Christmas Eve - December 24, 2021 - 10pm Candlelight Service
Matthew 1:18-25 & John 1:1-2, 4, 14a
Deborah Laforet
God-With-Us
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by the Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
Many of us are familiar with the stories in our gospel that tell the birth of Jesus. We often combine them into one, with all the basic elements. From Matthew, we hear mostly from Joseph’s perspective and his dreamtime visit from an angel, King Herod and the visit of the magi and their gifts. From Luke’s gospel, we hear of the angel’s visit to Mary and her Magnificat, a trip to Bethlehem, a manger, and a visit by shepherds, prompted by singing angels.
But there is another birth story in another gospel; it’s just not the kind of of story that easily fits into a pageant or into a nativity. Here are a few verses from the first chapter of the gospel of John, from the Inclusive Bible.
1 In the beginning was the Word;
the Word was in God’s presence,
and the Word was God.
2 The Word was present to God from the beginning.
4 In the Word was life,
and that life was humanity’s light -
a Light that shines in the darkness,
a Light that the darkness has never overtaken.
14a And the Word became flesh
and stayed for a little while among us;
Or in the words of another translation, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood.” (The Message)
What does all this mean? There was a time when people talked about gods in a very personal way. The gods walked amongst us, they talked to us, and were even intimate with us, but what did it mean for God to take on flesh and blood, to be born of a woman, to come into this world as a child and to have all the needs and wants of a child, of a human being.
Incarnation - It’s a word us ministers and theologians like to use. For me, it’s a word that has gone from an obscure church word like transubstantiation or narthex or liturgical, Jeff’s & Jay’s new favourite word, to a word with profound meaning. What does incarnation mean?
Incarnation is basically what the gospel of John tells us. God took on flesh and bones and walked this earth, moved into the neighbourhood. It means something deeply meaningful and profound that this God, who is seen as all knowing, all seeing, all powerful, on high, strong and mighty, became one of us, becomes one of us.
In our communion liturgy, one of the traditional phrases we use is, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again." Has. Is. Will. We’ve talked about Jesus in this way for millennia. Focus on the words in our hymns, read the letters from Paul, listen to the liturgy we use in church. Every year we celebrate Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, we anticipate and prepare for Christ’s arrival. This isn’t about preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus of long ago. It’s about celebrating that birth and continuing to prepare and anticipate Christ’s arrival now. Christ was born. Christ is born. Christ will be born.
Emmanuel means God with us. That could mean that the Spirit of God surrounds us and is our companion, but that could also mean that God is right here, in our bodies, incarnated in us, always a part of us. That also means, when someone is despised for the colour of their skin, their accent, their faith, their gender identity or sexual orientation, Jesus is also despised. When someone with a disability struggles to be valued, taken seriously and seen as a full person, Jesus is also struggling to be valued, taken seriously, and seen as whole. When someone has been imprisoned, Jesus is imprisoned. When a people grieve over unmarked graves of children, Jesus is grieving. When people are hungry, cold, alone, Jesus is too.
We say this. We assure each other that God is with us. Our United Church creeds starts with the words, “We are not alone,” but do you feel it, do we walk the talk? Do you see Christ in every person, do you feel Christ within you, do you know Christ in every living creature, and in all life, above and below and all around? It feels like love. It feels like warmth. It feels like light and magic, which is why we tend to associate it with Christmas. Even during the most difficult of times, this love, this warmth, this light, and this magic can be discovered. It’s always there, always here.
I heard a new song this year, and songs are where I often find the magic. This song is by a group called Gungor. It’s called Christmas is Here, and I want to sing for you a couple of stanzas.
With all we’ve been through this year
I really need to hear
That we’ll be alright
On this holy night
Every heart can heal
I wanna feel
All of the magic
Joy and the sadness
Cause love is here
Joy to the world
Peace to the madness
Here’s to the magic and love that’s here
Christmas is here and I must admit it
I love all the spirit and cheer
With all we’ve been through this year, we’ll be all right, as long as we can feel the magic and the love, the joy and the sadness, and know that Christ here, that Christ is born for all, that Christ is born in each one of us, that Christ was, is, and will be, always present, always here. Emmanuel - God-with us. Thanks be to God. Amen.