by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. 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. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 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 for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 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: 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." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"
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." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
—Luke 2:1-20 (NRSV)
Photo by Burkay Canatar from Pexels
It’s Christmas Eve. Here’s a little story to get things started.
A couple were Christmas shopping at the Mall on Christmas Eve and the Mall was packed. Walking through the Mall, the surprised wife looked up and noticed her husband was nowhere to be found and she was very upset because they had a lot to do.
She used her mobile to call her husband because she was so upset, to ask him where he was. The husband, in a calm voice, said, “Honey, do you remember the jewelry store we went into 10 years ago where you fell in love with that diamond necklace that we couldn't afford, and I told you that I would get it for you one day?"
His wife, crying with joy, said “Yes, yes! I remember that jewelry store! "
He said, “Well, I'm in the sporting goods store next to it."
When we think about why we love Christmas so much we naturally think about our precious memories of Christmases past. And then we build expectations for what this version of Christmas is going to be like.
We hope that the weather will be crisp and the sky full of stars on Christmas Eve as we head out to church. We can’t wait to see the inside of the church because of how beautiful we know it will be. The music we are certain will be just fantastic. We can’t wait to open presents with our family and friends, maybe share a mug of hot chocolate. Hugs and well wishes will be shared with everyone we see. The foods we love will be everywhere and plentiful. We will see family we only encounter on special occasions. What a great time we will have!
Oh, but wait. For the first time in any of our lives, things are going to be different. We won’t be at church. We won’t have hugs all around. We won’t hear the music up close and personal. We won’t see those loved ones that we look forward to seeing each year. The list of things that we love but that won’t happen seems to stretch on forever. It’s discouraging.
Instead, here we are on Zoom and Facebook, doing the best we can under the circumstances. Church is pretty, but it’s being experienced from home. There won’t be hugging at the peace. Instead, we will great each other in chat. The music we know is pretty, but it doesn’t seem as powerful experienced from afar. And we can go out, but honestly there’s nowhere to go and nobody to see. It’s sad.
But my friends I think God is presenting us with an opportunity tonight. It’s a chance to concentrate on the importance of Christmas rather than all the extraneous things we enjoy so much but which make the Christ child a little difficult to see.
I guess it is kind of like this. In the Gospel of Mark Jesus is constantly asking people not to tell others about the miracles he has performed. I am quite certain the reason he does that is he realizes the miracles overshadow the teaching. He wants people to learn about the Kingdom of God. Instead, they get lost in the miracles. Jesus knows the teaching is more important than the miracles but the miracles are causing folks to miss the teaching.
Well tonight God is providing us with an opportunity to get past the miracle of Christmas, and to see more clearly the impact the birth of Jesus has had on the world.
When Jesus was born, he was born into a culture of power and rules. How a person was to live in relationship to God and other people was very strict. There were rules, over six hundred of them about what to eat, who to be with, when to do what, and who to avoid at all cost among other things. The Hebrew scriptures, the scriptures for God’s chosen people, were being interpreted in a very strict way and God seemed far away and often angry. You earned your way to salvation by your life and deeds.
And so, God decided it was time to do something about that for his chosen, and while God was at for the rest of us too. God entered the world in the form of a baby and lived and died as one of us. It is the demarcation line of history. The birth of Jesus is that important.
One of the things that happened as a result is that when we study the life of Jesus, we encounter a blueprint for living. We see that Jesus prayed. He found time for himself. He was close to his friends. He had a sense of humor. He was compassionate. He was forgiving. He brought common sense to the rules found in Torah for living. His love for humankind was on display almost all of the time. He asked us to emulate him to the best of our ability.
More importantly we learn about the nature of God through the study of Jesus and some of God’s hopes for each of us. We find out for sure that God loves us in ways we can only begin to fathom. God hopes we will use our common sense and not blindly follow rules. God hopes we will forgive as God forgives us. God hopes we will be compassionate as God is compassionate. God hopes we will allow ourselves to love.
And then there is the biggest change of all and this pandemic we are suffering through is the best metaphor for it I know. We have been suffering with the virus for ten or so months now. An incredible number of people have gotten sick and way too many people have died. The vaccines to take care of things, stopping the sickness and the dying, have just arrived. We are about to find our way back to a healthy society over the next few months.
In the same way, human beings were suffering and dying before God broke the fabric of reality and entered the world. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ changed all that. Humans became eternal beings. God provided salvation for all of us.
In effect, God through Jesus Christ became the vaccine that stopped the pandemic of death. As a result, we no longer needed to fear death. The vaccine that is Jesus Christ made us immune. We had eternal life.
So yes, we aren’t having the kind of experience we would like this Christmas. But it turns out that it’s a gift of understanding we probably could not have received any other way. We get a chance to see the true miracles without the distractions that normally surround them. When things return to normal, perhaps we can remember this special experience too as we do all the others, like those fabulous cookies that seem to be everywhere.
Merry Christmas.