| December 25, 2000 Isaiah 52:7-10 + Hebrews 1:1-6 + John 1:1-18 |
| Luke had his shepherds who left their flocks and wandered into the city of David, his angels who left their heavenly post coming down to earth with news of great joy. Matthew had his wise men who traveled long and far to see what had been foretold and revealed.Even still in this day, we are a people anxious to see what has happened to us, ard find any trace of the wonderful thing that has taken place.People flock all over the place to see signs of God’s presence.They want to imagine shadows, reflections, and sometimes clouds, to be heavenly visitors. and the mere suggestion of such a phenomenon draws the pious and the curious,all in search of the “Bethlehem” of today. Ifwe take the Bible literally. we go to a land tom by war and hatred, a land now reaping a harvest of distrust and violence from generations of armies and weapons of destruction. |
| I have been there. All you see there is old buildings, with their history in the age of the crusades. There is nothing standing over there from the time of Christ. Nothing.All of it, except for some geographical sites are less than a thousand years old.It is a disappointing scene where carefully guarded tourists take videos and flash pictures, sing Christmas carols, and then board buses returning to hotels and restaurants that most of the people who live there could never afford to frequent.It is all a great search for Bethlehem, a great desire for the City of David with it’s hope and its promise, it’s faithful and it’s peace. |
| The Gospel of Luke speaks warmly of Bethlehem but it is not the only story that attempts to reveal the mystery of God’s presence in the world and it is not the only story that urges us to seek that presence.The church offers us another story today from John’s Gospel.A story that speaks to adults about an adult Christ at Christmas. This story begins not with an angel’s announcement to a poor young girl in Nazareth, but with the beginning of creation by the Creator The words and the voice speaking are not angelic, they are divine. |
| What is revealed in this story is the central mystery- of Christian faith. that God comes to us as “light”, as a person “enlightened.” What those who hear this Gospel are tempted to seek, is not Bethlehem, but rather “Light.” |
| The holy book names him “the light of all nations”, so he does not come among us as king, ruler, or conqueror. He sits on no throne, and commands no great force.Instead, he comes as a broken body for the hungry and blood spilled for the thirsty. Instead, he sits on our altar where we might eat and drink of the deepest truth of this feast:which is his glory poured out in loving service among those considered impure, outsiders, vulnerable, frightened and alone. He comes to let us see -to draw us out of the darkness of our selfishness, and to enlighten the faces of all in creation that the face of God can be seen in the light.He comes not as a precious memory of the past, but as one who is among us todayto form us in words and deeds of grace and truth. My dear friends and visitors,as we awake this Christmas morning,we greet the dawn where our dreams come true and ancient promises are fulfilled.We see what we long to see:peace and love, forgiveness and joy that is never overcome by darkness. |
| By his grace in faith, we are a people who live in the and it is the day that has no end.My Christmas wish for you today is that you will seek the light,come out of the darkness of sin and selfishness, anger and pain to stand in the light of this day that never ends,to see the light of God’s presence shining in the bright eyes of those around you, and live with the joy of all our hopes and dreams fulfilled. |
| Our Bethlehem is this altarwhere we become one with what is broken guided by the light of this Word we proclaim with great joy Peace be with you. |