Christmas Eve & Day 1

Sermon for Hope Episcopal Church
Houston, TX
By The Rev. Martha Frances+
Christmas Eve (Christmas Day 1)
The Nativity of our Lord
24 December 2006

Text: Luke 2: 1-14 [15-20]; Isaiah 9: 2-7
Others: Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11-14

“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; & he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” People are often surprised when this passage was neither written by George Frederick Handel nor a New Testament writer describing Jesus birth directly. In fact, Isaiah lived & penned these about 700 years before Jesus was born. He spoke of a new creation as deep darkness gives way to light, & more & more the Hebrew people came to look for a Savior, a Messiah, who would free the have-nots from the tyranny of whatever foreign occupation currently ruled them.

Tonight we sing a new song to God who created us & who recreates us in Jesus Christ, and we hear the nativity narrative which is so familiar that we forget how ironic the details are: a baby born in a royal line from King David & destined to be Messiah is born out where the animals are housed—placed in a feed trough. Mary wraps him in bands of cloth—provided by whoever took pity on this poor couple. How frustrating to Joseph not to be able to provide better accommodations for his Mary & the baby boy!

What about those shepherds? Although they’re not afforded a star to follow across the sky, an angel & then a multitude of angels appear out of nowhere to beckon them to the manger to adore the Christ child. At least some of the shepherds trek into town to locate the baby with his Mom & Joseph who don’t actually hear the angels themselves but hear about it from the mangy shepherds. Do we shut off good news because we hear it from an unexpected messenger? Yet, a child has been born for us, a son given us, just as he was to the Holy Parents.

Through the centuries, Christians have pondered the circumstances of the incoming of God’s Kingdom in the world, not through coercive tactics or displays of power, but in the ordinary circumstances of human life.

In 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was listening to Christmas bells 6 months after the battle of Gettysburg, aching for his wounded son as he penned

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

“There is no peace on earth,” I said,

“For hate is strong And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,

God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.

The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men!

Recently, I’ve re-heard the story of the two opposing armies during World War I who laid down their arms on Christmas Eve to join each other in verses of “Silent Night,” the carol of Peace on Earth sung in whatever language, even in wartime.

Christmas Eves past have varied drastically for me. One mark of my growing up was the year I was allowed to stay up for the Midnight “Watch Night” service (after all, we were Methodists back then) after which I participated in setting out my little sister’s “Santa” around my grandparents’ tree. I have to admit that being “grown up” was not without its detractors as I learned the precious tea cart I would have given my eye teeth for was intended for my sister. The holy child was born for both of us anew that Christmas, a son given even to those of us of tender years.

The Christmas I was “great with child” myself sparkled with the magic & mystery of the snow-bedecked Bavarian Christmas trees, our first away from family yet blessed with a church family who provided the necessities for the babe who came, mercifully, 3 days later with the help of German “schwestern” & a midwife who spoke no more English than I spoke German that year. Though in that Christmas I felt most connected to the “child born for us, the son given to us,” it was a world apart from the next Christmas when our little family was torn asunder by divorce, & only the church family surrounded the boys & me as we limped through the holidays far from home. Yet, that child born for all of us sustained each of us through a season when we felt pretty bereft.

Several years later, a new husband made sure I made it to family Christmas mass at a new church despite recent gall bladder surgery & a walking cast. We & 4 little boys threaded our way through a passel of small “sheep” with leotards & cotton ball tails to the front row, participated in a Christmas pageant as professional as ours was at 5:30 this evening, & then comforted a small teary-eyed Michael who sobbed—not because one of the older boys had socked him one, but because he had lost his first tooth during Communion & wondered if Santa Claus & the tooth fairy would come in the same night. Amazingly, they both made it that year as did the child born of Mary came again in our hearts the year the 6 of us stood outside with lighted candles praying one minute for every day Americans were held as hostages in Iran. That same Christ child was with the hostages that year as I believe the savior was also available in some personage with those who held them captive. He was once again the Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace.

The coming of the Savior this year is entangled with layers of significance as I’ve been able to be with all 4 of Bill’s & my boys as well as other relatives and, in 2 different ceremonies, we are laying to rest Bill’s ashes, moving into a new phase of my life when two younger generations nourish me as “Oma”. We still have 3 “mothers” who came before, & nothing pleasures me more than getting to spend time with both my granddaughters at this holy time as I learn once again how to be the surviving spouse.

We hear much of the Biblical Mother Mary at this time of year & know little beyond her having joined the community of disciples sometime during Jesus’ public life, the Mother present at his crucifixion, burial, & resurrection. She became one of the first apostles to spread the good news of God’s salvation throughout the earth.

What will YOU ponder through this Christmas season? What difference will the Christ child’s coming to ordinary shepherds make in YOUR life? What response will you make to the angels’ message of hope & call for peace when you leave here tonight? How will the child born for us, the son given to us, invite you to cooperate in the bringing in of peace & good will to ALL people when you go forth from this Eucharist this evening? Lo, unto you—and me—and all of us, indeed all the world, a child is born, a son is given!