Christmas eve reflections...

NOTE:  I rarely "preach" or teach on Christmas Eve - the carols and lessons tell the story quite well without me - although I often share a few thoughts.  This year I have been moved by the words of wisdom Fr. Richard Rohr has shared re: the incarnation and wanted to put them out to my congregation as they are wise and filled with hope.  So throughout this short homily I have added the insights of Rohr along with the Christmas story.  Blessings to you all on this holy night. 

I am keenly aware this Christmas Eve that the “rifts and chasms between good people today sometimes seem impossible to bridge.”  (Richard Rohr)  Just think of the obvious ones: male versus female, rich versus poor, liberal versus conservative, NRA enthusiasts versus gun control advocates, Republicans versus Democrats, “Pro-Choice” versus “Pro-Life,” straights versus gays, whites versus people of color and on and on it goes.

This reality reminds me of the exasperation the Apostle Peter felt when Jesus told him that it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.  Like me, Peter gasped, “Then what are we to do, Lord?”  To which Jesus said, “Dear friend, with people some gaps are impossible to mend, but with God ALL things are possible.”  Tonight is about trusting the Lord to mend all the gaps and fears and overcome the divisions and wounds.

This is the Feast of the Incarnation – Christmas – where the impossible, healing Word of God becoming Flesh within and among us.  And as Fr. Richard Rohr says, “When God gives of God’s self, one of two things always happens: either flesh is inspirited or spirit is enfleshed. This seems to be the way God works and I am somewhat amazed that more have not recognized this simple pattern: God’s will is incarnation.”  God overcomes our divisions, God bridges our chasms and God fills our emptiness. Against all of our expectations, it appears that matter really matters to the Lord for time and again God, who is Spirit, chooses to materialize.

Fr. Rohr goes on to tell us that:

This Creator of ours is patiently determined to put matter and spirit together – to bring what seems impossible to us to pass – almost as if the one were not complete without the other. This Lord of life seems to desire a perfect, but free, unification between body and soul. So much so, in fact, that God appears to be willing to wait for people like you and me to will and choose this unity for ourselves—or it does not fully happen.

You see, our willingness to say yes to the impossibility of God’s peaceful ministry of unity is essential for the healing of the world.  That’s part of what Mary makes clear for those who have eyes to see.  So just as God’s messenger, Gabriel, once asked Mary, “Will you let the Spirit of the Lord lead you into the birth of Christ?” so, too are we invited by the spirit of this night to trust God more than ourselves.

·       I sense that the Spirit gives us both the courage and conviction to confess that we can’t fix the brokenness of the world all by ourselves. 

·       In fact, when we’re honest, the Spirit says that most of the time we keep separating life into what we can comprehend and control when we really need to trust that the Lord is the only one able to bring it all together. 

And here’s the good news:  when we let go of trying to be in control, then we are able to experience God’s blessing in our lives as “a Presence you intuit and meet! It is more Someone than something” (Rohr) as the Christmas story suggests. The ancient masters tell us that on Christmas God materialized in human form so that we could fall in love with a real person – which is the only way we fall in love, right?

And that real person comes to us as a vulnerable child…

This wasn’t a mistake – or part of some sentimental fable or myth – for it seems that the love and power of God in the Christian tradition is always hidden in powerlessness.  From the cradle to the Cross and beyond, God touches our hearts and bridges the great divide with vulnerability and tenderness.  “In a weak and little child, God is perfectly hidden and perfectly revealed – fully lovable – and this is the mystery we celebrate tonight.” (Rohr)

Christmas Eve is an invitation to fall in love with God again so that what is impossible might come to pass in our broken, frightened and confused lives and world.  I know that tonight I am ready to fall in love with God again and embrace the Christ Child… maybe you are, too.  And so we sing together this love song…

 

Silent night, holy night: all is calm, all is bright, round yon virgin mother and child

Holy infant so tender and mild: sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly.

 

Silent night, holy night: shepherds quake at the sight

Glories stream from heaven afar, heavenly host sing hallelujah

Christ the Savior is born - Christ the Savior is born.

 

Silent night, holy night: son of God, love's pure light,

Radiant beams from they holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace: Jesus, Lord at thy birth,

Jesus, Lord at thy birth.