Christmas Eve

By The Rev. Martha Frances+

Christmas Eve (Christmas Day 1)

The Nativity of our Lord

24 December 2009 

Text: Luke 2: 1-14 [15-20]

Others: Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11-14; Isaiah 9: 2-7 

      Where were you that first Christmas, the night when the Christ Child was born into the world in that cave in Bethlehem?  My question may at first sound silly & naïve since the birth we celebrate tonight happened 2 millennia ago, yet each year as we set out our own nativity sets, dress children as Mary & Joseph & the heavenly host of angels for the live nativity at Joys of Christmas, listen to the beauty of those carols which tell the whole story, & come to Midnight Mass to celebrate this love feast with our community of faith, we're called to enter imaginatively into the story which is so terribly familiar that we may let it pass us by if we don't become part of it once again.  So come with me, will you, as we make the story ours here in 2009, the end of the first decade of the 21^st Century?

      First I ask, how will we get to Bethlehem?  In Luke, we have no star as Matthew's magi do, nor do most of us have the knowledge to travel by the stars even were we able to find "the" Christmas star this year.  Mary & Joseph arrived in Bethlehem as a new family going about the business of life, in this case, registering for the census which we will do again in the U.S. next year.  The shepherds, unlikely guests at the stable, to be sure, were guided by the heavenly revelation of a host of angels.  Even if you recognize your guardian angel occasionally in your life, it's unlikely the host of heaven will lead you to Bethlehem as the shepherds were led.  You may have been faithful in your Advent preparations this year, attending worship each of the 4 Sundays & perhaps during the week, reading daily scriptures & perhaps an Advent meditation book, & enjoying one of the many Christmas stories on TV, all of which have led you to Bethlehem in due course.  Or perhaps family or circumstances or exhaustion from shopping or an unusual spiritual experience has propelled you into the pew tonight, bringing you to pay attention to this child in Bethlehem.  No matter which road you took to get here, the story & the storyteller Luke invite us all to Bethlehem tonight to take part in the mystery & wonderment of God come to earth as a helpless baby to enter totally into human life as only one who has lived it can know it. 

      Now that we are here, let us briefly consider the scandal of the whole story.  After all, it's quite a scandal that when God chose to come into the world as a baby, completely helpless, he was laid in a feed trough.  Jesus didn't come in splendor or luxury in a world capital but slipped into a backwater country far from the seat of earthly power with unwed parents to care for him & no extended family readily available to counsel this teenage mother.  Further, God was born on the road, for his parents were traveling on business, & their reservations at the Bethlehem Hilton weren't even honored.  From the beginning, God identified with the powerless, the oppressed, the poor & the homeless.  Perhaps only those humble enough to be in need could fully enter into God's way of seeing & behaving in the world.  Each one of us probably feels that we try to do God's will in our lives, yet what do we hold back?  What would we have to let go of to relate totally to the God who might actually be born in us anew tonight?

      Finally, the Christmas story tells of the birth of a new king.  Tho there are still kings & queens in the world, we Americans proud of our democratic government scoff a bit at the quaintness of a kingdom.  We must enter into Jesus' world to appreciate the symbolism of Jesus' being given the throne of his forefather David.  Altho Caesar Augustus was considered the bringer of peace, true peace would only be experienced through the sovereignty of this child born in Bethlehem. 

      For many of us, the change of governmental leadership a year ago gave us new hope that at least some of the troubles of our society & economy would turn around, & many have been disappointed that a new world order has not been accomplished since this past January.  Worldly leadership is definitely important, & we should all participate in the democratic process, not only at election time but also by letting our opinions be known to officials as they go about the process of representing us, yet the new world order which Jesus embodies is that of God's design for the redemption of all peoples, not only those with whom we agree, but everyone.  The hope of the shepherds, those who are outside the centers of power, even those in a little struggling parish in northwest Houston, is the hopes & dreams of all the years which are met in Jesus tonight. 

      Christmas is all about hope, & we do well to pay attention to those to whom Jesus' birth & ministry made a difference.  Those who were notified of Jesus' birth & his importance were the seediest in society, & later, it was with the common people that he gathered, from the ranks of everyday folks he chose his disciples, & about the leveling out of the economic order so that all would receive what they needed to live lives of dignity that he preached.  Jesus hung out with folks like those of us who are at Hope, & Jesus continues to call us to be faithful, putting the next foot forward in hope, accepting humbly that Jesus must be in charge of our lives & when he is so, Jesus' love & care will be enough.  Listen to the stories of the Christmas carols this year.  Really listen.  We not only hear what happened in Bethlehem centuries ago, but we are encouraged with what Jesus can & will do in our lives today when we get out of our own way to make room for Jesus to dwell fully among us.  Christmas offers great encouragement to us at Hope this & every year.   Pope John Paul II put the multiple importance of Jesus' birth in perspective when he said:  "To predispose our mind to welcome the Lord who, as we say in the Creed, one day will come to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize him as present in the events of daily life. Therefore, Advent is, so to speak, an intense training that directs us decisively toward him who already came, who will come, and who comes continuously."  Let us welcome this Jesus into our lives tonight & always.