Sermon for Christmas Day 2019
St. Paul’s Sacramento
[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!"
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.
Merry Christmas!
This morning
we gather to remember the birth of Christ.
The celebration of the Love that came to us in human form on Christmas
day. A love that came to us not as an
avenging angel but as a vulnerable little baby.
We are a peculiar people in the church.
We start our celebration of Christmas today and continue for the next
twelve days. Unlike the Christmas season
at the local Costco where the season of Christmas began with the marketing of
Christmas decorations and special gift packs of candy and other temptations
before Halloween. And now the Christmas
decorations are replaced with valentine’s day themed items with the remaining
Christmas items deeply discounted for quick sale. I am sure the neighbors
wonder if the lights and tree are ever coming down by about January 2nd!
Today we
gather to wonder, as the shepherd did, at the birth of God. We gather to hear again the story and to sing
the songs that celebrate the baby that did remarkable things – the baby that
continues to call us into vulnerability – continues to call us to open our
hearts with love to all of God’s beloved children. To celebrate that the light that came at
Christmas will dispel the darkness in our world.
Christmas is
a season filled with traditions. In my
household those include the making of fudge, and cookies, the putting out of
several manger scenes, and the decoration of our tree. Christmas Eve I always listen to the
broadcast from Kings College of the nine lessons and carols. It is a time when many people visit with
neighbors at parties. It is a season
where we are told that we are to be merry and to make merry.
In our house
when we finished decorating the Christmas tree we sat down and admired the
beauty. Just then the Vince Guaraldi song “Christmas Time is
Here” came on the stereo.[1] You know the one – it starts out
Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year
Jon turned to
me and said this song encapsulated how he felt about Christmas. It is happiness in a minor key. It is happiness tinged with remembrance – remembering
both the joys of Christmas and the sadness of remembering those we see no
longer. This feeling of Joy expressed in
a minor key was especially poignant as we had just completed decorating the
tree.
Decorating
the tree in our home is a practice of remembering. We collect ornaments when we travel so we
remember the joys of our various vacations throughout the years. We remembered seeing Monet’s water gardens at
Giverny as we hung ornaments of Monet and his wife on the tree.
We also
remember people. We comment on the
ornaments given to us by friends and neighbors over the years. We also remember friends and family who, in
the words of the bidding prayer from the service of lessons and carols that
“we remember all those who rejoice with us,
but upon another shore and in a greater light,
that multitude which no one can number,
whose hope was in the Word made flesh,
and with whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one.”
but upon another shore and in a greater light,
that multitude which no one can number,
whose hope was in the Word made flesh,
and with whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one.”
In particular
this year we remembered our mothers and their traditions as we hung ornaments
and put out decorations that they gave us, and those we inherited from
them. We remembered my Godfather as we
hung owl and crèche ornaments that were gifts over the years. We remembered our good friend Gordon who died
last year just before Christmas as we found and hung ornaments he had given us.
It is not
just Vince that wrote Christmas songs in a minor key. Many of my favorite carols I realized are
composed in a minor key. “What Child is
this?”, “I wonder as I wander”, the Coventry Carol, the carol of the bells,
just to name a few. The Joy of Christmas
expressed in a minor key. I know many
people that feel that way about Christmas – the enforced joy is too much. There are too many memories that make this
time of year hard for some people. The
message of the angels is that it really is ok for Christmas to invoke sad
memories along with the happy ones.
There are
also God’s beloved children who are unable to experience much of the joy of
Christmas. Our neighbors who are homeless
do not have the luxury of putting up a tree or baking Christmas goodies. Instead they have to cope with the cold and
rain that frequently are part of this season.
For some they will be able to have a hot dinner tonight at our cathedral
on 27th and Capital. For some
Sister Libby and her group Mercy Pedaler’s gave out Christmas gifts to those
who have no home this week.
There is joy
in this time of year. We read about, and
see in the news, people who give generously so those with little can have a
celebration. There are food drives and
toy drives that result in amazingly generous acts of kindness. There is a concerted effort by many charities
to find ways to lift up whose who have little.
It is a season when reconciliations can happen, and estrangements can be
softened – if not eliminated.
It is a time
of year where we are encouraged to remember the love that came down on
Christmas. A love that we remember
throughout the year calling us into ministries.
Ministries to heal the sick, to
cloth the naked, to visit those who are sick and in prison. Ministry that calls us to welcome to our
tables those who society treats as outcasts.
The birth of
Jesus was in a minor key. There is so
much about the birth that was not what we would call as joyous. Mary was an unwed mother – which could have
resulted in severe punishment. Jesus was
born while Mary and Joseph were traveling away from home to be counted in a
census so the emperor could tax the conquered peoples. They could not find an inn so had to take
shelter in a cave to give birth to Jesus.
The Glory of Jesus birth was announced not to the kings and religious
authorities but to the shepherds – to the outcasts.
The birth of
Jesus also came with Joy. The joy of the
Glory of the Lord shining forth. The Joy
that the Love that cannot be killed came to us.
The joy that the light will overtake the darkness.
Christmas is
a time to look around us and perhaps glimpse what the shepherds saw on that
first Christmas – to see the glory of the Lord shining among us. To experience the love that came to humanity
as a small child. It hear the message of
God. A message of joy and wonder. To hear the call for us to continue showing
God’s love in our hurting world. A call
to continue expressing the generosity and joy of Christmas throughout the year.
We are called
to remember that they love that came down calls us continually into
relationship – both with God and with each other. Ruth Meyers – my Liturgics professor at our
seminary in Berkeley in her Christmas message said,
“The love that Jesus embodies calls us into
relationship, not only with the triune God but also with one another and with
the world. Jesus built relationships throughout his earthly ministry, with the
disciples he called, with the women and men who followed him, with those he
taught and healed, with those he fed and those who fed him. When Jesus sent out
his disciples, he charged them to enter a house and stay there, an opportunity
to form deep relationship over meals and conversation. On the cross as he was
dying, Jesus commended his mother and the disciple whom he loved to one another
(John 19:26-27), knitting them together in a new relationship.
Jesus’ invitation to relationship
calls us beyond ourselves, into relationships …, with friends and family, with
colleagues, with members of our congregations, and much, much more. The love
that Jesus offers us and the love that we have for one another sends us into
the world, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, to visit the sick and those
in prison, to work for justice and peace, to care for creation.[2]
We are
invited during Christmas to remember the baby Jesus – the love that was born to
an unwed mother, in a cave with the animals.
A love that was announced to outcasts.
A love that calls us to continue to see the Glory of the Lord shining
forth in the unexpected places. We are
called to follow Mary’s example and to ponder all of these things. To see the glory of the lord shining forth in
both major and minor keys. To experience
the love that came down on Christmas and continues to call us into that love.
We are called to see all that is going on around us. To see all these things and to, like Mary,
treasure them and pondered them in our hearts.
To ponder and then to go out and be Christs hands, feet and heart in our
world. Today we welcome the birth
of the light that will extinguish the darkness.
