Rector's Sermon - Christmas 2001

First Reading	Epistle	Gospel
Isaiah 9:2-4, 6-7	Titus 2:11-14	Luke 2:1-20

             
      When the tribes of Israel were freed by God from slavery in Egypt, they were led into an uninhabited wilderness to the foot of a high mountain that became known as Mount Sinai. An ancient tale suggests that God renewed the promise given to the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, and gave Moses the ten commandments in the midst of this bleak wilderness, unclaimed and possessed by no one, precisely because the disclosure of God's blessings are never for the exclusive possession of one person or one nation. God's revelation of love is never just for me, or just for you, or just for us. If God would come to such a forsaken, no-name place as Mount Sinai, henceforth no one and no nation was ever to be considered out of reach of God's blessing.

      When the Word of God came to John the Baptist, it was also in the wilderness: The gift of the Word was not associated with a particular place or school of thought; it was not tied to the temple at Jerusalem, or the town where the messiah was said to be born, or even at the tomb or place of homage of a former great sage. John modeled an austere life, because he understood how much the lofty pretensions and twisted assumptions of human institutions can become barriers and obstructions. John sought to clear the way, to toss out all the accumulated stuff that prevents us from being people of God's blessing. John's gift was to uncover and bring forth the prophets' grand vision of a restored humanity and to rescue it from the dullness of a narrowing hope and the corrosion of arrogance. He was very direct to all who might silence him. Prepare for the realization of all humanity finding out about the saving love of God. It doesn't matter from whom you are descended or what town you are from. What matters is whether or not you are open to the coming of God's blessing among you.

The wonderful Christmas stories of Luke and Matthew about the birth of Jesus inevitably blend together. Matthew begins by giving a long genealogy of Jesus' ancestors. Yet it becomes apparent, that this isn't going to follow the usual form of pumping up one's ancestors, for Matthew begins including some ancestors that anyone sensitive to prestige or proper lineage, would never mention. Then when Matthew gets to the end, he tells us, oh yes, this is all about Joseph, but you might as well disregard a strict the genealogy through Joseph. Sorry, it doesn't mean much. Now let me tell you how God entered the picture, because the birth of Jesus really came about another way. Hence from early on we are told this isn't going to be a story about the importance who your ancestors were, this is the announcement of important news of how God acts now.

For both Matthew and Luke, Jesus is born, not in his hometown of Nazareth surrounded by the security of a larger family, but in Bethlehem. The Holy family are total strangers in this place, and apparently have no friends, no relations to assist them on this night. Luke even claims that Jesus was born not in a house or inn, but in a stable, a place of occupancy for animals. Like Mt. Sinai in the wilderness, Jesus was born in a place unclaimed, uninhabitable, and unwanted by anyone.

      All the various participants become wonderfully bonded together as they are incorporated into the Christmas story. The message of the angels is peace on earth, not just on our home. The tidings of great joy are sung for all people, even homeless ones. The shepherds are in one sense as rootless as the Holy family on this night. They have no home, the fields outside Bethlehem are just a stopping place. They are true citizens of nowhere. The magi come a few days later, after Jesus is born, but they too, while perhaps having some prestige in their own land, are foreigners, without standing and protection. Herod made it quite clear to them that they had better watch their step. Of course, we don't even know where they came from or where they went.

      The Christmas story invites shepherds, nomads with no land to claim, it lights the way for magi, travelers from afar, clearing a way over hill, valley and over against the obstructions of the world. It offers a safe place of hospitality, where no sojourner will feel like a second class citizen.

      The Biblical record makes it clear that Christmas is not about who has home field advantage. If the birth of Jesus among us isn't in some way good news for all people, especially non-Christians, we had better rethink the genuineness of our message.

      Christmas is about communicating God's favor, not about the threat of divine retribution. The Christmas story does not intimidate our spirit or bribe us with promises that satisfy our yearning for greed and control. It prepares for the time and shows a way, when and where, all people may discover that God wishes to touch their hearts. That is the last word of the story. Everyone at the stable is from someplace else, and all are accepted, all are afforded a welcome and all know that in some way they belong together. None of them will stay around for long, but they are sent off, knowing that they have received a special blessing, knowing God's peace has been shared and indelibly touched their hearts.

      And I offer this to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen