[Propertalk] Christmas Eve/Day

[Robert P Morrison]

Here my draft which will be scrutinised over the next 30 plus hours! 8
- )
Blessings for your Celebrations.
Bob

	THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY CHRISTMAS EVE/DAY 2015

	ISAIAH 9:2-7 PSALM 96 TITUS 2:11-14

	ISAIAH 62:6-12 PSALM 97 TITUS 3:4-7

	LUKE 2:1-20

	 In the midst of the cold, with rain and wind returning at the end of
November and running through this month, one of the most comforting
thoughts is that of a nice warm fire. Just mentioning it can make you
relax, knowing that there will be light and heat, that you’ll be
protected no matter how stormy it is outside. I have to admit that not
having a fireplace, no matter how well a furnace functions, is a bit
of a disappointment. I know all the arguments about sending
carbon-laden particles up the chimney. I know about having to split
and stack and bring in wood. I remember when I was growing up we had
fireplaces in most of the rooms and we burned coal, coal which had to
be brought up by the bucket-load from the cellar. Sitting near a fire,
appreciating the ever-changing flames, hearing the wood crackle and
settle down – it gives such a feeling of emotional warmth and
security. What could be better?

	 Well, someone with whom to enjoy the fire, of course! Someone who
could sit with you, talk with you, or just stay silent as you listened
to music, or watched TV, or simply watched those flames. Yes, having
someone else present – that makes everything complete. This is how
we measure ourselves, I think. We gauge who we are and what we do in
terms of the relationships we have, especially the ones which are
fulfilling, and emotionally and spiritually satisfying. No matter how
warm we may be, without this special company, the fire loses
something. And in reverse, having this company can make even the
dimmest, draughtiest room brighter and much more enjoyable. Sharing
seems to be what life is about.

	 Sharing – that’s what we celebrate tonight/today. The incredible
insight of God brought about Jesus’ birth in our midst to help us
see, and touch, and hear what God is all about – about loving us,
about being present with us, whether we’re cold or hot, emotionally
down or well-balanced. God became human in the person of Jesus to
bring us the fiercest, most practical Love that we can imagine. God
came so that we might be able to trust again, no matter what else may
be going on in the world. With God, draughts, wind, rain, ice,
whatever it may be that impinges on us and threatens to dampen our
spirits; with God, everything becomes personal.

	 There’s a story that told of some young children who were asked to
define love. Billy, aged four, said, “When someone loves you, the
way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is
safe in their mouth.” That’s what God says to us now, as we
celebrate once again that mystery that is so personal to each of us.

	 One glorious night, God’s love reached down and touched the earth.
And nothing was changed, yet everything was changed. The rain, the
wind, the struggles, the aching bones, the failing eyesight, the
inability to understand the actions of some people, the homelessness,
the inter-religious fighting, the struggle for power – it was still
there after Jesus was born. Two thousand years later, they’re still
part of our daily lives. We see and know people for whom life is not
easy – in fact it can be a tremendous struggle to find something
about which to hope as one goes to sleep, or when one wakens in the
morning. Yet everything was changed. As Billy, wise way beyond his
four years, said, “When someone loves you, the way they say your
name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their
mouth.”

	Mary and Joseph, they looked at the baby and called Him Jesus. And
the baby grew to know that He was safe with them. The visitors who
came and were transformed by being in Jesus’ Presence, somehow they
discovered something which could and would give them hope.

	Did they still have to chase after sheep that wandered all over the
place, into the most difficult spots? Of course they did. Did they
still have to stay up nights to be sure that the ewes birthed safely?
Of course they did. Did they still have to have at least one of the
group awake at night to warn about and fight off predators? Of course
they did. That much had not changed for them. They had a job to do, a
very menial job, for which the community gave them little or no
respect.

	Yet on that glorious night, God’s touch, God’s human-to-human
touch, somehow transformed them inside, enabled them to have hope no
matter what, and encouraged them to work for a better expression of
life.

	So with us. It may have been one such night many decades ago. It may
have been fairly recently. It may be THIS night. Or it may not be for
a while. No matter, in God’s infinite Love and Joy, there was, there
is, there will be a night, a glorious night. And, if it hasn’t
happened yet, we can take hope that it WILL happen.

	We think of the angel – or at least, I often do – as having some
trumpet-like voice that soars out over every noise on earth and brings
everything to a standstill. But so many times, I and others have found
that the angel actually whispers to us from somewhere deep within us,
or somewhere beyond us; the angel whispers that Jesus’ birth signals
a new day, a different day, a day in which we’re given all sorts of
opportunities to notice and experience Love.

	There’s a commercial on TV right now that talks about that special
Love. Now, if you believe the voice-over on the TV, that Love is
shown, or is rewarded, with a diamond. But that’s not God’s Love.
God’s love, as the poem puts it, came down at Christmas, Love, all
lovely, Love divine – Love which is yours and is mine.

	Remember Billy? Who said that, in the right voice, using our own,
personal names, Love brings something incredible that allows us to
trust implicitly, no matter what? THAT’S the Love that came to touch
not just the earth, but every single one of us. “When our life is
darkest night, hope has burned a way of guiding light. … This new
day will be a turning point for everyone.” But we have to let, to
invite, “the Christ-child in and reach for the new day.” 1 God,
two thousand years ago, God right now, has blessed us with such
incredible grace and potential; God has promised us Jesus’ Presence,
always. And God has allowed us to make the decision whether or not to
see, whether or not to hear, whether or not to trust, whether or not
to hope.

	Part of the process of recognising, of deciding, of committing to
allowing God’s Love to enfold us is that often we may not think of
looking in the places which are simple. Out of tremendous love and
respect for us, God came, in Jesus, to a very every-day, lacklustre
place. God was greeted by ordinary people in off the street and
hillside. God was wrapped for warmth and protection in the simplest,
most traditional manner possible and was fed as were and are
practically every baby since the beginning of time. In other words,
God, in such an unassuming way, blessed us where we are, not insisting
that we clean up, or put on fancy clothes, or even sweep and vacuum
the house. God simply asks us to come as we are, and to be allowed
ourselves to be filled with wonder and gratitude at the way that
miracles occur in the simplest sharing of love. It’s love – the
Love of God for us, the love of one human for another, the love of one
community for another; it’s love which reminds us that darkness,
anger, misunderstanding, ignorance – all the things that can fill
lives with tiredness and misery; it’s Love which can transform our
lives. It’s Love for which we long and which God gives to us,
because God knows our longings.

	Mark MacDonald, one time priest of this Diocese, former Bishop of
Alaska and is now is national Indigenous bishop of the Anglican Church
of Canada, wrote an article entitled “the God who sees me”,
pointing out that God comes in ways we may least expect.

	 “Most who read this, Mark wrote, “will be people who choose to
dwell within the safety of God’s mercy as it is found in the faith
and life of Christian community. But Scripture shows a distinct and
different path, off the grid of the usual way of grace. God sees, in a
special way, those who can’t be seen by others; those who have found
themselves exiled from human comfort, conscience and community, either
by design or circumstance. They have a God who sees them, even beyond
the borders of the community of faith.” Think not just of God’s
birth to Mary. Let your mind also take in whom God will be and with
whom God will interact. … “The doors of God’s world, now coming
upon us, are not only open to those we cannot see — perhaps do not
want to see — but they are open with a special welcome and
privilege, as should be our hearts and churches. But there is a
dimension for us: this love and mercy is specifically and directly
aimed at us when, as is inevitable, we find ourselves beyond the faith
and life that we profess.” 2 When the light seems to go out in our
lives, when we feel as if we’re struggling most, and don’t know
where to turn for help, God becomes present and tangible.

	Steven Charleston, Mark MacDonald’s predecessor as Bishop of
Alaska, put it this way.

	 “The light will return. It will come again when the darkness has
grown old and self-confident, arrogant in its assumption of power,
when the clash of armies seems unending and the voices of hope have
become but a whisper. Then the light will appear, in the deepest place
of fear, least expected, a glimmer in the hand of the poor, a flicker
among those who refuse to forget how to love. And the light will
become brighter, with each one of us who turn to see it, warming us
where our pain is greatest, releasing us to see one another more
clearly, a light to follow, to cherish, to protect. Look up now. The
season of shadows is over.

	 “The light will return.” 3 The Light HAS returned, for you, and
you, and you, and me – for everyone in creation, whether we and they
know it or not, even if we’ve never known what Light looks like.

	 What draughts, what difficulties, what stresses await us in the
weeks and months ahead? What will the new year be like? We can’t be
sure. But there’s one thing of which we CAN be sure. Whatever comes
our way, God will be present, someone who REALLY cares.

	 One glorious night, God’s love reached down and touched the earth.
THIS is why we have come here, regardless of weather or anything else.
We’re here because “when someone loves you, the way they say your
name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their
mouth.” Tonight/ today, God speaks our names one more time.

	NOTES:

	[1] From _“Born on a New Day”._ Philip Lawson wrote a Christmas
text to John David's 1990 song_ "You are the New Day"_, words and
music by John David. See www.philiplawson.net/reviews.html [1] Hear
the carol at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gtwHH8d18k [2]

	2 “_The God who sees me” _By Mark MacDonald [3] on November, 30
2015

	http://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/the-god-who-sees-me?utm_source=Anglican+Journal&utm_campaign=fafd9d3705-Anglican_Journal_Daily06_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3a3db95463-fafd9d3705-243820449
[4]

	3 Steven Charleston, Facebook, 22nd December 2015, 2:59 pm
https://www.facebook.com/bishop.charleston?fref=nf [5]

Links:
------
[1] http://www.philiplawson.net/reviews.html
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gtwHH8d18k
[3] http://www.anglicanjournal.com/bios/Mark%20MacDonald
[4]
http://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/the-god-who-sees-me?utm_source=Anglican+Journal&utm_campaign=fafd9d3705-Anglican_Journal_Daily06_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3a3db95463-fafd9d3705-243820449
[5] https://www.facebook.com/bishop.charleston?fref=nf

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