[Propertalk] Christmas Eve/Day

[robertpmorrison at charter.net]

Here's my draft for Christmas Eve/Day. Of course, there's a little time 
left to edit! 8 - )

Happy Waiting and Preparing!

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY		                  	 
CHRISTMAS EVE/CHRISTMAS DAY
ISAIAH 9:2-7 						           				     24th / 25th DECEMBER, 2014
TITUS 2:11-14					  			  				        PSALM 96
LUKE 2:1-20

	No doubt many of you heard about the hostage situation in Sydney, 
Australia, on the fifteenth. An unbalanced man took over a coffee shop 
and held the people inside at gun-point for several hours. It ended 
tragically, unfortunately. Reports circulated on TV and radio that, 
immediately afterwards, “ANTI-ISLAMIC sentiment (…) flooded social media 
in the wake of the Sydney siege, but there is a campaign gathering steam 
that will restore your faith in humanity.
	
	“A Twitter movement, #illridewithyou, has sprouted with everyday 
Australians offering to ride on buses and trains with Muslims, or give 
them a lift to work tomorrow, in order to keep them safe.”
	
	A woman riding on a train observed another woman silently removing her 
hijab, her religious head and chest covering. When the woman got off the 
train she went up to the Muslim woman and said, “Put it back on. I’ll 
walk with you.” And the woman who’d removed the hijab simply cried and 
hugged her. Nobody should have to live like this. 1

	The movement, “illridewithyou”, has not only spread out across 
Australia. It’s taken root in several other countries around the world 
and although it may slow down a bit, it shows signs that it and the 
understanding and emotion behind it may, with God’s grace, become part 
of our lives.

	illridewithyou – it’s actually written, as Tweet titles are, in one 
long word with little regard for upper or lower case letters or for 
punctuation marks. It gives the impression of something in a hurry, 
something that needs to be expressed as quickly as possible. There’s a 
sense of excitement, of a generous heart and mind, encapsulated in those 
fourteen letters. I can only imagine the relief felt by any who perceive 
that they’re in danger of attack and persecution. I can picture the 
weight being lifted off people, freeing them to be themselves, to be 
introvert or extrovert, to be solemn or boisterous, to work or to play – 
in other words, to be fully human.

	Isn’t that what we celebrate this night/day? Isn’t this precisely what 
blew the angel’s mind and brought forth the praise, “Glory to God!”? God 
has come among us, and will never leave, no matter what.

	People had been walking in darkness, with feelings of inadequacy, with 
the possibility of persecution and attack – from the occupying forces, 
from those who wielded power corruptly, even from villagers where they 
lived. People had been hoping against hope that they’d be able to find 
the energy and resources to make a living and enjoy life. People had 
been praying that they’d have the time and the inclination to feel good 
about themselves. People had been trying to maintain their relationship 
with the God whom they’d been taught had made not only them but 
everything around them. But when practically every minute of their lives 
was spent looking over their shoulders, or across the street, to be sure 
nothing threatening was coming towards them; when people had lost their 
trust that they’d experience peace and security, it was SO hard to feel 
comfortable, to be productive, to be relaxed and happy. Instead of being 
a gift, life seemed such a burden. Into THAT situation, into THAT 
feeling of disheartenment, God stepped and said, “illwalkwithyou”!

	God is so incredibly brave. Can you imagine, knowing what can go wrong, 
so horribly wrong, and yet choosing to get involved on earth, not just 
in the big celebratory moments, but in the everyday, humdrum, often 
dirty and discouraging events which we all face from time to time.

	It’s one thing to have to face all sorts of natural disasters – 
earthquakes, fires, flooding, droughts. Facing this alone or with 
comparatively few people around can be so scary. If one is cut off from 
the next town, or the next grocery store, even, it can make one 
extremely anxious.

	What the entrance of God into the world in human form, as the child 
Jesus, says to us, though, is that we will never be completely alone, 
even when it’s so dark that we can’t see much of anything.

	And if these are buildings collapsing, doors locked to us, bridges out 
across the rivers, the Interstate and all the connecting roads 
impassible; if any of that happens, the same words come to us: “You are 
not alone. illwalkwithyou.”

	It’s one thing to think about the rain and mudslides, but it’s quite 
another when the danger, the uncertainty, the stress is caused by other 
human beings. It’s not as if this never impacts us. Even here, we know 
and see situations where humans turn on one another, snub one another, 
make it difficult to succeed or to get one’s ideas noticed or accepted. 
Even in this city, never mind across the country, or the world, like 
Peshawar in Pakistan, it’s incredibly difficult to accept that human 
beings can be so tunnel-visioned, so narrow-minded, so self-absorbed as 
to attack their brothers and sisters.

	Yet this is not new. It wasn’t invented in the twenty-first century, or 
the twentieth. It wasn’t even begun when Jesus was born. It had been 
present since one person looked at another sideways and decided that 
difference means threat; that difference had to be squashed out; that 
difference was intrinsically evil – because it was perceived, somehow, 
as a threat to us, to me, to you.

	It goes on today. It happens, much to our shame and blame, all too 
frequently. We know all too well about bullying that starts in 
kindergarten and reaches into High School. But it doesn’t stop there. 
The attempt to isolate someone because of a physical, mental, or 
spiritual distinction, and, for that matter, economic and social 
distinction – this knows no bounds, no age limits.

	And God came among us, to stand with us, not just to draw us to be with 
Jesus, but to go out with us, alongside us, to meet the Herods who hang 
right around the corner.

	THIS is what we celebrate tonight/today, and every time we think of God 
coming among us. THIS is what gives hope. THIS is what not only cheers 
us up, but invites us to dance and sing.

	Do you remember the marvelous poetic imagery of the first chapter of 
the Bible? There was, imagined the first writers, a formlessness, a 
purposelessness, to creation. Everything was shrouded. No meaning could 
be perceived to penetrate the anxiety and the tension. Darkness, we call 
it. The land of shadows, when we may feel most at risk.

But just as darkness had overwhelmed the spirits of the people of 
Israel, there came a light unlike anything seen or imagined before. And 
with the light came music. And with the music came a host of God’s 
beings who brought God’s word, illwalkwithyou.

illwalkwithyou – wherever you are; whatever you look like; however you 
talk, or dress, or act; no matter WHO you are, illeakwithyou. I am, and 
always WILL be with you, so that you’ll feel befriended, accepted, 
encouraged, protected.

illwalkwithyou came to earth in an out-of-the-way community in an area 
much travelled but seldom given a second thought. He didn’t arrive with 
fanfares or in some world trading centre. He came to assume the painful, 
dark, cramped experiences that we know and have. illwalkwithyou came to 
earth, then, so that we can and will be free. Illwalkwithyou entered 
into every aspect of human life in order to try to transform it. Or 
rather, to invite it to transform itself with His help.

Was illwalkwithyou present before that star-filled night two thousand 
years ago? Yes, of course, although human perception may have been 
clouded and unresponsive.

Is illwalkwithyou still around? Yes, of course. That’s part of the 
promise from the beginning of time, a promise waiting to be taken up and 
personalised by each of us.  But illwalkwithyou may be as difficult to 
recognise today as He was two thousand years ago.

illwalkwithyou, Jesus, is present ALL the time, but He is most often 
seen in time and places where we face the unknown, the potentially 
threatening. He is most often seen in the person who says, “Hello. You 
don’t need to be afraid. I bring you god news. You can dress, talk, walk 
as you like. I bring you good news. illwalkwithyou.”

This entrance into the deepest parts of our earth, the darkest parts of 
our lives, the hidden parts of our souls, is a sign for us this very 
evening/morning that the Creator of the stars of night will always offer 
support to reassure us that we are of infinite worth, pearls of great 
price, infinitely worth accompanying through this life and, one day, 
into its fuller, glorious revelation where illwalkwithyou is fully 
visible, fully recognisable again.

Until then, though, especially for this short Christmas season, we’re 
invited to concentrate on how illwalkwithyou – how Jesus – begins His 
journey among us, as the weakest, most dependent creature imaginable. He 
comes as someone who needs to nestle again and again and be fed by His 
mother. He comes, needing to hear the voice which had up until His birth 
been muffled by skin, bone and water. He needs to be told those words 
which calm US now. HE needs to be told, first by Mary, then Joseph, then 
that rude assortment of visitors; He needs to be told, illwalkwithyou, 
carrying You, holding YOUR hand, until you’re steadier on your feet and 
able to bear your own weight and at least some of Your own burdens. 
Jesus needs us to say to Him, right now, illwalkwithyou, that we may 
learn about life together. And, from His first breath, He needs us to 
say this to every one of our sisters and brothers also.

“It is the God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, who has shone 
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in 
the face of Jesus Christ.” 2

Remember that situation in Sydney, those tweets: illwalkwithyou. It’s a 
word from God – THE Word of God – to us.

NOTE:

1 	 
http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/illridewithyou-twitter-sprouts-anti-islamophobia-campaign/story-fnjwnhzf-1227157197523

2	2 Corinthians 4:6


Robert P Morrison
Interim Vicar
The Episcopal Church of St Alban
PO Box 1556
Albany OR  97321   541-921-1076 (cell)
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