Christmas Eve; Luke
2:1-20; St. Paul’s, 12/24/2018
Jim Melnyk: “Dare We
Believe?”
Back in my younger days – in the days of things like 8-track
tape players and rotary phones – an unusual song by Simon and Garfunkel hit the
airwaves in the summer of 1966. The song began with the duo singing Silent
Night to a simple arrangement of piano. As the song progressed a simulated
newscast from the night of August 3, 1966 insinuated itself into the song, with
the news of the day getting louder as the song went along – commentary about
the civil rights struggle, the Vietnam War, drug problems, and more.
I’m sure this particular arrangement of Silent Night was
meant to be a shocking, yet meaningful, reminder of how the brokenness of our
world finds ways of intruding upon the wonder and hope – the promise and joy –
of life – perhaps best exemplified for Christians in our yearly celebrations at
Christmas.
Its pattern might not seem so strange to us today – some
fifty-plus years later – with possibly many of the same sorts of events being
piped in through the news, with only the names and the places changed.
But what if we looked at the song from the other end? Dare
we believe it’s actually the other way around? Dare we believe that rather than
the brokenness of our world intruding upon the wonder and hope, the promise and
joy of Christmas, that it’s actually quite the opposite – that when we let it
do so, Christmas actually finds a way of intruding upon our lives – ways of intruding
upon our world – ways of breaking in and breaking apart the brokenness that
infects our souls? In the midst of a
broken world, might the message of Christmas – the hope and dream and promise
of Christmas – might that be the very thing that actually disrupts the way of
the world?
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons Jesus talks about the
inbreaking kingdom of God with metaphors like someone actually breaking into a
house – be on the watch, for you know not at what hour the thief might come…
When Israel became a slave in Egypt the Holy One speaks out
to Moses from amidst a burning bush saying “I have observed the misery of my
people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their
taskmasters. Indeed, I know their
sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them…” (Ex. 3:7-8a). And then God
declares, “I Am who I Am – I Am Who Causes All to Be,” and Moses dares to
believe that God can and does intrude upon his world – and that faith
gives him to courage to challenge Pharaoh and demand, “Let my people go!”
When Israel finds herself freed from the shackles of Egypt
and wandering in the wilderness, God breaks in with gifts of living water,
manna from heaven, and the gift of the Law.
Centuries later, when Israel finds herself lost in Babylon, the
people cry out to God, “By Babylon’s streams, there we sat, oh we wept, when we
recalled Zion. On the poplars there we
hung up our lyres. For there our captors
had asked of us words of song….’ How can
we sing a song of the Lord on foreign soil?
Should I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand wither” (Ps 137:1-5). God
listens to their cry – God intrudes upon their broken reality and prepares for
them a highway in the desert – a holy way leading Israel home from exile.
And then one night some two thousand years ago God once
again chooses to seek entry into human history.
The Incarnate Word of God, nurtured for nine long months in the womb of
a young women from Nazareth, is ready to be born – and the world closes its
doors to the presence of God’s holy child. No room in the inn, and a make-shift
maternity ward hastily set apart in the corner of a stable, have been sanitized
by the many beautiful and creative nativity scenes that decorate our churches
and our homes each year.
The hymnist, William Chatterton Dix, is being anything but
romantic when he asks the question, “Why lies he in such mean estate where ox
and ass are feeding?” (The Hymnal 1982,
115) But as diligent as the powers of
the world may be, the power, the glory, and the love of God will not be shut
down – the “silent Word,” who is the Christ of God, will break into the world
making that love of God known in the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth.
Elsewhere, angels of God break the silence of the night as
they burst on the scene among “certain poor shepherds in fields as they
lay…keeping their sheep….” The glory of
God shines upon them dispelling even the deepest darkness of the world. In response to the shepherd’s terror the
angels cry out, “Fear not! For we are
honored to bring you tidings of great joy – not just for you – and not just for
this brief moment in time – but tidings of great joy for all people – for all
time!
There – in the middle of the pasture – far from any sleepy
hamlets or towns – God’s messengers proclaim the glory of the Holy One – and
the promise of peace for all.
At first glance it may feel as though the world is always
intruding upon the dream of God – daring us to wake to its nightmare rather
than to God’s promised coming kingdom. Throughout history the world has tried
its best to drown out the hope and dream of God for all Creation.
Dare we believe the Incarnation of God continues to intrude
upon the world of humanity? Do we dare
believe that the Christ of God born so long ago in a manger so far away can
indeed intrude upon and within our hearts today? Time-and-time-again God has
refused to be drowned out – God has refused to be silenced by the din of the
world. The volume of the 24-hour news
cycle ratchets up anxiety minute-by-minute, demanding to take center stage in
the life of the world and God refuses to step back. The quiet strains of Silent Night will not be
silenced by the cacophony of a broken world. The angels’ proclamation will not
be silenced. Indeed, God cannot be
silenced.
God can and does intrude upon and within the life of this
world. God comes to us whether we live
in a gated community surrounded by the finest things in life, or we live in the
modern day equivalent of a stable with nothing but straw to keep us comfortable
and warm.
God breaks into this world and embraces and strengthens
those who have much, that they might become Christ for the world. God breaks into this world and embraces and
strengthens those who have little, and gives them courage to hold on – and
raises up a mighty gathering of the faithful to surround them with the grace
and love of God every day. God breaks
into our hearts, so that we, in Christ’s name, might break into this world and
make it new.
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