Today's Scripture Readings
Luke 2: 1-20 (NRSV)
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
- "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
- and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"
John 1: 1-14 (NRSV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of 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.
Blog Reflection
At the end of her Christmas message, The Most Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church writes:
Jesus comes among us to remind us of a world living together in peace, to reclaim and make real that vision of creation for all humanity and all God’s creatures. That world is put right as relationships between God and humanity are set right. The relationship between God and human being cannot be set right without equal healing of relationships between us mortals. See, your salvation comes! Will we welcome that healing?
If there is one time of the year in which many relationships are definitely not healed; it is Christmas. Many families and their relatives face the Christmas holiday with anger and deep pain as they approach each other (or chose not to). The distance between the coming of Jesus in the Manger at Bethlehem and broken hearts for some is too much. The desire to mend those broken relationships may be there, but when it comes to actually interacting with them face to face; hearts are just too hard. Emotions just seem to never stop colliding.
The magic of that Christmas night with the stars and the shepherds, all the glorious music and lofty Scripture readings. Where does it all go when we see or we don't see the person we are in conflict with?
Sometimes I think many of the Christmas Gospel stories are misleading. They talk of something mysteriously wonderful happening. But, consider the manner in which Jesus was born. It was anything but majestic in the Anglican ceremonial sense. Everything that happened around the birth of Jesus was disorganized. Nothing was totally right in order. It was down right messy.
Did it really get better after Christmas? After the Magi left, Herod had every son up to two years old slaughtered with the sword because they did not know that Mary and Joseph had taken Jesus to Egypt at the suggestion of the Magi. Rachel cried in agony only a few days after Jesus was born (see Matthew 2: 16-18). Did the world really get better?
The joy in the message of Christmas is that God came in the midst of our mess, our violence, our broken relationships and all that was and still is not right about anything. Jesus came to bring God's perfect revelation to what was and still is so imperfect. God comes into hearts and relationships that are all bent out of shape.
God comes; not as the mighty warrior with swords and machine guns raised to kill and slaughter.
God comes to be among us; not to force God's way in.
God comes and overthrows the mighty from their thrones; not by political maneuvering and corporate cash to overthrow the liberals of his time; to raise up an arch-conservative monarchy to kick the poor out of their homes without health care or the basic necessities of life
God's perfect revelation of Self comes to us; not as some family council or National Organization for Marriage to tell LGBTQ people that they cannot be married to the person they love or serve openly in the Military.
God does not come in the voice of the Archbishop of San Francisco to kick out the gay friendly speakers in the middle of Christmas Liturgies while attempting a church membership drive called "Come Home."
God does not come in the voice of Archbishop Francis Cardinal George comparing the Gay Pride parades in the middle of Chicago to the Klu Klux Klan.
In her outstanding article; United Church of Christ Pastor Emily C. Heath writes:
What they fail to understand is that culture didn't remove Christ from Christmas. We Christians did. We accepted the transformation of Advent, the period from late November until December 24th, from a time of holy watching and waiting to one of hyper-consumerism and cultural observances. So much so that when we go to a big box store and don't hear "Merry Christmas" we see it as an attack on our faith instead of the rightful separation of the commercial from the spiritual.
But there are still those who believe Christmas is under attack. I think they're right. But I don't think stores who have "holiday sales" are the attackers. I don't think it's towns that remove Nativity scenes from parks. I don't believe it's public schools that insist that Jewish and Muslim and Buddhist kids not be asked to sing songs affirming a faith different from their own.
I believe the greatest attack on Christmas has come from within. It has come from those of us who claim our greatest hope comes from the fact that God became a person of goodness, kindness, justice, and love. And who then act nothing like that person did.
And so here is my suggestion to Christians about how to keep Christ in Christmas: this season, worry less about the holiday policies of non-religious institutions, and worry more about whether we are actually listening to, and then doing, what Christ told us to do. In short, keep Christ in Christmas by acting like Christians.
I've always found the Beatitudes a good place to start. When Jesus called his followers up to a hill and preached to them, he told them who the "blessed" were; the ones whom God has looked with favor upon and will grant joy. The ones Christ calls blessed are often the same ones we as a culture are the quickest to condemn or criticize. We blame them for their own situation, and we refuse to help them. We somehow forget that when God became incarnate and preached a sermon about who was most blessed by God, these are the ones who were named: the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, the peacemakers, the merciful, the mourners, the pure in heart, the gentle. If Christmas is about the incarnation of God, and this is what God incarnate saw fit to tell us, then this is the ultimate Christmas message.
But over the last year, how many examples have there been of Christians who could care less who God has called blessed? How many times has a Christian told a hungry man to get a job? How many times has one told a poor woman that she just needs to work harder? How many times has a Christian ridiculed the gentle or the merciful? Called the ethical naive? Mocked the peacemaker or the one who calls for justice?
How many times have we told God by our actions that we could care less what Christmas means? Because if we don't take seriously the words of the man that that baby born on Christmas came to be, we have no idea what it means to keep Christ in Christmas.
Humankind cannot see God's desire to heal our broken relationships by miraculous deeds alone. Jesus is born today to show us that Jesus can be born again in us today and everyday to heal broken relationships by living as one of us. To know our experiences as one like us. Learning to cry when the pain hurts to much. God comes and laughs at our jokes. God comes to celebrate the momentous event of people coming together to love one another and make a difference in the world around us.
For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9, NRSV).
One of the greatest tragedies of this Holiday Season is when families cannot come together peacefully over the issue of sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression because of religion. Individuals who are LGBTQ of all ages experience a deep rejection this time of the year from their families. They face the possibility of some Bible thumper in the family giving them the drill of: "Well, some day God will cure you of your gayness." Honestly, facing that kind of thing in the middle of Christmas Dinner with family is like giving an LGBTQ person sugar in one dish and vinegar in the next. All the LGBTQ person is likely to remember about that holiday meal is the bitter sourness of the vinegar.
This Christmas Season let's all go to the Christ Child in the Manger and ask God Incarnate to lead us once again through this next year to heal those relationships that are so broken. The risk of further injury and even being crucified will be there this year just like they have always been. There is also the very real probability of resurrection by which we can all have newly healed relationships in spite of our broken and wounded humanity. That healing comes when we accept ourselves for who we are, live openly and honestly with God, others and ourselves. That healing is made even more real when those who have rejected us in the past come around to a better understanding and begin to love us and our same-sex partner(s) as we are.
In her blog post: Holy Family Values, Rev. Susan Russell wrote:
The Christ Child made the Holy Family holy – what made them a family were the values that bound them together as an icon of God’s love for the whole human family. And those values have absolutely nothing to do with either the gender or the genetics of those who make up a family and everything to do with the inclusive love of the God whose deepest desire is for this human race – created in God’s image – to become the human family it was meant to be.
Sadly, one of the things that has WAY too often gotten in the way of proclaiming that love to all people is the very thing that was created to proclaim that love to all people – and that thing would be The Church. Yet maybe it’s my own lived experience of reconfiguring a family on the other side of a marriage that gives me the hope we can also reconfigure our churches on the other side of bias and bigotry against God’s LGBT beloved.
O Come, Emmanuel, O Come All Ye Faithful and heal our broken relationships. Amen.
Prayers
O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth
of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully
receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence
behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.
O God, you have caused this holy night to shine with the
brightness of the true Light: Grant that we, who have known
the mystery of that Light on earth, may also enjoy him
perfectly in heaven; where with you and the Holy Spirit he
lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to
take our nature upon him, and to be born [this day] of a pure
virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made
your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed
by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom
with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and
for ever. Amen. (Collects for Christmas, Book of Common Prayer, pages 212-213).
Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of
your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our
hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the First Sunday after Christmas, Book of Common Prayer, page 213).
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