Sermon preached by Fr. Tom
at St. Thomas Episcopal – Plymouth
December 24, 2013
Christmas Eve
Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14(15-20)
“May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be an acceptable offering in your sight, Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”
I had a Latin teacher in college who was fond of making a timeline on the board to explain verbs. He would explain how that something that was “past perfect” was something that was completed at some point in the past. He would circle points on the number line and draw arrows. The timeline always had the same three events on it. They were the Fall from Grace, the Battle of Actium, and the Death of Buddy Holly.
It turned out that Dr. Ward considered these the fundamental watershed events of all human history. To his way of thinking the time before the Battle of Actium and the time after could never really be the same. Because of the Battle of Actium, everything was different.
Now I believe the Fall from Grace WAS a watershed event, and it will get mentioned again this evening. I am not so sure about the Death of Buddy Holly. That might have been a watershed event for his mother perhaps, but this is not an event for me that changes things in a really fundamental way. I am sorry for his family and all, but for me this one does not make the cut. With the Battle of Actium, the jury is out still.
Now I mention all this, because I want to invite you to think of an event in your life that changed things for you. I am not going to call on anyone so you don’t need to think of one you feel like sharing.
While I am not going to ask you to share, I am going to share one of the watershed events on my personal timeline. In 2006, my daughter Sarah had a seizure and had to be rushed to the hospital. I can’t tell you how scared I was as a father when all this happened. Suddenly everything was in slow motion. We went to the hospital.
We alerted the support network by cell phone. Being a good Episcopalian from way back and a member of St. Thomas, I called Fr. Schramm’s house from the ambulance. He was out of town but someone sitting at his house answered the phone and called Fr. John in Florida. The housesitter called back to say he had gotten the news and was praying for us. We knew the Bishop was out of town. Fr. Yarbroff at the Cathedral was an hour away.
Finally when I got to the emergency room and realized we were going to have a really long night, I called my department chair at the Academies, Dave Jensen. I let him know that I had no clue how all this was going to play out, but my teaching the next day was not looking very likely.
Dave told me he would attend to the details and asked how everyone was dealing with this. He asked if anyone from church was there, and I said no. He said he was on his way.
Now somehow I am not sure what I expected, but Dave’s arrival gave me a lot more comfort than I ever knew. Here was my brother in Christ. He had come not because he could do anything specific, but he wanted to be there for us. He did that by physically being there. I can tell you that sometimes there is no substitute for someone sitting there. Susan and I talked later about how important it was at the time to have a friend in the emergency room.
Now you are thinking this is an interesting story, but what does it have to do with Christmas Eve? I claim it has everything to do with Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is the day we celebrate Christ’s birth. God came and became man. He became flesh and blood and sat next to us. I will let you chew on that for a minute and talk about watershed events again.
Sarah’s seizure was a watershed event for me because I had a fundamentally different understanding of parenthood and my children after that point. Things became different. My eyes were opened or maybe scales fell away or something.
Now think of the Fall from Grace. Adam and Eve through sin were separated from God. There was a chasm there and no bridge. Things became different. God sent prophets, and He provided the covenants to try to bridge the gap. He gave us the Law. It was not enough. Finally He came Himself in the form of a man named Jesus. This is the Incarnation. God became flesh and bone for us so that we could be saved.
Now I have a couple of points here I would like you to think about. First when Mary and Joseph were looking for a place to stay, none of the innkeepers recognized them. They saw nothing especially extraordinary in the Holy Family, because if they had, they would have treated them differently.
So who did recognize them? In tonight’s reading the shepherds do. These were humble people on the outskirts of society who did not have much social or religious standing. Their jobs meant they could not even attend the required services in the Temple. They were the ones who understood who Jesus was though.
My second point has to do with another aspect of the Incarnation. You and I are baptized into the Body of Christ. We are the hands and feet of Jesus for our brothers and sisters.
Now go back to the watershed event you thought of in your own life. Who was the physical presence of Jesus for you? Who was it who was there for you and held your hand? Did you recognize Jesus in your brother or sister? Do you recognize Him there as you look back? Were you having a shepherd moment or an innkeeper moment? God is here for us, and he was physically present for us then too.
My takeaways tonight are simple.
God became Incarnate. He became flesh and blood. This season in the Church year reminds us to reflect on this and rejoice.
God is present to us in many ways, and we are called by our baptismal promises to “seek and serve God in all persons.” There are two sides to that coin. We need to have an awareness like the shepherds that God really is right here.
Finally, we need to understand that we are members of the Body of Christ and be there for others.
I give thanks that I can worship God in this place with each of you. I hope each of you has a wonderful Christmas day and pray that you are blessed in every way.
I have said these words in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen