December 25, 2014
Christmas Day
Rev. Amy Welin:
Which nativity character are you?
Are you ready to sing “Joy to the World”?
My friend Catherine and I were discussing (on Facebook!) the generally cheerful chaos and occasional insanity of the Christmas season: the challenges of working and preparing for the holiday, the delights and stresses of family and children, adventures in baking, and so on. Catherine says that for her, the joy and sparkle and wonder of Christmas is what keeps her going. She often uses #Blessed on her facebook page.
Are joy and sparkle and wonder a part of your Christmas? Would you be inclined to use #Blessed to identify your feelings about this season?
Or have you felt overwhelmed by, and in some way inadequate to, the experience of Christmas in your life? Have you felt something in yourself staking a claim beyond yourself, some wordless mystery straining through word to reach you?
Either way, Christmas points us toward a consideration of our ultimate meaning.
In a spiritual context, the joy and sparkle and wonder of Christmas, and the overpowering nature of the holiday, derive from a deepening awareness of the amazing work of God in the world. This whole process is out of our control. Whether we come to church to celebrate it, or we come to find a sanctuary from the busyness, Christmas has a life of its own. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea changed everything. And it still can, in a really good way, if we are willing to put ourselves into the place of seeing and feeling the story of Christmas in a new way.
Let’s try that.
We are going to do a spiritual exercise of walking into the scripture story. This is an act of the holy imagination. It can also be rather whimsical, evoking some of the self-assessments on social media like Facebook. Try to rest comfortably in your seat. You can close your eyes or keep them open. Take a long, quiet, deep breath. Let’s begin. What Nativity Character Are You?
Call to mind the story we just heard, of the nativity of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. Notice the many different characters and what the birth of the Messiah meant to them. Imagine what they might have been thinking and feeling on the night of Jesus’ birth.
The Emperor Augustus Caesar and Governor Quirinius are the two political figures with big responsibilities. The birth of one baby whose parents were not politically connected or influential probably did not make an impression on them. How often are we too busy to attend to the presence of Christ in our neighborhood or our lives?
Joseph was the stepfather of Jesus. He agreed to raise a child who was not his. He trusted in God enough to begin a life of challenge with his new bride. Have we been willing to practice mentoring someone with whom we have a connection of circumstance? Have we chosen to trust in God in circumstances we do not understand or control?
Mary said yes to God’s invitation to motherhood and then spent years pondering the meaning of her child. She was intimately connected to Jesus and was his first disciple. Has your faith moved you to labor for God? Has this work deepened your commitment?
The shepherds – an unclean, rough and tumble group – who heard the word of hope and overcame their fear in order to believe it. They were not welcome at Temple services because of their work, yet God chose them to hear first about the birth of Christ. What parts of our life feel less than sacramental? Can we imagine that God would still speak to us, and invite us to the stable to see Jesus? Can we share the story of Christ as the shepherds did?
The angels have been part of the story of Jesus from before his conception. According to tradition, angels were infused by God with foreknowledge of the Incarnation. So the burst of angelic activity is not a surprise: they were ecstatic! Have you ever had an intuition that God is up to something in your life? Have you ever sensed the angels swirling around you? What are they pointing to? Or are you the one chosen to be the bearer of glad tidings?
The sheep were with the shepherds and probably heard the angels coming before the shepherds saw them. Are you able to trust and love the way that sheep do? Remember that Jesus is our good shepherd, so our sheepishness is a good thing.
Think about the characters of the story who aren’t explicitly in the text, but whom you might include automatically, thanks to the years of Christmas pageants, movies and carols that have informed your memory.
The innkeeper offers hospitality because the inn is full. Could Jesus find some space in the spare room of your heart? The world is no more hospitable to God now.
The lowing cattle and horses and other animals in the stable (who also are not in the text), who sensed something special about the child and his family.
The Magi came from afar to worship Christ, but tonight they are still far from Bethlehem. Are you inclined to observe Christ from afar? Is there something that keeps you from the stable?
How do you think God was working in and through the characters in this wonderful story?
Have you found your place in the story? Do you find that you have a connection with one or more of the people in the stable? Are you, maybe, one of the sheep in the flock that the shepherds left as they ran off to Bethlehem? Are you one of the angels, swooping into the lives of others to share the Good News? Are you Emperor Augustus or Quinirius, detached from the story? Or are you, maybe one of Jesus’ parents, intimately connected to the Christ child, himself, as close as can be, to this miracle of new birth and salvation?
You may find that there is no character who calls to you. You might feel that you prefer to be outside the stable watching from the shadows… or you might be one of the hundreds or thousands who traveled to Bethlehem at the bidding of the Emperor Augustus, unaware of anything happening in the stable on the edge of town.
What nativity character are you?
How would God work through you?
What nativity character do you wish you could be?
Christmas is God’s invitation to be truly alive, to feel our ultimate existence though our daily existence.
Behold, the angels bring us tidings of great joy. Unto us is born this night a Savior.
Blessed and joyous and sparkling and totally over the top Christmas!
Sources:
the blog of Audrey Scanlan, “Which nativity character are you”
Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss