Christmas One
Year C
30 December
2012
John 1:1-18
Today’s Gospel
reading is beautiful. It is poetic and
powerful—a song of the Incarnation. A
song celebrating God’s past action in creation and a song which promises that
God continues to be dynamically and personally involved in the ongoing creative
process of the world. It is a song which
proclaims who Jesus is and what the mission of Jesus to humanity is. It is a song which loudly and beautifully
proclaims God’s love for all of humanity and promises that nothing and no one
is outside the creative life giving purpose of the Word. And perhaps most importantly, it is a song
which calls us to action.
The Incarnation
is a merciful act of God. A contemporary
theologian describes mercy as “entering into the chaos of another.” Fr. Kevin, a catholic priest in New York in a
recent Maureen Dowd article states that, “Christmas is really a celebration of
the mercy of God who entered the chaos of our world in the person of Jesus,
mercy incarnate.” [1]
God’s unconditional love came to us in human form as an act of mercy entering
into the chaos, the darkness of the world where occasionally, because of the
Incarnation, we catch glimpses of, we experience moments of the Kingdom of God. It is in and through the Incarnation that we
are connected in a new way to God. God
has started a new creation, and we are asked, begged, commanded to participate
as children of God. We are to be the
loving presence of Christ for others, to be the light in the darkness and the
needed change for the world. In an act which
we can barely comprehend, God has chosen to enter the world today through
others, through us.
On Christmas
Eve you may have felt a frenetic pace—a buzz of energy, the joyful expectation
of the birth of Jesus; Christmas Day may have brought peace and wonder and awe,
basking in the love and presence of the Christ child—today, however, I believe
we are meant to feel a call to action—a pull to participate. A pull to move from the comfortable, warm
basking glow of the love and mercy of God into the darkness and brokenness of
the world carrying the light and the love and mercy of God with us.
To me it feels
both energizing and overwhelming. It is
exciting and it is terrifying. How are
we to know what to do? Jesus, John’s
Gospel tells us is the model—He shows us in his life all we need to know. Jesus shows us that we are to heal, forgive,
embrace outcasts, and pray for those who hurt us. We are to comfort the afflicted and afflict
the comfortable (there are many more who are afflicted, not comfortable—even
those who look comfortable are not necessarily so. The pain and hurt of so many is deep and
hidden. What it looks like on the
outside isn’t always the reality.) We are to be an unconditionally loving
presence in the world. A presence which
soothes broken hearts, binds up wounds, and wipes away tears. And that’s all.
Yes it seems
overwhelming—impossible—and it is, on our own.
But because of the Incarnation, because God is with us, we can see, hear
and know God in ways never before possible.
Because of the Incarnation, we become, as children of God, active
participants—part of the new creation. “From
his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” We are not alone. Jesus speaks God’s power into our lives. Not only has God given us the power, but
God’s has also given us a community of faith. Our faith is lived in community.
In our
community, just like in our own personal families, we are different and that in
and of itself brings challenges. We are called
to step into the darkness and chaos of the world, to bring healing to others
and to let light shine, but if we are honest, truly honest, we know that sometimes
right here within our own community of faith it feels just as foreign and dark
and chaotic. There are times one may
feel that he or she is the square peg in a round hole—that others do not see
things the same way. We may wonder how
we fit within this community of faith, do we have a place, are we needed, are
we worthy? And we wonder if we cannot
agree within our community of faith, how are we to bring the light of Christ to
the world? How are we to bring hope and
mercy and love into the darkness, brokenness, and chaos of the world when we
don’t seem to be able to find any unity among ourselves? When it seems there is so much darkness and
brokenness within our own community. It
is on these times of doubt that we must really listen, hear, believe, and
practice the belief that nothing and no
one is outside the creative life giving purpose of the Word. We must challenge our narrow minded, black
and white, right and wrong thinking.
My prayer for
this New Year, for myself, for this congregation, and for the world is that as
we continue to live into this new creation and to participate in God’s eternal
creative process, we are able to open our eyes and perhaps use a new lens. Instead of searching out and gathering with
those who think like us about theology, politics and life, that we are able to
engage with those who seem different-who have a different view, a different way
of being and yet also deeply desire to
bring healing and wholeness and light to the world. We have to believe in and practice God’s
unconditional love.
I’m reminded of
a kaleidoscope. Remember those? You look into the hole and see the many
colors and shapes. The beauty, the real
beauty comes when the different colors and shapes overlap and when they
connect. Perhaps we should rethink the
Kingdom of God and what it means to participate in it’s in breaking , to
rethink what will hold the Kingdom together—perhaps unity is not the cement of
God’s Kingdom, but rather love is. What
would that belief look like in your life?
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