Christmas Day 2005
Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98
Hebrews 1:1-4 [5-12]
John 1:1-14
“If God had a face what would it look like
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
In things like heaven and in Jesus and the
saints and all the prophets.
And yeah, yeah God is great yeah yeah
God is good yeah yeah yeah yeah
What if God were on of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home…” Joan Osbourne
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have
seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and
truth.” John 1:1, 14
“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various
ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son...He
is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very
being…” Hebrews 1:1,3
It is daylight now, the candlelight and the starlight have
given way to sunlight. Most of our presents our open and we are in the midst of feasting
well.
Christmas Day is here!
That was fast….it seems like we just finished off the Thanksgiving
Now the day that we have planned for and decorated for and bought gifts for is
upon us. Tomorrow it will over.
But today…today we gather here in the daylight to remember
what this is all about, to be reminded that Christmas is not just about
presents and cookies and carols.
Christmas is so much more than that.
The Joan Osborne song that I started with has been running
in my head this past week, in the midst of family crisis, in the midst of the
vigil we kept as my grandmother died, while I met with bereaved parents to get
our local Compassionate Friends Chapter off the ground.
The song played as I stared out my office window and
wondered about the why of it all. I’m
not doing too good with believing this week. And the cheer of Christmas, so often forced, ain’t
helping.
I need more time.
More time in the candlelight, more time around the stable. More time to just sit in silence and feel
God’s presence. More time away from the
store muzak and the wrapping paper and the Christmas
specials.
But God isn’t going to wait for me. God isn’t going stand by until I’m ready. God
isn’t going to wait until we are all ready to receive the Word.
God is going to show up in our midst anyway; actually God is
already among us. God has already
become one of us. A
human born of a woman. Starting life like the rest of us, fragile, dependent, unspeaking.
The Word has already become flesh and dwelt among us. God’s glory has been reflected on earth in
the soft eyes of a newborn.
God has not waited on us but has quietly arrived to
transform the world and us with it. Not
with armies and navies, but with healing and love. With forgiveness and
peace.
No wonder we aren’t ready.
God comes so quietly into the midst of our busy noisy distracted
worlds. We don’t even remember how to
sit still. How to keep
silence. How to
watch and wait. How to see the single candle flame in the dark night. How to hope.
Yet God doesn’t give up.
Sending first the prophets and now coming in the flesh. One of us. Living our lives with us. Growing and loving and forgiving. Feeling the cold of night,
the pain of rejection, the sting of death.
One of us, the Word made flesh. And we have seen his glory! Reflected in the faces of
our children gathered around the manger,
reflected in the stories of people being helped out of poverty,
reflected in our lives as we accompany one another and others through the
struggles of life.
Even we aren’t ready, the Word made flesh comes to us. Even when we don’t feel it, the Word made
flesh surrounds us, even when we don’t
want to hear it, the Word made flesh speaks to us.
For God has given us a gift, God has come to us in the
flesh. Even if we
can’t wrap our minds around it or always feel it. The gift is still for us, it is still new
and fresh and life giving.
And that little voice says, “What if it’s true! What if there is really a God that love us
and desires the best for us: a God that accompanies us through the worst of
life: a God that has loved the world enough to become one of us in order to
transform us?”
What if it doesn’t depend on my believing but only on God’s
giving?
Then I am relieved.
For God has already come to me, to you, to all of us in the cry of a
tiny babe. Whether we are ready or not,
feeling the Christmas spirit of not, weeping or rejoicing. God comes to us, abides with us. Lives with us. It is God’s doing, not ours.
God’s
gift to us this Christmas. And tomorrow and for the rest of our lives and beyond. In good times and bad.
God comes to us to change us and then to use us to change the world.
This is the joy of Christmas, the peace of Christmas, the truth of
Christmas. God is one of us. The Word made flesh. The reflection of the God’s glory and the
exact imprint of God’s very being.
All this not because we are ready or believing, but because the God
who has created us still loves us and desires us and will not let us go.
“Yeah, yeah, God is great. Yeah, yeah, God is good, yeah,
yeah, yeah yeah, yeah.” (Joan Osborne)
May the Word made flesh fill you with peace and comfort and
deep joy. Amen.