Christmas Sermon year A: God, of us.

It’s really not Christmas until we hear that story from Luke:  the story of the stable, the shepherds, the angels.  It is not Christmas until we hear the multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying, “Peace on Earth, Good will to men.”  When we hear those words we know it is time for us to celebrate our Lord who was born today in Bethlehem. Let us keep Christmas.  Let us keep Christmas not only as the joyous festival of the word became flesh but also as the festival of our love for one another.  God bless us, EVERY ONE. Here in this candle lit Church God bless you and God bless the person next to you, whether that’s someone you know or some one new to you. God bless us everyone! Those who far and those who are near. We are here to bless God for the word become flesh, and we are here to bless one another. Say it with me.  God bless us everyone.  God-bless-us everyone!

 

It is so easy to be cynical.  It is so easy to be cynical about the people around us.  It is hard for me and I imagine it is hard for you to think of a time more in need of Peace on earth and good will to all people. This is a time when people walk into churches and open fire.  This is a time when those of us who call ourselves religious are most vulnerable to cynicism, to doubt. 

 

There was a song a few years back, by Joan Osborn.

What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home?

If God had a face what would it look like
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
In things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets.

The good news, the reason for the season is that God became one of us.  God is like one us and sometimes he will be like the stranger next to us on the bus or in the pew.  And behold I tell you a great mystery, because God is one of us, we are able to love one another and in fact because God is one of us, we must love one another—we must, we must, we must love one another. We can and we must love one another, because of the stable, because of this child, because God became one of us.

The surprise, the stunner, the wonder, the miracle of miracles is our God has entered the world and entered humanity. God did not distain the Virgin’s womb, as the old hymn tells us.  God whose ways are higher than the heavens are above the earth is one of us.  And God does not waste time and God didn’t do this for nothing.  The Word became flesh so that we would love one another.

Does this long ago story Of the God who became a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, this story that has been so often labeled myth, have anything for you and me at this Christmas time? Oh, I believe it does. I depend on it with every fiber of my being. But, we have been told by those who are supposed to know such things that it is at holidays, particularly at Christmas, that some persons become so terribly depressed, see themselves so completely alienated, so totally outside the circles of home and joy, that many just give up. They just say, "What’s the use? I’m so far down, I’m so tired of trying, I think I’ll just give up. Life is not worth living."

Or those of us who have it pretty good. We pick up the New York Times and read about poverty here in Kentucky and a dentist Dr. Edwin E. Smith who has seen the extremes of neglect.

Skip to next paragraph He has seen the shame of a 14-year-old girl who would not lift her head because she had lost most of her teeth from malnutrition, and the do-it-yourself pride of an elderly mountain man who, unable to afford a dentist, pulled his own infected teeth with a pair of pliers and a swig of peroxide. Or worse, we look inside ourselves and realize that we have not prayed hard enough or worked hard enough to change the world.. And we cry out, "God, what’s the use? Will it ever be any different? Will I ever be different?" And we remember the words of an old Christmas carol the Choir will sing:

And in despair I bowed my head: "There is no peace on Earth," I said, "for hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on Earth, good will to all."

You know, I have to confess, as I thought and thought about what would I say, what could I say in a Christmas message, those are the only words from that song I could remember: "Hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on Earth, good will to all." And then I knew that my own lack of faith was adding to the mockery. And I found that I really want to say to you who may feel that the suffering all around you is just too much, the hate too strong, I want to say, have hope, oh, please have hope, hang on. The real message of that first Christmas is that God loved everyone of us—everyone of us no matter how alone we feel—God loves everyone of us so much that God became one of us. And HE endures with us. And hopes with us. And walks with us. Listen: God loves us so much that God came even to suffer with us. To endure with us. And hope with us. And walk with us. So that we might love one another. God bless us everyone.