"Seeing a Great Light"

It is a pleasure to welcome you to our Christmas festival celebration.  Christmas is a time of promise, hope, and joy.  Our children from All Saints’ and La Iglesia Luterana have set the scene for our celebration in this year’s Christmas pageant.  La Iglesia Luterana is a Spanish speaking congregation that worships here on Sunday afternoons.  The children are wonderful, and on behalf of all of us I thank them for their presence and participation.  May this season be one of peace and happiness, and may God’s love and blessing be with you.

In the Gospel of Luke we heard that "an angel of the Lord stood before [the shepherds], and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for see -- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.'"

This year and every year we enter anew into the story of Jesus' birth.  It is more than simply coming together to sing the glorious hymns and carols of the season, or to read the Biblical texts and recount the events that happened so long ago.  We are by being here, by listening to the stories about walking in darkness and seeing a great light, by retelling the account of Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem to be registered and then giving birth in a manger because there was no vacancy at the inn, by singing carols and hymns of praise, by participating in a communion meal of bread and wine, -- we are, by all these things, entering into the events of the past as though they were happening now. 

What we are doing brings our history as Christians into the present and makes that history a living drama of our human condition two thousand thirteen years after the fact.  This story of Christ's birth is our story; we are like the shepherds who were visited this night by the angel of God bringing good news of hope and great joy for all people.

On this Christmas Eve, as we worship in this sacred space the night deepens and the hours will soon extend into the dawn of a new day.  The night is quiet and still.  There is a silence that embraces us.  "Silent Night, Holy Night," the dark silence that will surround us later in our service, is a prelude to the new light that will shine throughout our Christmas celebration.  It is a light of new life and hope for all people.

As the Prophet Isaiah said, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness -- on them light has shined."  The light that shines through the darkness is God's gift of the Incarnation.  It is the Word that has become flesh, God who has taken the form of a human being, born as an infant destined to live and minister to those who exist in the dark shadows of society. 

The light shining through the darkness, the Incarnation of God, is about God's Son living as we do through the life cycle of birth, growth, maturity, death and resurrection to new life.  As one of the Christmas collects says, may we "who have known the mystery of the true light on earth also enjoy him perfectly in heaven."   It is the light breaking through the darkness that reminds us that life is precious and fragile, relationships are of greatest importance, and love, compassion and justice are worth having and sharing. 

The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, retired President and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School, has suggested that we wrap ourselves up in Christmas and “once again enjoy those visions of angels and shepherds and the manger and the baby in the straw and the animals and Mary and Joseph and keep it exactly the way it's always been….  For this one special day, let us relax into the peace that is holy and into a time where time itself seems to stand still and the winds and tides of change are held back with the sounds of angelic voices drifting through a starry, cold night.”

The true meaning of Christmas is the story of our lives and the drama of God's creation.  Birth, life, and death are the realities of our human experience.  They are also the realities of God.  God, acting in the birth of Jesus, bestows the promise of eternal life and the rebirth of innocence, love, compassion and hope for peace and justice.  This is "the good news of great joy for all the people."  May God's radiant presence, the light shining through the darkness, be a blessing for you this Christmas and always.  Amen.