Christmas Eve 2022: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
“Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking.
Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child’s cry, a blazing star hung over a stable, and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven’t forgotten that night down the centuries. We celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, with the sound of bells, and with gifts.
But especially with gifts. You give me a book, I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer and Uncle Henry can do with a new pipe. For we forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled, all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. It’s his birthday we’re celebrating. Don’t let us ever forget that…”
Some of you may remember these words as the opening of a sermon we sometimes hear at Christmas. It comes from one of my favorite movies, “The Bishop’s Wife.” No, not the more modern version with a slightly different title. The
original – from 1947 – starring David Niven as Episcopal Bishop Henry Brougham, Loretta Young as his wife Julia, and Cary Grant as the debonair angel named Dudley. It’s a classic based on a book published in 1928 by author Robert Nathan, and the message is as timely today as it was then.
You see, Bishop Brougham was under a great deal of pressure, managing the fundraising for the building of a new and glorious cathedral. Inundated with meetings and demands of wealthy parishioners, he felt overwhelmed and lost. He prayed to God for guidance. What he got was Dudley, who shows up, tells the bishop that he is an angel, and later tells his wife that the Bishop has hired him to be an additional assistant to reduce his workload.
As the good looking Dudley spends time with his wife and young daughter, Bishop Brougham becomes incensed and jealous. There is more that happens in the story, including a really cool scene with a parish boy’s choir, but finally the bishop comes to see his misplaced priorities. He lets go of the plans for the cathedral, and begins to re-build instead his relationship of love with his wife and daughter, and connects once again to his ministry of service in Christ’s name.
As he goes to preach the Christmas Eve sermon, the bishop realizes that it isn’t the one he wrote, but the one that Dudley wrote for him – and it is clear that on that very night, he truly felt the story of Christmas fill his heart once again. His sermon ends the film, and I opened mine tonight with it – with the empty stocking.
The thing is, this empty stocking is really just a metaphor for the way in which we sometimes lose sight of who we truly are, and what this night means for us. And despite what some may think – Hallmark, Santa Claus, and the early Christmas displays aren’t the cause of it. The empty stocking isn’t something the world creates for us. It is something we make happen, even if we don’t realize it.
That is why this night, this birth, matters – not only for the world, but most especially to each one of us.
Because it is on this night, this most Holy Night, when we stop for a moment and remember what all of this means for us, and listen once more to the story.
We hear the story of Mary & Joseph.
Mary, who had the courage to say yes to God’s call – even though frightening – even though it could cost her her life.
And Joseph, who had dreams for himself and Mary, but thought they were all destroyed by this pregnancy. God helped him to envision a new dream – a new life.
We hear the story of the shepherds, of those who sit in darkness and live on the margins, whom God chooses as the first to hear the good news.
We hear the story of the angels, who proclaim the good news that the Word has been made flesh and dwells among us – that Peace on Earth is possible.
We hear the story of Jesus, born in a humble setting. God made manifest in a vulnerable baby – not to wield earthly power, but to share divine love.
This is the story we hear this night – in the words of the evangelist Luke. But it isn’t the full story. Something, really someone, is missing.
You!
You are part of this story too.
Because God was born not just to those who lived so long ago – but to you.
Who are you in this story tonight?
Are you Mary – facing a difficult challenge, and yearning for the courage to say “Yes!” to what lay ahead?
Are you Joseph – your dreams dashed, hoping to find a new way?
Are you a shepherd – feeling unseen, walking in darkness on the margins, searching for light and love?
Are you one of the angels – filled with joy and hope – sharing good news to those who most need to hear it?
Perhaps you are all, or none, of those, but one thing is for sure, you are the one in whom Christ is yearning to be born this day! Because this isn’t a story of long ago – this is a story of now! The angels tonight, in this very place, are shouting from the heavens “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Jesus is born…in you – if you make room for him.
One of my favorite hymns on this night is “O Little Town Of Bethlehem,” (especially when sung to the tune Forest Green, as we do often in our Anglican communion). The words are from a beautiful poem by the Episcopal priest and bishop, Phillip Brooks, and it is this verse that perhaps we need tonight most of all: “How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given. So God imparts to human hearts, the blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.”
“Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.”
The question for each of us tonight is – are we willing to receive him still?
Because that empty stocking can only be filled when we are first filled with Him – when our stocking is truly full – not of the stuff of our busy lives, but because we received him still this night, and every night.
So, let us look aside from the proverbial cathedrals we sometimes try to build in our very busy lives – and turn instead to the light of that heavenly star shining on a stable so long ago. Because on this night, that light will shine in you – if you let it.
It doesn’t matter how much money you have, who you love, where you live, what language you speak, how you vote, or any other way we humans try to divide ourselves from one another. Jesus is born to you! And that is the greatest gift anyone could ever receive – the knowledge that you are deeply and unconditionally loved – just as you are!
That is the wonderous gift God is giving this night. A gift of love, light, and life – for all people – for you.
And here’s the thing about all of it – it is the gift we are supposed to re-gift!
That proclamation of peace to all the earth…that was a charge to humanity. That the Christ born to us, Jesus, will challenge us to have the courage to say “Yes!” to wherever God leads us, to dream new dreams of justice and love, to proclaim the good news of God’s light and love to those who walk in darkness, to welcome in the ones on the margins. For this birth we celebrate tonight is a gift to each of us, that we then give to the world, to one another, and most especially to Jesus himself.
So, let us fill our own stocking with Christ this night, and then, fill the other one – the one we sometimes forget to include for Him. As the good bishop implored as he closed his sermon, “Let us ask ourselves what [Jesus] would wish for most. And then, let each put in [their] share – loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shining gifts that make peace on earth…”
Yes, let all these things be put in that stocking and more, that once upon a future midnight clear, all of heaven and earth will rejoice – for peace on earth will truly be.
Merry Christmas everyone!
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
December 24, 2022
Christmas Eve
1st Reading – Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
2nd Reading – Titus 2:11-14
Gospel – Luke 2:1-20
