Kala Christougenna! From the Greek, Merry Christmas! It's Christmas 2012.
People are excited about this birth all across
the globe tonight.
There’s been a lot of talk about this
royal birth and how we will celebrate it. It’s captured the imagination of 100’s
of millions of people. A young couple whose first born will be the ruler of a
kingdom. Kate will give birth to a royal heir of England with William the proud
father.
This story has been given more press,
more attention, than the one we observe tonight, tomorrow and the 12 day season
of Christmas.
Another young couple awaited a birth of
a baby, but instead of a palace setting it was in a lowly manger where. Mary
& Joseph awaited the birth of their first born. Despite these humble
beginnings he is born the king of kings, lord of lords.
He’s born homeless and becomes homeless
once again as an adult. He’s the last person most people would give their gifts
to on Christmas. Without him there is no Christmas, because he’s Christmas.
He’s unlike any royal and his kingdom
isn’t built on power and prestige. He’s the prince of peace, and that’s Not
Good News, Gospel, to all. His birthday is a day to celebrate the opposite of
what the world holds dear: fame and fortune; power and prestige. Jesus is a
radical voice who brings Gospel to the unlikely, the unloved, the overlooked,
the forgotten. Is that who we will share our gifts with this Christmas?
Homiletics says: The child who is born
in the postcard manger scene will grow up and be a threat to the status quo, a
threat to those who wield power through force of arms or the force of their
bank accounts. He will expose the inner thoughts of human hearts and call
people to a way of living beyond themselves. He will talk about a God who is
intimately involved in public, in politics, and with people, rather than a God
who is merely private, quiet, and spiritual. He will spend his time eating and
associating with people on the margins of society—the sick, the poor, the
outcast.
The only Christmas present he’s
interested in is getting people to give the gift of love. To love
neighbors, love strangers, that’s the message of Christmas, that’s what it’s
all about, what really brings 2 billion people together tonight. That’s the real
gift of Christmas we celebrate tonight. A birthday unlike any other where the
gift is for us.
This baby king is dangerous to the world. He threatens to change
everyone, to change you, into an agent of peace and goodwill, of love and grace,
to value persons more than fame and fortune, power and prestige. He’s all about
you and me giving away, giving of ourselves, more than the usual exchange of
Christmas gifts between family and
friends. Gifts that will wear out over time, some that will quickly be
forgotten, while he’s a gift that lasts a lifetime and beyond. His message, his
gift, is the gift that keeps on giving beyond Christmas.
In the Minister’s
Manual it reads: When Pope Julius I authorized December 25 to be celebrated as
the birthday of Jesus in A.D. 353, who would have ever thought that it would
become what it is today. When Martin
Luther lit candles on a Christmas tree, according to tradition, (Professor Charles Follen lit candles on the
first Christmas tree in America in 1832) who would have ever thought that the decorations would become as
elaborate as they are today. It is a long time since Luther, longer from 353,
longer still from that dark night brightened by a special star in which Jesus
the radical king was born. Yet, as we approach December 25th again,
it gives us another opportunity to pause, and in the midst of all the
excitement and elaborate decorations and expensive commercialization which
surround Christmas, to consider again the event of Christmas and the person
whose birth we celebrate. Brian L. Harbour, James W. Cox, The Minister's
Manual: 1994, San Fransico: Harper Collins, 1993, p. 254.
After the lights and tinsel are put away, the decorations are
packed up for another year, after the food is gone, when family and friends are
back home, back to work or school, even once the 12 days of Christmas have
faded away, the Good News, the Gospel, the Christmas Gift remains. May you
share it with all the world. Merry Birthday of Jesus! Amen.
