Christmas Day 2016
St Phillip's Episcopal Church, Circleville, Ohio
Luke 2:1-20
Imagine for a moment that you are Mary,
Teen pregnancy
Unmarried
Far from home, Far from your mother
Tossed around on the back of a donkey for the last few days traveling cross country
Nine months pregnant, very uncomfortable, beginning labor
The contractions get worse as the night goes on.
You finally get to town and there is no room, anywhere.
It must have been a full moon.
Now imagine you are Joseph.
First time Dad (not usually the calmest people in the room)
The girl you are going to marry is pregnant,
You know the child is not yours
But you plan to care for it as your own because you love Mary.
You get to town after a very long journey on foot
And all you want to do is sit down, but no one has a room.
To top it all off, Maryis in labor and you have no idea what to do.
Imagine the anxiety - imagine the fear - imagine the hopelessness.
Suddenly a stranger come to you and says, "I've got a cave available, it's where we keep the animals."
You both grew up around animals, but a cave converted stable on the outskirts of town is the last place one would want to bring a new human life into the world. But at this point you will take whatever you can get.
Once again imagine that you are Mary.
After some more hours of pain and sweat, you find yourself surrounded by farm animals and yet you have never felt more alone. You only have a few bits of oil left in the lamps. The light grows dim as the fear increases.
Now Joseph,
Standing outside the cave nervously looking up at the bright sky, a little brighter than normal tonight.
A woman from the town has kicked you out of the cave and all. You can do is wait, ringing your hands and gritting your teeth.
From town you can hear the crowds, with their full bellies and warm beds. Behind you in the cave you hear the sound of chickens cackling, sheep baaing, cows mooing, donkeys braying, and Mary crying out as the towns woman talks her through the labor,
Suddenly, the cacophony is cut through by a richer, louder, purer, holier sound . . . . The sound of a babies first cry.
Imagine that scene . . .
Mary and Joseph, and the very newborn baby Jesus.
It's just a bit cleaned up in the Cresche scenes we place out t Christmas
There are smells and mess and chaos all around them,
But in that moment . . . In the sweat and tears and muck . . . There is JOY!
there is a feeling of love like nothing they have ever felt before.
A calm descends amidst a the laughter and tears,
The fear is gone and for a brief moment their is only
Joy
Love
And Peace.
This is a story we know well, not because we hear it every year at Christmas, but because it is a truly human story.
Besides a few of the details we have all seen or experienced this story in some way.
This type of story could have happened somewhere just last night.
There are still unwed teen mothers, some of them find no one has room for them.
Somewhere in the world there very well may have been a baby born in a cave or a barn or the back of a taxi last night.
There are many parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles amount you who have at one point or another possibly been through a similar experience . . . Experiencing the same pain and fear and anxiety, but also knowing the joy that come from new life.
Though it may not be because the birth of a baby, many of us know the feelings of fear in the night, of pain, of anxiety about the unknown. Many of us may be feeling them right now.
But just as the birth of a baby bring race and joy and love unknown into the cacophony of chaos for a brief shining moment . . . The birth that we celebrate today brings that peaches and joy and love and hope into our world every moment. If we let it, it continues to break through the chaos even now.
Today we celebrate the Nativity of the Christ.
Today we celebrate the birth of Joy.
The birth of Peace.
The birth of Hope.
The birth of Love.
Today we celebrate the Incarnation
The day when God emptied himself and took on flesh,
The day when God became truly human, so that we might learn from him what it means to be truly human.
And in loving each other by his example
We learn to be like him
To love like him
To share the Good news like him
To BE the Good news like him
To become and live out
THE INCARNATION.
We do this everyday. We are the incarnation in perpetuity. We are the body (the carna, the corpus) of Christ.
Though sometimes we may be fragile, or frightened, lonely, or anxious, we like the baby born in the chaos of the cave are the bringers of joy through Christ.
We are called to proclaim the good news of the Incarnation.
We are called to spread the message of Peace.
We are called to share the love of God.
We are called to give hope to the hopeless,
Because, as the Body of Christ, we are part of the Incarnation.
God takes on flesh ----- in us.
A few years ago Madeleine L'Engle composed a poem which I believe sums this up well.
This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war and hate,
And a nova lighting the sky to warn,
That times run out and the sun burns late.
That was no time for a child to be born
In a land in the crushing grip of Rome
Honor and truth were trampled by scorn
Yet here did the Savior make his home.
When is the time for love to be born?
The Inn is full on planet earth,
And by greed and pride the sky is torn ---
Yet love still takes the risk of birth.
When is the time for love to be born?
The time is now!
Bring it into the world give it flesh, make it incarnate!
Bring the Joy, Spread the message of Peace, Share the love of God, Give hope to the hopeless, proclaim the Good News!
Be the Incarnation!
Rejoice!
And Proclaim!
The time is now!
The time is now!
THE TIME IS NOW!
Let us pray . . .
Almighty God, who took on flesh to be the good news in the chaos of our world; Grant that we, being members of the body of Christ, may have the strength to bear the good news and proclaim your love, joy, and peace, and by our witness offer to the world the eternal hope we have in your Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit continues to live and reign now and forever more.
AMEN.
