Christmas is not about babies.
Christmas is not for babies.
It is not really about stars or stables.
It’s about Emmanuel.
It’s about God with us.
It’s about a change in the fundamental elements of the universe.
Isaiah 9:2,6
Luke 2:1-7
After all the hoopla of the past few weeks, greens look bedraggled, decorations are starting to tarnish, lights display a tiredness that borders on tawdiness, stores are working extra hours to change out stock for the next season, the ads are gone, the music is silent, the cooking is done, and most folks are moving on to what ever comes next.
And you come to church and we’re still talking about Christmas!
Again, the church seems to be out of sync with rest of the world around us.
We seem out of sync with all those around us – because they are out of sync with us.
For us, and for the church in most cultures around the world, Christmas is not just one day of celebration on December 25.
No, for hundreds of years the church has celebrated 12 days of Christmas – a season that culminates with what is called Epiphany – the traditional recognition of the arrival of the magi to pay homage to the new born child of Mary.
Most of us acknowledge that there is something about the Christmas season that resonates with us, right?
– that makes us feel good
– that makes us look at one another differently
– that makes us yearn for an extension of the feeling
– that makes us wish for Christmas to last all year through.
For the faithful, Christmas reminds us that we belong,
that we are a part of the story of Christmas and that Christmas happens for us.
We write cards to folks we may not have seen or contacted in other way for decades.
We give gifts to folks like co-workers or employees or neighbors or trash collectors or postal delivery persons or others. Folks that we would probably not remember at any other time or in any other way.
We make an effort to give a little something to a charity or two and drop a dollar in that salvation army bucket even if we cringe at the sound of the clanging bell.
We make our homes places of light and magic in a dark and depressing time.
All of this is good.
And if we are a bit more caring, a bit more generous, and a bit more happy even for a few days or weeks it is worthwhile.
But, alas, we know that the caring, the generosity, the peace and the hospitality that we so desperately seek seem to disappear at about the time that the credit card statements roll in – that regardless of how perfect our preparations are, how free of blemish our Christmas sacrifice,
the glow we desire is only temporary –
we revert to our old patterns,
our old attitudes and our old habits about the time that we put the naked tree on the curb and the decorations back in the attic.
And we tend to forget that Christmas is not created by us.
Christmas doesn't happen because we sing carols, Christmas doesn't happen because string lights,
Christmas doesn't happen because bake cookies.
Christmas came as a surprise to everybody concerned:
Christmas came as a surprise to Mary,
Christmas came as a surprise to Joseph,
Christmas came as a surprise to shepherds
and it is all God's doing.
For really and truly,
Christmas is not about babies
Christmas is not for babies.
It is not really about stars or stables.
It’s about Emmanuel.
It’s about God with us.
It’s about a change in the fundamental elements of the universe.
Joan Osborne’s song, One of Us, enjoyed a lot of play when she recorded it several years ago.
And it wasn’t that long ago that it was the theme song of new television show called Joan of Arcadia.
I really enjoyed watching Joan of Arcadia play out.
The show followed a young high school girl and her family and friends.
And the particular schtick of this show was that each week’s story was about Joan encountering God.
And the interesting thing is, that God always came to Joan in the form of strangers.
It seemed to me that the show’s concept and this song in particular, is most appropriate for preparing for Christmas.
The song cries:
What if God was one us?
Just a slob like one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus . . .
If God had a name, what would it be?
If God had a face, what would it look like?
Well, you know, these are Advent questions.
These are Christmas questions.
And we know answers to these questions.
Because they are central to our faith.
Christmas says to us and to the whole world:
God is one of us.
Emmanuel! We say.
Do we believe it?
If we do, what difference does it make?
It seems to me this is of crucial importance to our faith.
Appropriately, with the rest of the world around us, we celebrate God coming to us through the birth of a particular baby,
at a particular time in history,
to a particular people,
in a particular place.
That it happened, we celebrate.
That people realized that it happened long after Jesus’ death, we celebrate.
That it continues to happen, we celebrate.
Yes, our scripture reminds us that it happens all the time, all around us, every hour of every day.
Emmanuel.
God is one of us.
And the clues abound:
God’s face is found in the faces of nobodies –
God is found in the hungry,
the homeless, the thirsty,
the lonely, the hurting –
the ones of little importance to the rest of the world.
God is found when the lowly, the dis-empowered, the dis-enfranchised, are lifted up and given power.
And, as we hear about today:
Wherever two or three gather in my name . . .
Whenever you share this bread and drink from this cup . . .
It’s the promise of Emmanuel.
God is with us – generally speaking.
And God is with you – specifically.
Whenever you welcome a stranger, you welcome God.
Whenever you feed the hungry, or visit the lonely, or help the hurting, or give drink to the thirsty, you do to God.
Conversely, whenever you ignore the hungry,
ignore the lonely,
ignore the hurting,
ignore the thirsty,
you ignore God.
Whenever you come together with two or three others to worship, you encounter God.
Whenever you eat of this bread, or drink from this cup, you dine and sup with God.
That’s the story.
That’s the promise.
That’s the covenant.
That’s why Christmas is so important to us.
It’s about Emmanuel.
It was about Emmanuel 2000 years ago.
It is about Emmanuel today.
This is the message of Christmas.
This what we celebrate during these twelve
days.
Today, may you know Emmanuel.
Today, may you experience Emmanuel.
May Emmanuel influence how you spend the rest of the days of your life,
how you look at, and treat, other people,
and how live and do what you have to do.
Amen and amen.
