earth (both then and now) that they counted to him.  He counted them as his children and he would stop at nothing to let them/us know that.[1] That means that I can tell all of you tonight that you count, you matter to the greatest power this world has ever known.

            Now we don’t live in a place that suffers under a foreign rule.  Yet, we still see people in our world, our country, our community who are exploited and treated as less than human.  On this night, I want you to go home with warm fuzzy feelings and the knowledge that God loves you with reckless abandon.  However, I also want us all to remember that Jesus was born to people who were oppressed, people who worried that God had forgotten them.  He was born in this way to ensure that we never forget any human, that no person is ever treated as less than human.  God’s gift to us is our lives and this world.  Our gift to God is how we care for one another and this world.   I would like to close with a lovely poem by Howard Thurman, who we are reading in our Sacred Ground program.

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.[2]

---

[1] This idea came from a Working Preacher podcast for Christmas 2019 by Rolf Jacobson

[2] “The Work of Christmas” is from Howard Thurman’s The Mood of Christmas and Other Celebrations

God's Big Risk: Christmas Eve 2017

Christmas Eve, Year B                                                                       
Luke 2:1-20                                                                            

 

Deli meat, fish, soft cheeses, unpasteurized milk, caffeine and alcohol.   These are some of the things that pregnant women are supposed to avoid eating. Of course, there are also the daily pre-natal vitamins. It’s best to avoid stress.   Generally traveling in the last few weeks of your pregnancy is discouraged. 

While Mary probably avoided deli meat and caffeine, she did not avoid stress or travelling.  The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was 90 miles, much of it over hills.  Mary and Joseph travelled by foot and donkey.  It probably took them over a week to make that trip.  At that time of year it would have been 30 degrees during the day and colder at night.  They slept on the ground.  They lived on bread and water, because that was all they could easily carry.  It was a perilous journey for anyone, but especially a woman about to give birth.  When they arrived at their destination, the best place they could find was a stable.   This wasn’t a sterile environment, not the cleanest place to give birth.   

It makes me wonder a little about God’s judgment.  There are lots of ways he could have sent his son to earth to bring his message of love and salvation.  He could have sent him fully grown.  He could have sent him to a family with money and power. He could have waited a couple thousand years and sent him to a developed country where the baby Jesus would have been much safer. It’s baffling to me that God would take that kind of risk, that he would take a chance on this young powerless couple.  I personally think that all children should be wrapped in bubble wrap to ensure their safety. There was no bubble wrap! There was hay in a feeding trough. 

God had already tried many ways to reach God’s people.  He sent the prophets who shared his words and wisdom.  Some of them displayed acts of power.  He sent a great flood so the world could start fresh.  He spoke through kings and warriors.  While some of the words of the prophets and kings got people’s attention, it never made the lasting impact that was intended. 

It seems that God then took a break.  There is about a 500 year gap between the end of the Old Testament and the birth of Jesus.  500 years where it seems that God wasn’t communicating much, at least not in the big ways he had before. 

We can’t know what was going on with God in those 500 years.  But I like to think that he was pondering, maybe even convincing himself of what had to come next.  He realized that he had to take a risk, make himself—God—vulnerable like he never had before. 

Because God never does anything half way, he made himself as vulnerable as possible. He came not just as a baby, but as a fetus in the womb of a young woman who had no husband and no way to support herself.   There is no greater vulnerability.  For 9 months and then at least a year after, Jesus (God incarnate) depended on Mary for his sustenance.  God’s life was dependent on this one woman.  The future of humanity in the hands of one young woman.

Surely, God was still watching and protecting Mary and the baby Jesus.  One of the first things that the Angel Gabriel told Mary was, “The Lord is with you.”  The angel promised that through this all, God would be with her….not only in the literal sense as she was carrying the Son of God, but also that God the Father was providing strength and assurance.

As Christians, we talk a lot about trusting God and what that means.  It’s challenging to trust God, perhaps one of the greatest challenges that we as Christians face. What we sometimes forget is that God trusts us as well. He displayed that by allowing his son to come to earth in the form of a baby, a helpless baby.  One of the things that distinguished Jesus from other religious leaders, and certainly from anyone considered a god, was that he never asked people to do anything that he was not willing to do. 

We as Christians, put our lives in his hands.  Technically we do.  Let’s face it, it’s usually more figurative than literal. We put our future life in God’s hands in that we believe that if we follow God in this world, then we will live eternally. It’s a lot harder to put our day to day needs and concerns in the hands of God.  Jesus put his life in our hands.  He was completely dependent on human parents to provide for his needs.  He did not come out of the womb as a fully grown man; he was a tiny baby. 

If you look at Medieval art, the baby Jesus always looks kind of weird.  He usually has the face of a man, or maybe even the body of a man, but miniature. Obviously medieval painters knew what babies looked like.  But they could not imagine God in the flesh in that helpless state.  While we have gotten better at depicting baby Jesus in art, I am not sure we truly appreciate the kind of trust and love that God showed in sending his only son to earth.  How could we?

We have romanticized the story of Jesus’ birth and painted it in gentle and vibrant hues.  We have made it sweet and sentimental.  But if you look at the facts of the story, it was a very strange way to introduce God to this world. The crazy thing is, that it worked.  Because God wasn’t just telling people what to believe, he was showing them how he loved us.  For millennia, God had amazed and terrified people with his awesome power.  But with Jesus, people learned what it was to know God and be known by God. 

You might think, well that is all fine and good, but that was thousands of years ago. What do we do when we don’t have God in the flesh here with us? How can we learn to trust and love a God who we don’t know? That’s a tough one.  The best way to trust God is to enter into a relationship with God.  We can do this by reading the Bible, which is full of stories like the one we heard tonight.  We can embrace the traditions of the church, many of which are 100s, maybe even 1000 years old.  We have the Christian religion and the Episcopal Church, that while imperfect, have done a great deal of good in the world.  We have community worship, an opportunity to come and sit with a community of believers and worship God through music and prayers.  We have prayer and meditation.   Some people think that these are the things we do after we learn to trust God.  That certainly is true.  But these are also the practices we use to get to know God. 

People sometimes worry about coming to church when their faith is on perilous ground, or because they are doubting or perhaps even teetering on the cusp of disbelief.  This is exactly where we belong when we are in those situations.  Someone once said that the church is not a museum for saints, it is a hospital for the broken sinners.  I am convinced, that in a room full of broken people, we can find wholeness. We can create a mosaic of faith and trust.  It will not be perfect, but no relationship ever is.  The story of Jesus’ birth and life, is messy and disjointed. That is what makes it real. 

Jesus’ life on earth began with a 90 mile journey in the womb of a young woman.  This 90 mile journey was just the beginning of a wonderful, but difficult life; a life where Jesus loved and was loved, a life where trust was created and trust was broken.   As a result, God understands our journey.  While we are not carrying the baby Jesus in our womb (if you are, we need to talk), we are carrying a promise, a promise of God’s love, a promise that God will be with us now and until the end.    

(Quote from Abigail Van Buren.  It is assumed that she was quoting St. Augustine.)

Angels we have heard: Christmas Eve

 Every year I wonder, what can I possibly say that would be new?  I know that there is really nothing new to say, but I still try to find new ways to share the message of the birth of Christ.  This year I decided to try to imagine what it would be like watching the events from heaven.  The following is a conversation between two angels.  One angel is in italics.  I also have a video and will post that soon.

----------------the story begins----------- 

“Oh my….have you heard? Tonight is the night.  The whole heavenly host is going down to visit our Lord’s people on earth.”

“Has that ever happened?”

“Not that I know of.  Sometimes, our Lord has sent down one, or two or three of his messengers to deliver his holy word, but never an entire army, a heavenly host.”

Will they bring their swords? Will there be a great battle?  I know that our Lord is most displeased.

You are right.  Our Lord is angry.  We have all heard him ranting and raving.  It’s just like when he watches sports: “Why are they doing that again?  How many times have I told them not to do that?”  When he is angry, it gets tense.  Once I went down myself to see what was going on.  It was bad.  I don’t know why people are acting like this.  It’s like they don’t even believe anymore.

I heard Gabriel went down several months ago and talked to someone. The heavenly choirs have been talking about it ever since.  You know how choirs are….Do you know why he went?”

 Well, I have heard something, but it doesn’t make any sense. They say he went to talk to a young woman named Mary.  He told her that she was going to bear the Son of God.  But that does not make any sense.  That seems like a drastic measure.  To send the Son of God down as a baby is risky.  Anything could happen.  It’s not safe.  Maybe that is why the heavenly host is going down.  They will be the body guards for the baby.

 Shhh….it’s happening now. 

 Wait…..who are they talking to?  Are they talking to shepherds?  Why are they talking to shepherds?  No one is going to get the message if they are talking to shepherds. No one listens to shepherds.

 Shhhh….we won’t be able to hear it if you keep jabbering.

Trumpet fanfare. An angel from the choir loft proclaims:

“Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:  to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 

Choir says together:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

What could they mean? Why are they bringing joy? I thought God was disappointed.  This does not make any sense.

It does seem a little odd. Why send an army of angels to deliver that kind of message?  And what kind of sign is that….a baby in a manger?  Surely an army of angels could have done anything.

 They should have done that moving fire that our Lord used to lead Moses and his people out of Egypt.  Fire always gets people’s attention.  What is a little baby going to do?

Our Lord likes to think outside of the box.  Maybe since nothing else has really worked, he decided to shake things up a bit.  I am sure this baby is more than just your average baby, not that all babies aren’t always cute, but this is the Son of God.

 What was it again that Gabriel told the girl...Mary?

 

He told her that she would conceive a son, and she will name him Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

 Woh! That is huge news.  This Mary must be very powerful.  She must be a married to a king.

 That’s the thing, she is not married.  She is young and has very little.  She is a peasant.  But I have heard that she is very holy.  She is one of God’s favorites.  Our Lord told me that she has been especially chosen.

 That is a huge job.  Hey look, the shepherds are moving.  They looked pretty scared when all those angels were talking. Angels can be a little showy at times.  They really like to make an entrance.  No wonder the shepherds were terrified. 

 Just because you did not get chosen is no reason to be critical.  They needed to be sure to get their attention.  How else would you convince a bunch of shepherds that the savoir of humanity is about to be born to an unmarried peasant in a barn?  I mean really, you can’t make this stuff up.

 I hope they find him.

 I am sure our Lord will make sure they do.  Obviously he wanted those shepherds to be the first to greet the new baby.  Wait….it really is barn.  Do you see the baby?

 They put our Lord’s son, the hope of all humanity, in animal feeding trough?  What are they thinking?

I think it is all that they have.  Our Lord chose Mary because she is holy and good, not because she has money or power.

The shepherds are talking to them.  They have seen the Christ child. One of them is leaning over the manger in wonder.  They are so excited! They are telling them everything they saw, everything the angels told them.  They are doing a good job telling the story.  I heard shepherds are good story tellers.  It looks like Mary and Joseph are listening. Look at Mary.  She seems so wise, so pure and good.  I think I understand why our Lord chose her over a queen.  Now the shepherds are leaving.  They are making quite a raucous with their loud shouts and praises for our Lord.  That is how it should always be.  Our Lord should always be praised with such wild abandon.  Hopefully they will share the good news with the people.

 Maybe that is why our Lord chose these regular people to bear witness to this miracle. This is why he chose a baby to be his representative on earth.  It is the only way people are going to hear.  If they listen, they will come to know God as we know God.

 Do you think the baby will be safe?

 I don’t know if he will be safe.  I am sure Mary and Joseph will keep him safe for as long as they can, but as soon as people realize who he is, as soon as he starts sharing God’s message, he is no longer safe.  

 Maybe God will send the heavenly host down when things get dangerous. Our Lord can protect anyone.

 I don’t think that’s his plan this time around.  I think Jesus will grow up with the people and he will love them just as our Lord loves them.  Maybe our Lord realized that the other ways of communicating with his people wasn’t really working.  They needed to experience our Lord’s love up close and personal.

 It cannot be safe.  I am worried for him. What if it doesn’t work?

 Even we do not know what will come of this, but our Lord has a plan.  It’s a different kind of plan than we are used to.  It’s so crazy, it might just work.

I hope the people listen this time.

I do too. 

Priest to the congregation:

The plan will only work if they people will listen. Will you, the people of St. John’s, listen on this Christmas Eve?

Christmas Eve 2014: Luke 2:1-20

Scary Angels

As a priest, I have acquired quite a few angels over the years…not real angels, angel figurines and ornaments.  There was a woman in my last parish who would give me a different one every year.  With those and all my other Christmas angels, my house is overwrought with angels at this time of year.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  Some of them are playing instruments, some are singing and some are even in the shape of instruments. Of course there are a couple of things they all have in common.  They are all women, which is kind of odd when you think about it.  The angels in the Bible are usually men.  They are all pleasant looking with flowing robes. None of them look scary at all.  There are no zombie angels, no angels with limbs missing (unless you count the one with the missing foot---but that just fell off at some point when I was unpacking decorations).  None of them have their faces contorted as if they are screaming.

            Of course angels aren’t supposed to be scary.  They are supposed to be comforting like those people in Touched by an Angel, Michael Landon on Highway to Heaven or Clarence on It’s a Wonderful Life.  Those are the kind of people who you would want to have on hand if you were in a sticky situation.  Yet I am pretty sure that the angels of the Bible looked nothing like the angels we see on TV.  Usually, especially in the Gospels, the first thing that the angels would say was, “Do not be afraid.”  They would not have had to say that if the people weren’t.  And if people were responding with fear consistently, there must have been something about angels that scared people.

            So were they scary looking?  Did they come with weapons and armed guards, or was there something else going on?  Let’s consider the story we heard tonight from the Gospel of Luke.  There were shepherds watching over their flock at night.  This was before electricity, so this must have been pretty dark, probably completely dark.  They were trying to stay awake, pacing a little to keep warm and then suddenly, “An angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”

            Even if the angel looked friendly and warm, it is understandable that they were terrified.  They were surrounded by darkness and out of nowhere, an angel appeared surrounded by what we can assume was a great light.  Often the glory of the Lord is described as a great light, almost blinding.  And you know how it is when you are in the dark and all of a sudden someone turns on a light.  Even if it is not a particularly bright light, it takes a while to adjust.  You might even squint your eyes and ask the person to turn it off.  In that moment, the light can feel unwelcome.      

            The people living at the time of Jesus’s birth had gotten used to the dark.  It had been almost 500 years since the last great prophet preached to the Hebrew people.   For those years and more, they had longed for this moment, this coming of the Messiah but that longing had turned into something more like a fairy tale longing; a princess waiting for her prince to come but with no real grasp of what that prince would be like or what his coming would mean.

            So yes, they were afraid.  They were shepherds and they were used to waiting and preparing.  They were used to a routine.  While their lives were not easy by any means, they knew what to expect.  They knew what was expected of them.  But with this angel who came with the light of the glory of God, they knew in a moment that the world would never be the same.  They were terrified and in some ways, they were right to be terrified. 

            The angel told them not to be afraid. He said, “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Surely these words must have allayed their fears.  We know these words.  Most of us hear them every Christmas.  A Savior and a  Messiah…that has got to be good news.  There is no reason to fear that. 

            Maybe by then the shepherd’s eyes had adjusted to the light.  Yet just as they were accustomed to that light and the sound of that one angel, an entire army descended (that is what host means…it means an army).  This army did not come brandishing swords.  They brought news of peace to all whom God favors. 

            Despite the tidings of peace, my guess is that those shepherds were still a little afraid.  They had just seen something extraordinary and they knew that their world would never be the same.  The time of waiting was over.  They had a choice.  They could stay in that field and let their eyes get used to the dark again.  They could remain there because that was their job. And if they did not stay, who would care for the sheep?  They could have come up with 100 excuses to stay in that field instead of searching for a nameless child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.  But they didn’t. 

            They had seen the light.  They had heard the good news of God almighty and they could not just sit there and pretend as if their life had not changed.  No matter how scary that light was, they determined to find it again.  They had to be near it.  Not only that, but they had a message to deliver.  They did not know to whom they were delivering the message or exactly why, but they knew they had a message that was so important that an army of angels had come to them to bring it.

            So they went and they found Mary, Joseph and the child in a manger.  They saw the light in the flesh. Maybe they did not quite understand it, but they knew that what they witnessed was divine and they shared what had brought them to this place.  They shared the news from the angels with Mary and Joseph and by doing so they helped the parents of Jesus understand what had just happened.  I bet that every part of that journey (while exciting) was still terrifying. 

            Usually when we think of angels, and even God to some extent, we think of protectors, beings that will keep us safe.  But in the Bible, the angels challenged God’s people to discover a different part of themselves.  They were terrifying not because they were scary to look at but because they moved people outside of their own little worlds.  They exposed people to the light.  Obviously that light was more than just light.  It was a transformation of being and attitude.  It was a realization that they no longer lived only for themselves, but for the Savior of the World.

            Christmas should be a warm and fuzzy time.  The Christmas story should make you feel good.  But let’s not get too comfortable with this story, because at the heart of this story is disruption and discomfort.  It is risk.  It is fear and yes it is glory.  You could go home, open some presents, watch football and eat too much and call that Christmas.  Or you take this time to look for God’s angels in your own life. They might not glow softly in the night with long flowing robes and wings. In fact, I can assure you they won’t.  The angels that we Christians really need are the angels whose wings cause a windstorm of change and whose light is not a soft glow but a blaze of glory that wakes you up and inspires you to be a better version of yourself.  Merry Christmas! May it be a gloriously transformational one.      

Christmas Eve 2013: Luke 2:1-20

           A couple years ago I was in a quite different Christmas procession.  At my pervious church, we did a double procession, which means we walked down the aisle, then walked back up around the sides and back down again.  I confess I never really understood the purpose.  It was a logistical nightmare with the choir, 12 acolytes, 2 clergy, and at least 2 Eucharistic ministers.  There was one Christmas where I was a bit out of sorts.   I have no idea why, but I was standing back and then started talking to someone in the narthex.  The next thing I knew, the procession was already on its second go around and the clergy portion had already passed.  There was really no sneaky way to wiggle in, so I booked it down the side aisle and then squeezed through a pew practically leaping over a few very confused parishioners and then finally joining the procession.   My boss looked at me like, “Oh there, you are!”   I would like to tell you that was one of my most embarrassing moments, but I am not sure it makes the top 3. 

            It seems that almost every year, Christmas creeps on me.  We are moving our way through Advent, slowly preparing for the coming of Christ and all of a sudden it’s the week before Christmas and two of the candles on my Advent wreath still have not been lit.   In the church, we spend so much time trying to be countercultural…not decorating until after the final service on the 4^th Sunday of Advent, not singing Christmas carols until Christmas itself, it seems as though in my attempt to not celebrate too soon, I almost miss Christmas itself.  Next thing you know, people are putting their trees on the curbs because they have had them up since Thanksgiving, and here I am still wondering what happened to Christmas. 

            I wonder if it felt like that to Mary and Joseph, if the whole thing kind of took them by surprise.  Just this past Sunday we heard about the angel appearing to Joseph telling him that this child was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  We know that Mary also had been visited by an angel. But that had been months before, 6 months at least.  Now suddenly, they find themselves having to journey to Bethlehem so they can register for a census that they just learned about.  I doubt this was the way either Mary or Joseph had imagined the birth of their first child. 

After all, they deserved more than this.  They had already been through so much.  After their community discovered that Mary was pregnant out of wed  lock, they were surely shunned by most of their friends and family and considered to be sinners.  I would think they were eagerly anticipating the moment when this divine child would be born, with a halo propped right above his head so there would be no doubt from their family and friends that this was a child born of God and not their own recklessness.

            But when that very important moment came, they did not find themselves surrounded by family and friends, the people who could assist them and care for them. No, they were in a stable far from home, surrounded by animals and a cold dark night.  No this was not the way this was supposed to be at all. They were supposed to be in Nazareth, with a glowing child who was so clearly divine and no one would have reason to doubt….they would have no reason to doubt.  Yet the child did not come out with a halo attached.  He looked like every other newborn they had seen before.   I imagine they gazed into the child’s eyes, trying to see the divine spark, the answer to the prayers that they had been so diligently praying. 

            Then they were interrupted by those dirty and strange shepherds babbling about angels, a host of angels, so vast that they could not count them.  The shepherds were saying that this baby was the Messiah, the savior of all humanity.  Could it be true?  This was the very same thing that the angel had told both Mary and Joseph those many months before.  Yet if this was true, why didn’t the host of angels come and sing to them?  Wasn’t that the appropriate way to welcome the savior of all humanity? Instead they have shepherds who have left their flocks and wandered far away to the stable where they are staying.  That does not sound like a very reliable group.  Yet that is who they had.  There are no wise men in Luke’s birth story…just shepherds and shepherds did not have good reputations. 

            Unfortunately we do not get to hear the reaction of Joseph and Mary to the shepherd’s proclamation.  All we know is that all who heard were amazed…which is more accurately translated to mystified, confused or flabbergasted.  This was not how it was supposed to be.  This was not what their lives, as parents of the savior of humanity was supposed to look like.  Was it?  “But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” 

            After leaping into the procession after it was almost completely over I felt like a bit of a fool. I thought, this is Christmas Eve and I just messed up our double procession…and I am the priest.  This is not how it is supposed to be. This is not how my life as a priest is supposed to look like. I’m supposed to be holy, calm and collected….not darting through pews, leaping over unsuspecting parishioners.  After the service, a parishioner who was really only marginally involved and always seemed a bit on the margins approached me.  He said, “That was sublime.”  I looked at him confused.  Was he talking about the music…the sermon…the double procession that I had fouled up? He responded, “That was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a church service.”  He was talking about my little escapade through the pews.  Apparently, he was in the pew behind the one I had rushed through.  At first I thought he was mocking me, and he kind of was. But he was also clearly happy to see such a bizarre snag in the service. My embarrassing moment was the highlight of the service for him. It wasn’t holy.  It definitely wasn’t what it was supposed to be, but it was real.

            We can never know what Mary pondered in her heart, but I would like to think that she was just taking it all in.  Whenever something unfortunate happens, my mother always says, “Well it will make a good story one day.”  I wonder if that was what Mary was pondering.  Well this is not the way it was supposed to happen, but I bet it will make a good story one day, possibly the greatest story ever told!    Sometimes we spend too much time preparing and not nearly enough time experiencing and living in the moment.  The birth of Christ, the incarnation is about Christ being with us, in our midst.  In our preparation for holiness, in our striving for beauty and synchronicity, let us never miss the God that comes in the mistakes, in the wrong turns, in confusion.  Let us instead let go enough to be amazed in the moment. I wish you all an amazing Christmas.