Gaudete!

 

Isaiah 12:1-6
Luke 2:8-20

Throughout these days before Christmas, we have been looking at some of the Christmas stories – trying to determine what was going on when they were being told, what they mean for our faith, and how they might impact our personal and corporate life today.

There is an ancient proverb that says: “God created man because he liked good stories . . . .”
Well, we have some mighty good stories that are passed down to us about Christmas.  
And, the fact of the matter is, you will not hear these stories anywhere else.

This third Sunday in Advent has traditionally been called Gaudete Sunday.  
Gaudete is the Latin word meaning, rejoice!  
That’s what we hear the angel Gabriel telling Mary: “Rejoice!”
And that’s what the shepherds heard the celestial voices singing.

As we reflect on Christmas and Advent this year,
I am introducing the word theophany.  
A theophany is an event where God becomes visible –
when a person glimpses the holy.

And, our story of Christmas is punctuated by many theophany stories –
with the climax being the ultimate theophany –
the Incarnation, Emmanuel!
The incarnation of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Creator of all that is, the great Jehovah, into our very lives.  

Because, you see, the Christmas stories are stories of cracks that occurred in the cosmic egg that traditionally separates the holy from the mundane – cracks through which people were able to glimpse the divine,
cracks through which people encountered the holy.

So, this year, during this Advent season we are purposely focusing on these encounters with the holy from days gone by –
through the stories we hear and the stories we tell.

Through our telling and hearing these stories again, this Christmas, maybe, just maybe you and I can encounter the holy.

So, each week we have been looking for the breakthroughs in the stories of our faith and in the days of our lives.  

The first Sunday of Advent we looked at the stories about angels that show up in the Christmas stories – there are five of them, five stories about messengers of God, angels, coming to speak to different people,
five theophany stories describing how God and God’s will is made known through angels .  
And we are reminded to pay special attention to the disadvantaged in our midst, for oftentimes we entertain an angel unawares –
and, Jesus said, this is the way we encounter the Christ himself.

Then, we looked at the dream stories.
There are three stories about God speaking to people through dreams – three theophany stories describing God and God’s will being revealed through dreams – and we were reminded that dreams provide windows to the very soul of a person.

Next week, we will look at how an act of hospitality ushered in the ultimate theophany story

And, today’s theophany story is about the time the heavens opened –
a time when the cosmic egg cracked –
a breech occurred in the space-time continuum – and real life people heard celestial music –
the music of the spheres   –
singing of God’s glory
and of God’s wish for peace on earth.

Luke lets us know that some local shepherds in the hills above Bethlehem experienced a theophany that night – actually, two theophanies.  
While they were tending their sheep –
as they did every night,
night after night after night –
an angel suddenly appeared to them:
the first theophany they were to experience that night.

Now, as we are to understand, this was an extremely unusual occurrence for them.  
This had never happened to them before.  
This was far from their normal day to day –
or night to night – experience.
And, so, when it happened, they were afraid –
like you and I might very well be.  

After the angel calmed them down,
reassured them and gave them God’s message of this special baby being born,
Luke vividly describes another theophany:
An actual rift,
a tear in the fabric of the cosmos,
a spacial worm-hole through which mere mortals got to glimpse the holy –
through which the divine was seen and heard.

To their amazement, the shepherds actually heard the music of the spheres singing of God’s glory and God’s wish for peace on earth –
sounds they had never ever experienced before.

And we are reminded that theophanys can occur through the expression of music.  

You don’t have to tell this to anyone who sings in a chorus or choir.  
There are times when your voice is blended with the others in such a way that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and you are transported to another plane of existence –
and for a time you experience a theophany –
an encounter with the holy.

The reality of that experience is why we offer so many opportunities for all of us to lend our voices in song throughout our worship services with congregational singing.  

Shortly after I planned this Advent series and set up the topics to be addressed each Sunday, I was in Borders bookstore browsing the magazine section when my eyes fell on the December edition of Astronomy magazine.  
I don’t know if you’ve looked at your copy of Astronomy magazine yet.
Astronomy magazine is a professional journal published for scientists with the latest findings in the field.
And, right here on the cover of Astronomy magazine is the headline: The Music of the Spheres –
and the lead article proclaims
that space is alive with music
and tells about scientists’ encounters with the sounds of the cosmos
as they purposely listen in for breaks in the space time continuum and hear sounds from the beginning of time.

Like those shepherds of old, let us listen to this music with open minds and eyes and ears
and experience a celestial encounter with music of the spheres.  

There is an old old story of how God called the angels of heaven together one day for a special choir rehearsal.
God told the angels that they were to learn a special song . . . a song that they would sing at a very significant occasion.
The angels went to work on it.
They rehearsed long and hard . . .
with great focus and intensity.
In fact, some of the angels grumbled a bit . . .
but God insisted on a very high standard for this celestial choir.

As time passed, the choir improved in tone,
and in rhythm,
and in quality.
And finally God announced that they were ready... but then, God shocked them a bit.
They were told that they would sing the song only once . . . and only on one night.
There would be just one performance of this great song they had worked on so diligently.

Again, some of the angels grumbled.
The song was so extraordinarily beautiful and they had it down pat now . . .
surely, they could sing it many, many times.
God only smiled and told them that when the time came, they would understand.

Then one night, God called them together.
God gathered the celestial choir above a field just outside of Bethlehem.
"It's time," God said to them... and the angels sang their song.
O my, did they sing it!
"Glory to God in the highest . . .
and on earth peace and good will toward all..."
And as the angels sang, they knew there would never be another night like this one,
and that there would never be another birth like this birth in Bethlehem.

When the angels returned to heaven, God reminded them that they would not formally sing that song again as an angelic choir,
but if they wanted to, they could hum the song occasionally as individuals.
One angel was bold enough to step forward and ask God why.
Why could they not sing that majestic anthem again?
They did it so well.
It felt so right.
Why couldn't they sing that great song anymore? "Because," God explained, "my son has been born... and now earth must do the singing!"

Once each year, Christmas comes around again to remind us of that . . .
God's Son has come to earth . . .
and now it is up to us to do the singing!
And look at how we have tried.

Without question, one of the best and most beloved parts of the celebration of Christmas is the music!

The good news of Christmas is so awesome,
so full of wonder, that it's not enough to just talk about it.
We have to burst forth in song.
We have to sing it.

These are moments of theophanies.  

These are moments God breaks through to us
to let us experience the Christus Praesense  –
the presence of Christ in our lives –
the holy in the mundane world we know and live in –
and glimpse the true nature of God.

There are times when we can hear the celestial music.
The celestial music resounds throughout all creation – and we can hear it if we try.
The celestial music pulses with the beat of the heavenly drum.
The celestial music hums under the sounds heavenly harmony.

Do you remember Nipper, the RCA Victor dog –
for years and years, RCA used the image of this dog, Nipper, sitting in front of a phonograph with his head cocked – and the caption read “listening to his master’s voice.”

In a real sense, that is what your and I are called to do during this time of Advent as we prepare for the coming of Christmas.
Celestial music is being made.

Celestial songs are being sung.
 

You and I are called to sit like Nipper, with our heads cocked, listening for our master’s voice.

Listen.
The song is being sung.
 

Listen.
The music is there.
Listen.

The shepherds did.
And that night they encountered the holy.
That night their lives were changed forever.

Listen.
This Christmas you can and will encounter the holy.
Amen.

Clyde Griffith
 

Adapted from a sermon experienced by the congregation of Christ Presbyerian Church, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania: December 18, 2005.