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Christmas Eve
[caption id="attachment_308237" align="alignnone" width="1500"]
The Nativity depicted in the South Stall Woodwork of Saint Thomas Church[/caption]
Eternal God, who made this most holy night to shine with the brightness of thy one true light: bring us, who have known the revelation of that light on earth, to see the radiance of thy heavenly glory; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
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Christmas Eve
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Scripture citation(s): Luke 2:1-20
A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
on
Luke 2:1-20
✛
An Angel, Crying at the Manger
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In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Every Christmas your presence here in the middle of the night moves me. I went outside to visit those of you who waited in the cold and dark for the doors to open at 10:00 pm. You came in and found a few hundred people already sitting. They are our contributing members and friends, and we think it’s fair to give them tickets so that they have a chance to keep Christmas Eve in their own church. Also, they provide a “critical mass” of people familiar with our liturgy to strengthen participation. We extend particular thanks to the families of our choirboys; they entrust their sons to our residential Choir School, which means a special, hard-working Christmas experience. I’m glad to see all of you. Whoever you are, you are most welcome, whatever your denomination or faith, even if that be no faith at all. Christmas is for everyone; and if you are baptized I invite you, if you wish, to receive Holy Communion.
I heard a sweet but also wrenching Christmas story the other day. It was at a Holiday Party covering not only Christmas but the Jewish feast of Hanukkah. A lady told me about a great Nativity Pageant she produced decades ago. It was a big production with good theater. She was clearly a pro. They had put a light right in the manger to shine on Mary and Joseph – very dramatic and powerful, the lady said.
Then came a crisis. One of the angels directing the shepherds to the manger, a little three or four-year-old girl, ran to the crèche and looked into the manger for herself, which she had not done before. This peek was not in the script. Shocked by dismay at what she saw, or did not see, the little cherub, at the top of her voice, cried, “There’s no Baby in the Manger – there’s just a light bulb!”
Well. When an angel is crying at the crèche, we have a new definition of the Christmas Blues. If the hopes and fears of all the years gather around the crèche tonight, that is certainly one of them. That little child speaks for us. That is: Is there anybody there?
We had a real live baby (girl) for the Infant in the Saint Thomas Sunday School Christmas Pageant two weeks ago, which involved Charles Dickens visiting New York’s Five Points area, where the first Saint Thomas Church was before the Civil War. It was both Nineteenth Century and up to the minute – a modern baby bottle was supplied for Mary to use when necessary. And the point was driven home. Even a poor and in our production cynical Tiny Tim left behind his big-city wise-cracks to worship.
This is what the Pageant is about. The little girl angel in the other Pageant wanted to see the Baby Jesus, and frankly I’m with her. Reality is what we need. Where is Jesus on his 2010th Birthday? Let’s have him speak for himself and try to listen.
On another night, the night he was betrayed and handed over to suffering and death, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and gave it to his disciples, saying “Take, eat; this is my Body which is given for you.” Likewise after supper, he took a cup of wine and said, “Drink this, all of you; this is my Blood, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.” As often as we do, we show forth the Lord’s sacrifice until he comes again.
That same night, Jesus also washed his disciples’ feet. This upset them. They didn’t want the Lord to do this, but he insisted and went on to say he was providing them with an example to follow – not just in washing feet, but in self-emptying service; that is, self-giving love. “This I command you, to love one another as I have loved you,” Jesus said. And where such disciples gather together, even if only two or three, in Jesus’ name, there he is in their midst, Jesus said.
Just as surely as the first disciples saw and heard and touched Jesus, so also they knew his presence after his Death and Resurrection, after his Ascension into heaven and physical departure: in the Sacraments, and in the love that constituted their fellowship and service. This is still the case. Depend on it, Jesus is here.
So, once again, where is Jesus? First, he is in his own Sacrament of Holy Communion, his Body and Blood given for our salvation, the Sacrament we are about to celebrate. Second, Jesus is present in the love of his members, individuals and families and friends. They, we, make up what is also the Body of Christ. And the Lord has a third mode of his presence: Third, Jesus is known in the service to the poor, the sick, the aged, the little children especially the orphans, the naked, the imprisoned, the unwanted and the unloved, the refugees and victims of war. Tomorrow, and every Saturday, he will be with our soup kitchen volunteers as they give food to some of these brothers and sisters of Jesus on the streets of Manhattan.
It is the Birthday of Jesus Christ, and he is present. He told us most definitely where and how to find him. So I wish you all the blessings of finding our Lord for yourself. In doing so, you will have a most blessed Christmas.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
