LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

Christmas Eve, 2006 + St. Paul’s Church, Lake James

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Order of the Holy Cross is a community of Episcopal priests and lay brothers living according to the Benedictine Rule. In addition to their monasteries in the United States, they have long been active in various parts of Africa. One of the monks wrote of his experience when, as a missionary priest, he visited a remote village. It was Christmas and he had been telling the story of God’s love for the world and how it resulted in the birth of Jesus. The villagers, hearing it all for the first time, were spellbound. When the priest had finished, a woman turned to her oldest son and said “There! Didn’t I always tell you that there must be a God like that?” Why, do you think, she thought that?

Throughout the centuries of time, humans have had that kind of wishful thinking. Even the religions we dismiss as “pagan” often had stories of gods and goddesses who, in various forms, came to intermingle with human beings. The idea that there not only could be, but must be some sort of communication between humans and their gods – even to see the Divine face to face – has long been a part of the hopes (or fears) of men and women. In religions whose gods were powerful but tyrants, contacts would be frightening, but in the Hebrew Scriptures, the prophet Isaiah cries out to God “O that you would open the heavens and come down to us!”

For Christians, that same theme is expressed over and over in the lovely season of Advent which has just ended and where our liturgies clearly reflected a longing for God’s presence. Think of the beautiful music we sing during Advent, such as “Come, thou long-expected Jesus, come, and set thy people free” and, what is probably the most loved of all Advent hymns, “O come, O come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel.”

From what do we need to be ransomed? From what do we need to be set free?

In many, if not most human beings, there is (at least at times,) a deep-seated sense of being captive, of not being truly free, times when life seems not joyful but more like a prison, times when days are filled with frustration, or sadness, or anger, or even despair. The cause may be a serious illness in a loved one or in oneself. It may be an enslavement to an addiction of one kind or another. The pain may be caused by trouble at work, a lack of adequate financial resources, or the suffering which comes from family problems or the collapse of other important interpersonal relationships. Whatever the cause (or causes,) the result is apt to be the experience of not being really free, of living in a kind of bondage.

One of the beautiful Collects in the Book of Common Prayer refers to the service of God as being “perfect freedom.” And it is! But the trouble most of us have is that our service of God is incomplete. We find it hard, very hard, to give up self will and to do nothing but the will of God. That’s one reason the Church provides the Sacrament of Forgiveness, the Sacrament we may know best by its nickname, “confession.” Since even those who love God are human, we find that we are imperfect. Our faith is imperfect and our love for God is also imperfect, as is our love for others, and it is that imperfection which is at the root of the problems we have and which we experience as “bondage.” So, with the rest of humanity, we Christians cry out “O come, O come Emmanuel and rescue. Come, O God, come into our lives, into our hearts and minds, come and set us free!” This night, this holy night, we celebrate the fact that God has, indeed, done just that!

In ancient days, some thought that if God did come to earth, it would be as a wrathful, angry judge and the purpose of that arrival would be to punish humanity for the mess made of creation and the cruelty people inflict on one another. Others were convinced that a visit from God would be made in great magnificence, the deity floating down from the skies in great majesty so that all would see it and fall on their knees. The Christian Faith teaches us that, when God did, in fact come to us, it was as a little baby, the Son of Mary, born not in a palace but in a stable in Bethlehem.

Think of it! If God had come in great anger, our response could only be that of fear, vainly seeking some kind of protection against God’s wrath, even while knowing there could be no place to hide. If God had come in great majesty, we might indeed fall on our knees in awe, but it would be just the wonder of a lower life form in the presence of a higher form, one with little or no relationship to us. Instead, when God did come, it was as one of us! It was as a truly and fully human being toward whom we can know not only wonder and awe, not only shame for our failures and sins, but more importantly, one toward whom, and with whom we can have the most priceless response anyone can have for another – that of love.

Jesus came into our human world and reality as true God and true human, fully each, bridging the gap between our bondage and the eternal power of God. When we find ourselves in bondage, whether self-inflicted or caused by others, God extends an escape to us – both the joy of His true forgiveness, and also the possibility of our forgiving others. The result? Wonderful new beginnings.

This Mass is not just a liturgical show to commemorate an event which happened over 2000 years ago. It is a celebration of the fact that the loving God not only came, but is present among us right here, right now! The lovely words we sang in our Sequence Hymn are so profoundly true: “How silently, how silently the wondrous Gift is given” and we truly receive that gift, our Savior Himself, in Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. We meet our God in Holy Scriptures. We are aware of God’s presence brought to us through the forgiveness of our sins, and, if we look, we can find God day in and day out in the hearts and minds of the people all around us. And that is reason indeed to celebrate! The African woman was so right – there not only must be, but there is a God like that! May that God of love so fill our hearts at this holy time that we will recognize God, both in ourselves and in others. May that God of Faith so fill our minds that we may know the freedom from bondage which can be ours. And may that God, whose Son was born at this time so long ago, bless us as we offer our heartfelt thanks for the greatest gift ever given. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

A very blessed Christmas to you and yours!

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

This page last modified on Friday, April 11, 2008 09:39 PM