Friday, January 8, 2010
December 24, 2009 - Christmas Eve
“God's in his heaven, all's right with the world.”
This line from a Robert Browning poem kind of sums up the night,
as we breathe in deeply the sights and sounds
of this celebration of Christ's birth.
God's in his heaven, all's right with the world.
Christmas Eve calls forth this feeling;
it echoes within us,
as we listen again to the old, old story.
It's the story of Mary & Joseph
& the baby Jesus,
wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a manger.
It's the story of shepherds,
who are the 1st to hear this good news of great joy
that a savior has been born.
It's the story of good news of great joy
that comes straight from the mouth of God's own messenger;
an angel sent –
not to kings or presidents,
not to those with money or power or influence –
but to humble shepherds,
working class men, watching their sheep by night.
It's the story of a multitude of the heavenly host
who SUDDENLY burst on the scene
To sing God's praise because they can't contain themselves!
It's the story of shepherds rushing off in haste
to see for themselves this thing
that the Lord had made known to them,
and finding everything just as it had been described.
It's a powerful story that beckons us to rest & rejoice this night,
knowing that God's in his heaven, all's right with the world.
Except that just beyond these walls,
just beyond our celebration,
the real world awaits.
A world that looks oh-so-different
from our beautiful Christmas-card nativity scenes.
The real world waits for us out there,
and chances are that at least some of us brought that real world
in the door with us tonight.
And we are reminded by this real world
that although God may be in his heaven,
all is not right with our world.
This knowledge pesters our sense of peace –
It reminds us of relationships that need to be repaired,
it harps on our health,
it fusses over our finances,
it admonishes us about our addictions,
it pushes us about poverty,
it harangues us about hunger,
it worries us about war,
it stirs up our stress and sorrow
and our fears for tomorrow.
On this night, where all is supposed to be calm
and all is supposed to be bright,
the real world barges in and bothers us.
And we may want to leave behind this real world
and immerse ourselves in the beauty of Luke's story,
because there, at least, on that 1st Christmas night,
God was in his heaven, and all was right with the world.
What could be more serene?
What could offer more hope?
What could seem more right in the world?
Except even then, all was not right in the world.
Mary & Joseph may have arrived safely
after their long journey from Nazareth,
but they were sent there on orders from the emperor
who had overtaken and oppressed their land.
They may have arrived safely in Bethlehem,
but they arrive as strangers,
only to discover that there is no place for them there,
and then the labor pains come,
and they find themselves –
not in a hospital, nor in a home,
but in a cave or a barn
or the dimly-lit corner of a dirt-floored room usually reserved just for the animals.
No comfy, cozy crib,
no soft & snuggly blanket,
no booties or bonnets to keep the baby warm,
just bands of cloth and a manger for a bed.
All was not right with the shepherd's world either,
for when the angel appeared,
it was to shepherds who were living in the fields.
Living in the fields.
Homelessness and hunger,
Worry and want,
abounded even then.
God may be in his heaven,
but all is not right with the world.
All is not right with the world,
but that is no surprise to God.
We come here to celebrate and rejoice this night
because God saw that all was not right with the world,
and God was not content to leave us to our own devices;
God was not content to leave us to our own demise;
God was not content to leave us to our own destruction.
God was not content to just be “in his heaven”
and pretend that all is right with the world.
No!
God looked down from heaven,
and God saw that all was not right with the world,
and for that very reason,
God came down from heaven!
God came down from heaven,
leaving behind glory,
leaving behind power,
leaving behind praise.
God came down from heaven
to enter this broken-down, sin-filled, “not-right” world,
to enter into our dangers and our dramas,
to enter into our hurt and our humanity.
God came down from heaven
to show us how much God wants a relationship with us,
to show us how much God loves us,
to show us how committed God is to setting the world right.
God came down from heaven
so that we might know & remember
that no matter what happens in this not-right world,
we are not in it alone,
we are not abandoned,
that we will never be forsaken.
God came down from heaven
to be born as a baby,
to be one of us,
to be Emmanuel, God-with-us!
So whatever burdens you have come here bearing,
Whatever trouble haunts your heart,
Whatever is not-right with your world tonight,
know that God came down as Jesus for you!
God came down for you.
That is why we celebrate tonight
that is why we sing -
Because we know that God came down from heaven,
and because he lived and died and rose again,
one day, all will be right with the world.
Thanks be to God!
Amen.
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