Loading...Isaiah 9:2-7 — Titus 2:11-14 — Luke 2:1-14(15-20) — Psalm 96
This is a sermon about how God answers the prayer on earth as it is in heaven.
I am recording this sermon for broadcasting with a video clip of my friends Arianna and Leila who came and helped me record what St James traditionally calls the “Blessing of the Creche”.
This year, God blessed us by the creche. One child read while the other manipulated the figurines to show the story. On two occasions, the angel would go from energetic to aggressive. The glory of the Lord would get a little too close for comfort.
While Leila was reading the part where the angelic hosts praise God the angel kicks a kneeling Shepherd in the head. Looks like an accident to me. No Shepherds were injured in the filming. No wonder the shepherds went to see what all the singing was about. To understand the mystery of our Lord’s Incarnation might feel like a whopping konk on the noggin.
Or understanding the mystery of our Lord’s Incarnation might require you to get familiar with unfamiliar names and places. I’m grateful to Arianna and Leila for re-reading the story from Luke as their own. I like reading it over-and-over again and hearing others voices retell the story until it feels as familiar to me as my own.
While the story of our Lord’s birth is rated “G” for Godly, the story of our Lord’s death is rated “R” for redemption. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that all who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Yes, please! That would be the best Christmas gift of all — everlasting life —without illness or strife or sorrow or suffering of any kind. That kind of health happens because God forgives our sins when Jesus dies on the cross. Then God raised Jesus from the dead so we can be included in God’s plans and purposes of grace.
In the resurrection of Jesus, God continues to make life on earth as it is in heaven. The difference between heaven and earth is so subtle that Jesus ascends to heaven to send the Holy Spirit to work the works of grace in us.
Holy Spirit, give us Grace to love others even when we don't want to. Grace to abide in illness, strife and suffering. Grace to treat ourselves as if we are worth dying for.
You’ve been given that grace. If you can’t feel it and you want to, try the way of the shepherd: Kneel down, look down intently as though you want to find something small in a haystack. Something might strike your mind. If that doesn’t work, start reading the salvation story as carefully and lovingly as Arianna. An angel may not kick you in the head. but you might feel a wing brush your cheek.
While Arianna was focused on her book, I felt a little uncomfortable wondering if Leila’s aggressive angel would put a wing up Arianna’s nostril. No nostrils were harmed in the filming. But my take-away message is that where God’s glory appears you are going to feel it — it may feel like a kick in the heads or a feather in the face.
God bless the children who built this creche, those who build one at home, those who have no home in which to build a creche, and bless our hearts that they may be the home for the homeless Christ child born this day. Amen.
