The Story Thus Far
Isaiah and Luke 2:1-7
We have all heard the story, if not at church in the last
few years, then maybe on television, or you read it in a book, or something. It
seems part of the collective consciousness to say that once a long time ago, in
a little town, in a stable behind an inn, a baby was born.
We are also told that the heavens rejoiced, that kings
trembled, that wise men searched him out.
It happened to fulfill a prophecy…
It happened so that the people who walked in deep darkness might
see a dawning light on the horizon… It happened so that God might increase the
joy of a people struggling in a time of uncertainty.
Legend has it that a German Priest by the name of Martin
Luther began the tradition of decorating trees.
One crisp Christmas Eve, around the year 1500, he was
walking through snow-covered woods, thinking about the Christmas sermon he
would preach. Time slipped away from him
and it began to get quite dark. Luther began to get nervous as the shadows
lengthened and he could hear the howls of wild animals around him.
Just then, he looked up at the night sky to see it filled
with tiny pricks of light – twinkling blue and silver stars. As he looked
around, he was struck by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. Their branches
were dusted with snow and shimmered in the moonlight.
He was no longer afraid
.
When he got home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he
could share this story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which
he lit in honour of Christ's birth. All of a sudden the image of the birth of
Jesus as God's light shining in the darkness for everyone made more sense to
him…
This is the same light that the prophet Isaiah talks about
when he tells us that God sends light to those who walk in darkness. It is as
true now as it was then.
Wonder
Do you know what an Angel is? Most religions have them, but
we in the Jewish Christian and Islamic tradition know them as Messengers.
Angels come to bring a word from the Lord - When Mary first
conceived, it was the Arch-Angel Gabriel who broke the news to her and helped
her to be excited about what would transpire. Joseph moved from anger to
understanding about the whole pregnancy situation only when an angel appeared
to him in a dream.
And after the birth
of Jesus, it was a choir of angels that brought the good news to the shepherds,
and in that moment, “the glory of the Lord shone around them…”
I see that as awe… everything lit up, it overwhelmed them,
God was present…
I don’t know what most of you do tonight when the presents
are wrapped and the kids are asleep and everything is ready… I remember when I
lived with my five brothers for a brief period of insanity that the 11pm on
Christmas Eve was magical.
We would sit in the living room, only the lights on the tree
illuminating the world. Outside would be dark and quiet. No one would be
fighting, we were usually allowed some rum in our egg nog… and it was somehow,
momentarily, perfect.
The Celtic folk call this a thin place – a time where the
line between heaven and earth is a little blurry. A time where you realize
there is more than meets the eye going on. Those moments are indeed quite rare,
but they often happen on Christmas Eve.
Whether it is as a child waiting for Santa, or seeing the
presents under the tree, or the quiet of a night filled with significance…. If
we are open to it, the Angels are still bringing a message from God.
And the message is the same as it always has been, a message
of God’s glory and of peace for us.
Treasured in the Heart
In the 119th Psalm we are told that God has
hidden love deep within our hearts. In fact, there is a tradition that says we
spend our whole lives searching outwardly for that love, and it is only when we
realize it is hidden within us that we become capable of loving fully.
I think too often we forget the last words of the Christmas
story, that Mary “Treasured these things in her heart.”
I was listening to an interview with Rabbi Harold Kushner
the other day and he was talking about how it is a good idea to go to the
graveyard and read the tombstones every now and again. He pointed out that
never once will you come across ones that say things like: Brett Anningson,
good with numbers; or exceptional preacher; or anything remotely like that…
what you will see is devoted wife, loving son, you will see expressions of the
heart.
Too often we have those moments in front of the fire, or
sitting around the tree, or opening presents, or feasting with family, and then
go back to work the next day as if it is all over. We forget to treasure those
moments that allow us to see the world from a different perspective.
Christmas is a time that we can let seep into our soul. It
is the coming of the light into an otherwise darkened world. And it is not just
right now, it is forever.
So enjoy it, revel in it, relax in it, but let it seep into
your very soul. Tomorrow the light is dawning.
Look around
this sacred place and see all the lights that are burning.
See the
light that shines in each of us.
From the
Light of the World comes light for every one of us to take into our corners of
the world.
Take this
light with you tonight and remember who you are and who has made you.
Tonight,
light has broken through the darkness.
New life is
starting right now!
Go forth and
live in the light.
Go forth in
peace to love and serve our God.
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