Sermon at St Thomas

Christmas Eve, 2005

by Lynn E. Cunningham

Christmas I

Is 9:2-4, 6-7

Titus 2:11-14

Luke 2:1-14

1. The two great commandments, Jesus teaches, are: to love God with all your heart and mind and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

a. Similarly, Christ comes to each person in two ways: first, when God lets Christ be reborn in a person=s heart. Second, when ordinary people like you and me learn from religious tradition the meaning of that rebirth of Christ in the heart.

2. American society=s celebration of Christmas is part of that religious tradition, so I will talk first about the religious tradition part of learning about the birth of Christ in one=s heart.

3. In short, I find this such a beautiful time of year!

4. I love giving and getting presents. I love the heightened energy of the stores and the media around Christmas. At Thanksgiving time, Dorothy and I visited with family in downtown Chicago. We went to see the huge Marshall Fields Department Store, which neither of us had ever visited before. I was enchanted by the gigantic Christmas tree in the center of the Walnut Room dining area. Everywhere in the store was a fantasy land of decorations and gifts.

5. A few days later we drove back into Dubois after dark on our way back home from the Riverton airport. And there up on the hillside Dorothy and I could see Twyla Blakeman=s house all lit up with what seemed like a million red Christmas lights. And a little farther on up by the golf course, there was the huge tree beside Jo and John Story=s house, all lit up with strands and strands of Christmas lights. Maybe this is what Isaiah was talking about when he said that Athe people who walked in darkness have seen a great light!@ Driving around this town at night, you can see lots of lighted Christmas decorations.

6. And now this evening we get to come together to sing beautiful Christmas carols, and worship together, with all the church decorated for Christmas, complete with the creche by the altar. Have you noticed that all the figures that live here in the creche are missing? Where are the oxen, the donkeys, and camels, the wise men, the shepherds and the angels? They are waiting to be brought forward as an offering by the children, as I will explain in a moment.

7. Our society=s outpouring of celebration of the Christmas festival is only part of the story. I do not need to tell you that a deep mystery lies at the center of this celebration. Wonderful as Stan and John=s Christmas lights are. Wonderful as are all the gifts, and parties, and exchanging greetings and greeting cards. At the center of all the Christmas celebration lies the deep mystery of Christmas. Christmas is the time to celebrate how the Holy One who is before all things, and surrounds all things, shows to people God in Christ. And mysteriously Christ is born and reborn again and again in each of us.

8. Just as mysteriously this giving by God of Christ is returned. The Christ in each person reveals God to others. What has been received by a person cannot help but be given back to God through worship, through caring for other people and in many other ways. The mystery lying at the heart of Christmas is a kind of spiritual cycle of people receiving God into their lives, and then giving back to God and to others.

9. I invite you to reflect for a time this evening and tomorrow on all the gifts that God has given to you and to this community.

10. Even if you are having a rough time about something right now, are there ways in which even that rough time is a gift? Sometimes all this Christmas related activity can become cloying and too saccharin. Sometimes Christmas saddens me and perhaps you with memories of family members who have died or who are now living far away.

11. But whatever mood, whatever humor passes through your mind at this time, let me ask you also to pause and remember quietly in your prayers that at the center of it all resides the deep mystery of God=s loving presence here with us and within us. Remember the great gift given by God. Pray on what this mysterious gift opens in your own life to share with others.

12. Again, Christ may be said to be brought to us in two ways. First, Christ is brought to us mystically by being reborn in our hearts. Second, Christ is brought to us concretely through the people who came before us and who have taught us in many ways to recognize what is going on in our hearts, what is this rebirth of Christ within us in the present.

13. A very concrete example: step back with me for a moment to Dubois 100 years ago, when this sanctuary had not yet been built, when as far as I know there was no church of any kind anywhere in Dubois. 100 years ago a small group of people here in Dubois got together to form the St. Thomas parish in this very small town in the midst of some very big mountains.

14. The wild frontier at the time must have provided plenty of excitement, as well as plenty of boredom. The frontier offered challenges, opportunities for making some money, or maybe just opportunities for barely scraping by. Maybe making a living by hacking ties, or punching cattle seemed like about all there was for many people

15. One small group then must have wanted something more. I would wager that that small group knew in some way Christ had been born in their hearts. Perhaps the name for what they wanted, the name of Christ and what it meant, had been planted there by the missionary Fr. John Roberts, coming up from his mission church down on the reservation. But who had taught Fr. Roberts about Christ? And who taught that person before him or her? Stretching back in time hundreds of years to Jesus himself, each generation has experienced the rebirth of Christ in some way or another, and then was taught by some person in their generation who Christ was.

16. One way or another, Christ was born 100 years ago in the hearts of those first men and women in Dubois and they decided to build a church building to go along with the dry goods stores, and the lumber company, and the saloons, and the other commercial establishments that sprang up in this little frontier town in the midst of these very big mountains.

17. Christ was born in their hearts, and they took action, and so you and I can kneel and pray tonight in this warm building our ancestors built for themselves and for us. And for Christ.

18. I suspect that they were taught by the same gospel and other bible lessons that we use this evening in this service.

19. Calling something a mystery can invite easy thinking. A too easy sense, that you and I are passive players in this rebirth of Christ. God accomplishes the birth, but human beings like you and me must be invited and encouraged by other people to explore and grow with this new creation within. Luke=s gospel is one such teacher. Our Dubois ancestors helped us along in another way with this building.

20. Luke has several people in his nativity narrative and Matthew in his Gospel adds a few more, particularly the three wise men. You might think that, well, these folks just showed up, when the angels or the guiding star guided them to Bethlehem.

21. But reflect more carefully with me on what each person in the story did in response to the birth of Jesus. One way to learn about how to respond to Christ=s birth in your own heart is to look at how others have responded. Perhaps the formation of your own interior relationship to Christ can be guided by the responses of these persons in the story to the birth of Jesus.

22. Start with Mary. She is amazed at the news of the angel about the child she is to bear. She is obedient. She carefully nutures the child. She and Joseph bring that God-child to Bethlehem, a very special place for God. Christ is born in a special place and in a person who readily accepts the birth. What can you and I learn from Mary about accepting the rebirth of Christ in our hearts?

23. Joseph is not mentioned in Luke=s nativity narrative, but in Matthew=s narrative he is shown to be strong, supportive and protective towards Mary and the child. Joseph can teach the wisdom of providing strong and caring support for family members going through the transition of a new birth.

24. What can be learned from the shepherds? They are watching their flocks out in the field and are at first terrified of the angel=s guidance to go to Bethlehem. Perhaps from them can be learned the importance of moving through fear and shock into the joy of being with God in a new way. The passage says they went straight to Bethlehem to see the child after the angel spoke to them. Perhaps one lesson is that when the call comes from the Holy One, do not hold back.

25. The three wise men from the east have spent their lives studying sacred teachings. Perhaps they have been wondering for many years how to relate to God. They travel a great distance to worship the child. Perhaps you too as an adult have been wondering and speculating and studying for many years trying to figure out where is God in your life. What can you learn from how these three wise men responded to the birth of Jesus in their lives?

26. Finally, even the animals in the stable have something to teach as well. No animals are mentioned in either Luke or Matthew. But surely there were animals present in a stable. Many of you own and love horses and dogs and cats, and other pets. Have you ever felt that you were learning something about God=s presence in the world through these creatures? What have you learned? Tradition has it that the animals can speak to each other in human language on Christmas eve. What do you think your animals might say to you this night about God=s presence in your lives together?

27. These reflections deepen the mystery for me of how the Holy One=s acts in creation: how Christ is brought to each of us in the two ways I have talked about. This is a double blessing.

28. Tonight pray on that mystery of new birth that is at the heart of the Christmas event. Offer thanks for all those women and men who came before us to create the church and community that sustains us today.

29. Let each of the persons in the nativity scene teach you something about how to respond to this new birth of Christ.

30. To play out this mystery, several members of the congregation suggested asking the children to bring forward the creche figures at the offertory as a kind of offering back to Jesus of what God has already given us.

31. To me, this action symbolizes and plays out in a visible way for everyone here tonight, the great gift that has been given by God in Christ. Let it symbolize your natural response to want to give back to God and to each other this great gift.

32. When the children do this, let something of your own spirit and heart be brought forward to lay beside the baby Jesus too. Let what the children are doing be a reminder of your own actions to pass on the knowledge of Christ to others, as it has been passed on to you.

33. Amen.