Christmas Eve, 2016: May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.
I love Christmas, the sights, the carols, and all the festive joy. But most of all – the story – this story heard all around the world tonight – the story of our faith. My favorite moments are when children tell the story in the form of the annual Christmas Pageant. They are always good for putting a new spin on a familiar story, right? Like the time when one of the wisemen in one church’s pageant proudly proclaimed that they were bringing “Gold, common sense and fur,” to the baby Jesus. Actually, that might have made more sense, right, than what they did give? Or the time a church decided to use a real camel, and the poor thing got frightened and took out half the pews in an effort to escape. And perhaps my favorite, when a child playing Joseph was trying to explain to the census taker (really, a census taker role – how big is that church?) anyway, he is trying to explain to the census taker just exactly whose child his wife, Mary, was carrying – that yes, he was the father but not the real father (or in today’s parlance Jesus had two daddies). Anyway, he was getting frustrated, and finally in exasperation the boy exclaimed, “It’s comp-i-cated!”
“It’s complicated.”
Well, maybe it’s complicated because we have made it that way – the baby Jesus ends up wrapped not in bands of cloth, but in dogma, doctrine, theology, and tradition – or shopping till you drop insanity. But it doesn’t have to be this way, in fact, it was never meant to be this way…because the story we tell tonight, the greatest story ever told, isn’t complicated at all if we remember it. Maybe that is why we need to hear it year after year.
But, that begs the question…a question we all sang in one of those favorite hymns earlier tonight, Angels We Have Heard On High – “What glad tidings did you see? What glad tidings did you hear?” Or, put another way…what story did you hear in the gospel tonight, proclaimed by the angels, and told through the centuries?
When we gather here on Christmas Eve, do we hear about Mary, Joseph, a donkey, and shepherds at the birth of a baby named Jesus as angels proclaimed glory to God? Of course we do…but that is as much the full story as saying that this star hanging high in this church is the star of Bethlehem. Nativity scenes, pageants, even this narrative from the gospel of Luke help us to remember the birth of Jesus, but what is really happening in that birth is something much bigger than all of that, and it is something we sometimes lose sight of in the hustle and bustle of this time of year. And by lost, I mean figuratively and physically.
There’s a story I saw on the internet, now I can’t vouch for its authenticity, but hey – you know if it is on the internet it must be true…Anyway, it claims that a woman was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable; and after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two kids. She was feeling what so many of us feel during this time of the year – overwhelming pressure to go to every party, every family gathering; taste all the holiday food and treats; get that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list; make sure we don’t forget anyone on our card list; and respond to everyone who sent us a card.
Finally the elevator doors opened, and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car and dragged her two kids in with her and all the bags of stuff. When the doors closed, she couldn’t take it anymore and stated, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot.” From the back of the car everyone heard a quiet calm voice respond, “Don’t worry we already crucified him.” For the rest of the trip down the elevator it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
In the world today, amid all the insanity of our lives, of the world, and of what has become of Christmas, we can have this story stolen from our hearts…and sometimes quite literally from our nativity scenes.
There was a couple of years ago a rash of nativity thefts of the baby Jesus. Yup, this actually was true…and on the internet (isn’t everything). Anyway, pranksters were making off with the baby Jesus from outdoor nativity scenes so often that a company came out with – I kid you not – a Jesus GPS. A tracking device to put inside the baby Jesus so he could be found. Think of it like a Jesus-LoJack. You can’t make this stuf up.
So maybe we need to just take a step back and think about what the heck we are all celebrating here tonight. And it starts, as we hear in Isaiah, in a world where people are in darkness. It continues in Luke with the enrollment of people by the Emporer into lists, or a census, which push an unwed mother and her fiance to travel far away from their home only to find no welcome place for her to give birth except with the animals. And then later in that story, the ones who are the lowest in society, the shepherds, being the first to receive the good news – directly from God’s messengers – that Jesus was born – that God was with them.
It is the story of our savior’s birth…of the incarnation…of God dwelling among us. It’s a very simple story, if we don’t make it complicated, and in its’ simplicity is the very meaning of it all. And…it is a story that is still happening – all over the world every day – even tonight.
Today we are living in a world that seems darker, especially after 2016, which for many has been a difficult year. Today, Syria is in the news, as Syria is part of this story too (remember that part about “when Quirinius was governor of Syria), and it isn’t the once beautiful place that it was then. Today, there are calls from those in power for a registry of muslims, for lists of people working on climate change or gender equality, for keeping out foreigners, for not providing for the needs of pregnant women, or unconventional families. Today, the story could be told in this way…
It is a time in the near future, and Maria and her brother Jose, both undocumented residents leave the safety of their home to flee from a call to root out all “illegals” and to protect Jose’s husband Raashid, from the new muslim registration law. They are on the run, but the traveling is difficult because Maria is nine months pregnant with Jose and Raashid’s child, because she said “yes” to being a surrogate mother, that they might have this new life born into their lives. It has been a difficult pregancy, not having funds for adequate pre-natal care, or any insurance, and access to a Planned Parenthood center being difficult, with so many closing due to a lack of funds.
While on the run it came time for her to have the baby, and not finding any place safe to stay that would welcome them, they found an old barn on an abandoned farm in the rural part of their state, and there she gave birth. While things seemed so very dark and bleak in the world, and in their lives, that first cry of their baby girl warmed their hearts, and brought light and life into their world. She changed everything. They named her Salome, which means “peace” in Hebrew and Arabic, and placed her in a feeding trough lined with hay. And just as they thought this little miracle was theirs alone, a knock came on the door…it was local migrant workers who had been going from farm to farm looking for work when they were greeted by a messenger that told them to come to this place, and there they would find this baby, and their lives would be changed. And Maria, Jose, and Raashid pondered all of this in their heart.
Now, if this seems far from what we understand about the birth of Jesus, think again. There is a Facebook meme, which shows a nativity scene, but with no people. The words above the stable say “A nativity without Jews, Arabs, or Refugees.” So, this is indeed exactly like the birth of Jesus.
The story of Christmas is the story of God, wanting so much to reach us, and being willing to be born to us as a small child of humble means. God, pained by the darkness of the world – a darkness we had created ourselves – sought to send us a message – not of anger, or judgement, or anything of the sort. No, God wanted us to know that we are loved – deeply loved beyond all comprehension. So God came to us in this way – into the lives of people like Joseph and Mary, people of humble means, not riches, living at a time of darkness and fear. God entered into the lives of the marginalized and the poor, like the shepherds who were the first to receive the good news.
Today, God is coming to us now – in the Marias, the Joses and Raashids of the world – other people of humble means, not riches – also living in a time of darkness and fear – here, right here in our own country, and also around the world. God is being born into the lives of those that are closest to Her heart – the marginalized and the poor, the migrant workers, muslims, gays, immigrants, and Jews. And God is looking to be born someplace else too.
You see, God could see then, and now, that we are a people walking in darkness – of the world, and perhaps of our lives – a people sometimes bewildered and exhausted by the world around us – a people that can sometimes feel lost, anxious, angry, and fearful about the future in a world that seeks to oppress, hate, and divide – a people who suffer the very real trials of being a human – worrying about debt, feeling isolated or alone, or grieving those we love who are no longer with us, but with God.
And in these darkest of times, perhaps the most important part of the story for us to hear is in the angel’s message to the shepherds. Now, since it is Christmas Eve, let’s hear the King James version Linus uses in that perennial favorite “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” When Charlie Brown wants to know what Christmas is all about, Linus says he can tell him, and he tells the story, not of Mary and Joseph, but of the shepherds, saying “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
“For behold I bring YOU tidings of great joy…for unto YOU is born this day…” You see, Mary was the surrogate, like Maria in my modern version, who gave birth to God’s light and love which was born, not just to her and Joseph, to everyone for everyone. The story is about YOU! The tidings were for the shepherds, the joy too…but not just for them – for “all people” – for the whole world – for YOU!. And here’s the thing…this story is happening now – or at least God is looking for us to allow it to happen.
The German theologian Meister Eckhart once said “We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly, but does not take place within myself? And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture? This, then, is the fullness of time: When the Son of Man is begotten in us.”
“We are all meant to be mothers of God” – because God is always needing and wanting to be born.
Born into the darkness of our lives to bring light.
Born into the death of our spirit to bring life.
Born into the despair of our hearts to bring love.
It’s a crazy thing to think about isn’t it, but the truth of Christmas is that God chooses the most unlikely places to enter into our lives – the poor, the marginalized, the humble, the weak, and the forgotten – to make sure we truly understand that God’s love is for everyone – no exceptions – and even each one of us. If we open our hearts to see the divine spark of God in them, the Marias, Joses, Raashids, and Salomes of our lives, then God will be born in us too. And it is in each of us that God yearns to be born, not only for ourselves, but that our lives might be the good news of great joy to a people living in the cold, dark fields of our world. Because this good news of great joy is truly for all people, and was never meant to stay in the manger, the barn, or for that matter – the church.
You see, Jesus doesn’t need a GPS tracking device to be found – because Jesus was never meant to be kept in the manger in the first place. Jesus is on the loose! He was then, in the hearts of the shepherds, and he is today in our hearts, if we let him be born in us tonight. “We ARE all meant to be mothers of God!” – because God is always needing to be born – now more than ever.
This story, this wonderful Christmas story we tell each year, is to remind us that God never forgets us, will always look to be born in us, and will seek us out in the dark fields of our life to bring us the good news – that we are loved deeply, unequivocally, and always.
And that, my dear friends, are truly tidings of great joy for all people.
Merry Christmas!

For the audio from the 10:30pm service, click here:

The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
December 24, 2016
Christmas Eve
1st Reading – Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
2nd Reading – Titus 2:11-14
Gospel – Luke 2:1-20