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Christmas Eve • 24 December 2011 Readings: Isaiah 62:6-12 Psalm 97 Titus 3:4-7 Luke 2:1-20
Christmas will once again be history . . . at least for some people. But not for us, not for those of us who call ourselves Christians. For us, Christmas is never history. For us, the birth of Jesus Christ, the arrival in our fragile and temporary world of God incarnate in human flesh, the coming together of God and God’s beloved people, is always our past, always our present, and always our future.
For us, Christmas is just beginning. Our celebration of Christmas begins with this evening’s services and the joy we find in gathering in festive and beautiful surroundings to welcome God once again. We welcome God in the infant Jesus Christ and invite him to make all things new by reinvigorating our hearts, our souls, and our minds.
God in Christ will reinvigorate our hearts, our souls, and our minds if we welcome him into those same places within ourselves. One way in which we can make God welcome is by counting our blessings as 2011 draws to close.
The past year has not been an easy one for many millions of people. Earthquakes, great storms, war, famine, and disease have wrought havoc in the lives of men, women, and children around the planet. In our own community, people mourn loved ones who have died, care for family members or friends who are ill, and struggle with a difficult economy.
In the year since last Christmas, our fragile world has not had an easy time, but our world has rarely had an “easy time” in any year since the first Christmas two millennia ago. Our world has not had an easy time over the past two thousand years, but our world has had, still has, and always will have Jesus Christ.
Since that blessed day more than two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ has been our companion in times of trouble, our counselor in times of uncertainty, and our celebrant in times of joy.
Rich in the knowledge and love of God and of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, we are blessed. We should count our blessings. To be sure, this advice is hardly novel and being told to “count your blessings” may often seem a poor substitute for the solutions we need for our problems or the relief we crave from our sorrows.
Christmas, however, is a good moment to recall that God gives us many blessings we both want and need. We need to recognize God’s generosity and give thanks for the blessings we have received since last Christmas, including:
· The many weddings and baptisms that took place in this parish; and · The successful surgeries, medical treatments, and recoveries from illness that did not get recorded in the parish register but did bring relief and joy to our parishioners and our neighbors.
We need to give thanks for:
· Your daughter’s graduation from college, your nephew’s first child, your father’s retirement party, your mother’s 90th birthday, your best friend’s first year of sobriety; and · Your first cup of coffee in the morning, your pleasure in walking the dog under a full moon, your new flannel sheets for cold winter nights, your Sunday afternoon nap, and the countless small blessings God bestows on you every day.
These are but a few of the blessings we give thanks for as we begin the celebration of another Christmas. We begin our celebration just as many people end theirs. As others put away the decorations, head for the sales, and check off of their “to-do” lists the holiday they think of as “Christmas”, we will continue our celebration of the holy day we know is Christmas.
We will celebrate 12 holy days that take us from one year into the next. We will embark on a season of 12 days in which we will bless God for the great peace and comfort we know simply because we are “very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son,” our savior Jesus Christ. We will rejoice, give thanks, and sing praises to that same God and that same Son, Jesus Christ, the light of the world and the source of our hope.
Amen. -- |