Nativity of Our Lord - Christmas Eve
Dressed up with presents, lights, TV specials, extra concerts, parties, and spending money, there is a sense that Christmas is the time to feel good, do good, and perhaps live a little better than the rest of the year. Even the most cynical get swept up in the idea that the world and their lives shine a little brighter. It is a sugar-coated holiday rush only to be met days later by an emotional crash. Yet these signs point to a deep-seated hope that is lodged in the hearts and minds of those moving into this season. There is a longing and fervent hope that God will enter in and counter the challenges and humbugs of our days and world. And to this longing and fervent hope we look to one who claims us from marginal lives and engages us in a central story of hope and promise.
Wrapped in every breath, song, and action is God’s direct connection with the earth and her peoples. This night counters voices and theologies that view God as distant and unengaged with humanity and the world. From old, the promise of God drawing near has been uttered; in the gospel we witness the birth of God’s yearning presence through a teenage girl; throughout we are invited to join the song of creation, hope, and salvation. Tonight we pulse with the exhilaration of Mary and the shepherds, and those who have lived at the margins, as we experience and proclaim, that “God dwells with us.” While people may often talk of the “magic” of Christmas, it is our call to speak to the incarnation of Christmas. As people come together to hear a familiar story and sing familiar hymns, the blessing and challenge is to witness again to God’s promise and promise-keeping with vitality and to join the chorus of joy in what God has done and continues to do in being made real among us.
Into the lights and presents, the music and gatherings, even the wars, poverty, little empires, and tumult of the world, God meets and claims us in that spirit of hope. God calls us to dream and live into a new reality as we encounter this babe at Bethlehem and find this Christ-child born in our lives again. Christmas speaks to our greatest longing, and turns the “humbugs” to carols of joy.
