Sermon for Christmas
Day, Year C
St. Philips In The
Hills Parish, Tucson, AZ
The Rev. Vicki Hesse, December 25, 2012
For Readings, click
here
Isaiah
52:7-10, Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12) and John 1:1-14
May the words of my
mouth and the meditation of all hearts be acceptable to you, o Lord, our
strength and our redeemer. Amen
A few
years ago at Winter Solstice,
I went
dog sledding in Minnesota.
I know, crazy.
It was
40 below.
The
morning of our first run, we gathered in the
common room to learn how to do this..
We
learned about harnessing the dogs,how to
lead them (on their back legs), and
how to
call out GEE and HAW to steer the rig down the path.
As we
talked inside, the 35 anxious dogs outside
howled, barked, and pulled on their
chains in anticipation.
They
knew we were preparing and got very excited.
We went
outside, with courage in our hearts and
harnesses
in our hands to the cacophony of barking
canines.
Pick Me!
Pick Me! the dogs cried, only fueling
our own
anticipation and hyper-vigilance for the
upcoming adventure.
One by
one, we grabbed a dog,wrestled
the harness over its head and
slid
across the icy path toward the sled. With six
frantic, barking, jumpy dogs hitched,
the
excited guides yelled commands and pointed
to us to jump on board.
The
unceasing yelps from the “left behind” dogs created
an ambiance of frantic energy.
At last,
we jumped to our places, the
tether was released and we yelled “Hike Hike!”.
At once,
the dogs pulled with the speed of an
Olympic athlete, and we heard….
Silence.
No sound.
It took
my breath away!
Just
barely audible ~the
sound of satisfied breathing, cantering
paws padding through snow and
the edge
of the sled’s runners cutting through the ice.Even the
left-behind dogs were silent.
They
would not run, not today.
All that
effort and anticipation and excitement and now…breathlessness.
Beauty.
Mystery. Peace. Joy. Surprise.
The
season of Advent – the time
leading up to Christmas day – is like that.
All the
anticipation, the decorations, the worry,
all the
hustle and bustle only gets more hustly and bustly as we
get closer to Christmas day.
On the
eve of the birth of Jesus, we found Mary and
Joseph, expectant mother and father,
embroiled
in the hustle and bustle that preceded birth,
all
while trying to find a place for the coming child. The
anticipation was palpable and finally – delivery!
Like
other birth experiences, after the crowds disbursed, the
mother and father finally
had time to spend alone with the
newborn child.
Silence. No sound. Beauty.
Mystery. Peace. Joy. Surprise.
This was
the day of breathless realization that life would
never be the same again.
For this
was not just any birth.
The poetic
language of the Gospel of John describes
this life-changing birth in stark contrast
to the
concrete birth stories of Luke.
“In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2He
was in the beginning with God.
3All things came into being through
him, and without him not one thing came into being…”
This
breathless poetry floats above Luke’s din of messy, daily
reality that existed:
pregnant
women, babies, a decreeing emperor, weary travelers,
a swaddled baby, visiting shepherds.
In this
incarnation, we have the language of beauty,
mystery, peace, joy, and surprise.
And
somehow, even devoid of details, we feel
grounded by the paradox of our Savior,
born
into this world, yet one
who cannot be boxed into human expectations.
With the
birth of our Savior, we are alerted to signs of
life’s new meaning –
that
life will never be the same again. We have
crossed a threshold.
And now,
it’s time for a little truth in advertising that may
be different from the sweetness and light
of the
adorable pastoral scenes that often
accompany Christmas. This was
not just any birth.
Jesus,
born into a specific time, to a
specific people with a prophetic legacy,
who
practiced a specific religion, Jesus,
born into a tradition that placed faith and loyalty
to God’s
truth above all the niceties of diplomacy.
Jesus,
this savior of the world, born as a human being
with a
personality and identity that might embarrass us.
Jesus,
born today, is likely to cause some trouble. Powerful
people found him a threat.
This was
not just any birth.
Because,
to anyone who has ever encountered darkness, anyone
who has ever struggled,
anyone
who has ever looked at a newspaper headline about Newtown, CT
(or any other tragedy)
and felt
their heart break, anyone
who knows anyone living a broken life,
heck,
anyone
who knows that she or he is living that broken life,
Jesus brings possibility,
light, and life to the world.
The good
news, today, announced in the post-hustle
and bustle breathlessness
proclaimed
by the poetic Gospel of John, is this – darkness cannot overcome light.
“What
has come into being 4in him was life, and the life
was the light of all people.
5The light shines in the darkness,
and the
darkness did not overcome it…”
God
became flesh, so that we might know God – not just
“about” God,
but really know God, through
Jesus.
God
became flesh to bring love to all people.
God
became flesh, messy, human flesh,
in
beauty, mystery, peace, joy and surprise.
God’s
very Word, living among us. Now.
This is
not just any birth. How
Jesus’ life played out means that we see,
God’s
dream becoming a reality.
Our
Savior was a threat to the powerful people of his day
because he brought light
and life - God, in Jesus, brought
beauty,
mystery, peace, joy, and surprise to all of God’s people.
Beauty
in the hands of meal preparations for the hungry
Mystery
in the arms of forgiveness and reconciliation
Peace in
the hearts of comfort and healing
Joy in
the love of companions and passion for the poor
Surprise
in anger seeking justice for all,
especially those on the margins of society, and
Love to
the lives our sisters and brothers
The
birth of Jesus into our world is not just any birth.
The
birth of Jesus means that life will never be the same.
After
all the hustle and bustle of preparations,
today’s birth-day
of Jesus, is ultimately a day of hope.
This birth means that God became
human and
lived among us to know us, love us, and restore us.
This birth means that nothing and no
one is outside the creative, life-giving purposes of God’s world.
This birth means that we are all part
of God’s dream for
light and life and fullness of grace and truth.
Today,
when you
wish one another Merry Christmas,
what you
are really saying is
“God loves you with complete abandon.”
When you
wish one another a Merry Christmas,
what you
are really wishing is
“God’s glory is shining in you.”
When you
wish one another Merry Christmas,
What you
are really sharing is
your the
deep confidence that all things,
came
into being through Jesus,
with a light
and life of which
darkness cannot overcome.
We now
see God’s glory – in God’s
Son, Jesus,
the
light of the world.
And
that, is something to take our breath away.
Amen.
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