The Magic of Christmas

When I was a child Christmas was the biggest day of the year! It was magical. My family would begin our celebration by putting up and decorating the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, festooning it with lights, stars, angels, even little disco balls and a flashing star on top of the tree. I still have a few of these disco balls much to my spouse’s chagrin. Underneath the tree would lay our nativity set. My brother Mark and I used to love playing with the nativity set. We’d make up stories with the Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and animals figurines, everything was there but the baby Jesus because he would not appear until Christmas day. However it was not unusual to find a Barbie doll or rocket ship in the middle of the porcelain figures of my family’s crèche as my brother and I liked to play out our own creative spin on the story of the Nativity.

But the best part of the Christmas season was the presents. Slowly the wrapped boxes would come. First one box would appear under the tree, then another and then another. Brown boxes would come in the mail filled with even more presents to put under the tree. By Christmas Eve the presents were so abundant that my parents had to set up another little tree in the kitchen to handle excess. Yes. we kids knew that the true meaning of Christmas was about the birth of God’s son, our Savior the baby Jesus, but really, if you asked us what Christmas was really about…we would say it is all about the presents.

In my family’s tradition we opened all of our gifts after supper on Christmas Eve. That was the longest supper ever for a bunch of kids who could barely wait to tear into the presents under the tree. We would cram our food into our mouths in lightning speed with no appreciation for the work my mom put into making this lovely meal. And unlike any other night in our house, we would refuse our dessert so as to get to the presents just that much faster. There was nothing my parents could do to slow us down.

The Christmases that we remember as children were the greatest days of our lives. We remember the magic of the trees, the music, the cookies and the presents. We remember the joy of watching holiday specials that were shown on TV once a year: A Charlie Brown Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Frosty the Snowman and the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. We remember brothers and sisters coming back from far away places to spend the holiday with us. We remember that for one night of the year, it felt like all the troubles of the world would disappear and as we basked in the glory of tearing through wrapping paper to reveal the toy that we longed for.

But as we grow up into adulthood, it seems that the magic of Christmas disappears bit by bit. Work, school, relationships and bills take over. Christmas becomes more of an obligation, a reminder of what we’ve lost instead of the wonder of what’s possible. As adults we try desperately to get that magic back and we’d do anything to feel the same way we did as children at Christmas but all the trees, presents and mistletoe can’t get at what we most long for on Christmas, a longing of which we cannot name but whose ache we feel nonetheless.

Some of us come this night with our hearts aching. Whether it is dealing with the grief over the recent loss of a loved one or the tension of a relationship that is strained, or even just plain homesickness for those of us who can’t be with our families tonight, we know that Christmas is not the perfection that Hallmark cards make it up to be. It is confusing, it is stressful, it is messy. However it is in the middle of this very mess that God chooses to incarnate God’s self to the world. God elevates the messiness of humanity by becoming human just like us through the birth of Jesus.

The circumstances around Jesus’ birth were quite messy. Jesus’ earthly parents Mary and Joseph were dirt poor and Mary was pregnant out of wedlock, thus tarnishing Jesus’ reputation before he was even born. Mary and Joseph were forced to travel to a chaotic town where the roads were dusty and crowded with travelers in order to be counted in a mandatory census by Caesar Augustus. And on the night that Jesus was born Mary and Joseph were homeless because they could not find a room in an inn. Mary ended up giving birth to Jesus in the only shelter they could find, a smelly dirty barn where animals ate and slept. The first people to hear the announcement of Jesus’ birth were not kings, soldiers or even priests, no, it was a bunch of shepherds in a field with their sheep. In Jesus’ day the shepherds were not considered respectable folk. They were dirty and smelly living out on the fields with no family or home to speak of. They were the marginalized, the outsiders, the throw away people of Judean society and it is to these outsiders that the angels sang, “To YOU is born…a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) To YOU outsiders, to YOU throw away people, to YOU, knee deep in the mess is born a Savior.

This friends is the magic of Christmas. The Prince of Peace, the Messiah was not born in a palace the son of a great king or queen, no he was born in a stable the son of God. The first people to know of his birth were not people of power and influence; no these were the outsiders, the marginalized, the people whom Jesus would associate with throughout his ministry. The birth of Jesus is a living testament that God is for us. That God’s amazing grace is freely given to us. Too often we think that God can only be found in that which is most perfect and beautiful but the good news is that God seeks us in the places where life is the most messy, most gritty, most chaotic. God shows up in the in the midst of our messy lives to say to us, “Do not be afraid; for see I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people.” (Luke 2:10)

On Christmas we remember that God came to us as a helpless little baby boy born into a poor family to become the greatest glory the world. For this baby born of humble circumstance would grow up to satisfy the ache of our deepest longing. The gift of Jesus is the messy embodiment of God’s love, peace and joy for the world.

“On a cold moonlit night,

In the sleepy town of Bethlehem,

Born in silence, in holiness,

In beauty and tenderness...

It all came together one precious moment,

The promise, the purpose, the gift of our Savior

For God so loved the world

that he gave his one and only son

so that whosoever believes in him

will not perish but have everlasting life.” (1)

May it be so. Amen.

(1) Jaci Velasquez, “One Silent Night.” Touched by an Angel The Christmas Album. New York, NY: Epic/550 Music/Sony Music Soundtrax, 1999.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

An American Nativity

Tonight we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us. Two thousand years ago God poured God-self into human form so that we would know first hand the depth of God’s love and grace of God's son Jesus. When we think of his birth we imagine magical manger scenes with angels, shepherds and wise men all centered around a holy family in awe. We forget the details surrounding the birth of our Savior.

We have forgottend that Mary and Joseph were dirt poor and that Mary had gotten pregnant out of wedlock. We have forgotten that they were forced to travel to a chaotic town where the roads were dusty and crowded with travelers. We we have forgotten that on this night, they became homeless because they could not find a room in an inn and so Mary had to give birth to Jesus in the only shelter they could find, a smelly dirty barn where animals ate and slept.

Yes Jesus was born in a lowly, humble situation however this does not take away from the wonder of his birth. In fact it shows us just how amazing God’s grace to us is all about. Imagine if you will what the nativity scene would look like if Jesus were born right now in our time and place. Imagine along with me an American Nativity.

In a small town in New Hampshire, lived a young couple Jose and Maria, immigrants from Central America whose families ran away from Honduras to escape the bone crushing poverty and violence in the streets. Jose and Maria had lived in North America for over a year but in order to remain in the United States they needed to apply their green cards at the closest Immigration office which was in Lyndhurst New Jersey.

Jose was a day laborer and he was able to get lots of work through Labor Ready but he didn’t make enough to afford an apartment for he and Maria to live in and Maria was pregnant. Maria was barely 18, very young and very naïve. When Maria became pregnant, she told Jose that he would be the child’s father, but he wasn’t the child’s father. Maria told him that an angel told her that the spark that began the life of their child was from God. Jose thought Maria was crazy for believing that God would conceive a child with her but he Jose stayed with Maria because he loved her so.

Jose and Maria used all their money to buy bus tickets to Lyndhurst New Jersey and made haste as they journeyed all night to their destination. They arrived late into the night and needed a place to sleep and cleanup before their appointment the next morning at the Immigration office. They went to the nearest homeless shelter and stood in line for a bed, but the shelter filled up before they got to the door. The man that was standing behind them in line took pity upon the couple and told them that he could take them to a tent city down by the river where they could spend the night. Jose and Maria gratefully accepted his invitation.

When they got to the camp Jose and Maria’s new friend yelled out to the residents of the tent city, “Hey I gotta lady in a family way here, we need to set up a camp for them, can anyone spare anything for their camp.” One man gave them his tarp, another gave them a portable heater, and yet another said they could sleep in his tent while he doubled up with a buddy in another, then a lady gave them a couple of comforters she had stored in her tent. As Jose and the men were setting up their camp, Maria’s water broke. It was certain that she will give birth that night.

In the tent city by the river Maria gave birth to a skinny little baby boy. She named him Jesus, the name that she was told by the angel to give this special child. As she swaddled him in one of Jose’s shirts a bright star appeared over their tent.

At another homeless camp not so far away, a motley group of hard living homeless men were warming themselves around a fire. While they were passing around a bottle of vodka, they noticed a star above the other homeless camp down the river. Then suddenly in a flash an angel stood before them, surrounded by light and glory. The men 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 is a liberator, who is the son of God. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a tent. And suddenly there was with the angel a choir of angels singing “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to all.”

When the angels disappeared into heaven, the homeless men said to one another, “Let’s go to the camp down the river, where the star shines and see this child of God.” And so this motley crew of homeless men ran down the river to the homeless camp where Jesus was born and where they found him wrapped in a shirt lying in a tent.

Every year at this time we re-tell the story of Jesus’ birth to remind ourselves just how incredible it was that God came to us in human form, That he came to us as a helpless little baby born into a poor family to show us how God can turn miserable circumstances around to the greatest glory the world. For this baby born of humble circumstance will grow up to share with us the good news of God’s love and grace freely given to us.

“On a cold moonlit night,

In the sleepy town of Bethlehem,

Born in silence,

in holiness,

In beauty and tenderness...

It all came together one precious moment,

The promise, the purpose, the gift of our Savior
For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only son
so that whosever believes in him
will not perish but have everlasting life.”[i]

May it be so. Amen.

[i] Jaci Velasquez, “One Silent Night.” Touched by an Angel The Christmas Album. New York, NY: Epic/550 Music/Sony Music Soundtrax, 1999.

Friday Five: Countdown to Christmas Edition

Fellow Revgalpal Songbird writes:

"It's true.There are only five full days before Christmas Day, and whether you use them for shopping, wrapping, preaching, worshiping, singing or traveling or even wishing the whole darn thing were over last Tuesday, there's a good chance they will be busy ones.So let's make this easy, if we can: tell us five things you need to accomplish before Christmas Eve."

Only five things? I have so many more but here it goes.

1. Open an emergency shelter for homeless families in my city. We've been planning this for months and finally got the site yesterday.

2. Plan liturgy for and write a sermon for the Family Christmas Eve service.

3. Get over this cold that I just got this morning. uuuggghh.

4. Clean the house. We are having company on Christmas day.

5. Thank God for coming to us to bring hope and peace in this world.