Sermon for Christmas Eve 2011

Away From A Manger

Charlie Barton • December 4, 2011 • Saint James, Monkton

The coming of the Christ child was foretold by prophets, announced by an angel and indicated by a wild star - a light in the heavens that no one could miss. Something big was coming into the world.

But we often seem to want to contain this bigness within the safe boundaries of a Christmas card. And most of us in America get so distracted by buying presents that we forget about the gift that shepherds and Magi came to see. That gift, nestled in the straw, is the most amazing, powerful, world-changing gift ever.

Think about it with me. The Gospels tell us that Jesus is the Son of God - God with us in a body, God as a person who could laugh and cry. God, who could have just kept God's distance but chose instead to come and feel what we feel - pain and joy, wonder and frustration. The helpless infant bundled in strips of cloth grows into a man who will announce the coming of God's Kingdom, heal the sick and give hope to the poor then will be nailed to a cross and will die. But the world will be changed forever by what happens next.

It's almost Christmas now, but Easter is coming. Christ goes out from the manger, out from the empty Tomb, and out in the world to change it into the Kingdom of God - one new citizen at a time.

That little baby in the straw is drawing the world to Himself with a silent and inexorable power greater than any black hole that gathers in entire galaxies. But there is no darkness in this power that pulls us toward Jesus. The Christ child is like the point from which all the light in the universe is streaming out for those who have eyes to see. And that light that illumines the nations also makes plain the nature of our society and of our individual actions and desires. This picture is not the kind of thing we'll find on any Christmas card - it is not sweet or cloying, it is challenging.

Even as an infant Jesus troubled Kings and those who oppressed the people around them. As Jesus grew he would challenge the economic practices of his day, the religious authorities, and the hypocrisy in saw in daily life. Jesus also turned the social hierarchy on its head by saying things like, "blessed are the poor," and hanging out with the marginalized rather than currying favor with the wealthy and the powerful. Jesus told us to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, free the oppressed and visit those in prison. How are we doing in response so far? When I think about what I have done or left undone, I feel a little uncomfortable. How about you?

If we're uncomfortable, we have lots of company. In fact Jesus generally makes a lot of people uncomfortable from Galilee to Monkton. But Jesus also points to joy, freedom, love and a way of being in life that leads to a life that never ends. What would happen if we acted as if we truly believed this?

Jesus showed us that the world we imagine we live in is a pale reflection of the world His Father made and gave to us - and of the Kingdom that is coming. Jesus taught us to give thanks and to pray, not for what we want but for that which God wants for us. Lucky for us what God wants is for us to grow into God's likeness. God is drawing us to Himself, refining, reforming, and renewing our humanity…as much as we will allow and as quickly as we open up.

All that is necessary to give away our deepest anxieties in life is to give it all over to God. But this is hard, isn't it? We really want to be in control. But let's be honest with ourselves and consider how well that often works out. Could it be that God, the King of Creation, might have some better understanding of what's possible, of what the desired outcome should be - for us and for the world - than we do?

So here's the Holy Infant waving his arms in the manger, again. Jesus is trying to get our attention. Look at the love beaming out of this child. Think of what this gift means: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. Let's listen to the offer - then come let us adore him.

The ground on which we are standing is holy ground. It extends through Christmas and Easter but also through all the other Sundays of our life. From this Holy ground we can see from the beginning light of Creation to the thunder of the Last Days. If we keep coming back to the pews of Saint James each Sunday we will hear the Annunciation, watch John the Baptist stand in the Jordan and baptize Jesus then be witnesses to miracles as the lame walk, the blind see and the captives find release.

In fact, we can be those who rise and move with new vision and freedom when we say "yes," to the way of Christ and let go of self-absorption. And when we do, a little child shall lead us from the manger to a Kingdom that has no end. AMEN

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