Saturday, December 24th, 2011
Trinity Anglican Church, Bradford, ON
The Rev. Daniel F. Graves
Text: Luke 2:1-20
“I am
bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.”
-Luke 2:10
In his
recent book, The Triumph of Christianity,
sociologist Rodney Stark notes that those who deride the Christian faith claim
that Christianity is but “a sedative for suffering in this life by promising
that we will be fully compensated in the next.”
He continues, “Atheists like to ridicule this aspect of faith as ‘pie in
the sky.’” While it is certainly true
that the Christian faith is concerned about what happens to us after we die, it
is equally true, that our faith is not about enduring present suffering for the
sake of eternal bliss. Nothing can be
farther from the truth. Indeed, Stark
responds by noting, “What is almost always missed (in these derisive
characterizations of Christianity) is that Christianity often puts the pie on
the table! It makes life better here and now. “
It seems to
me that the Christmas story is entirely about how our faith not only gives us a
hope for the future, but transforms our lives in the present age. The Christmas story is about hope. Hope in the age to come, and hope in the
present moment. The truth is that in
Christ Jesus, God changes lives.
We live in a
world that is desperately searching for meaning. The promises offered by the world are failing
all around us. Political systems that
once seemed so established are being reshaped and reformed in unrecognizable
ways. An economy that was once
considered unassailable has repeatedly suffered blows that have unmasked its
structural and systemic instability. Even
our beloved public institutions and social safety nets that were considered the
envy of the world are threatened under the weight of the instability of the present
economic system. We long for a word of
hope to be spoken into the present moment, not simply a word about some distant
future hope, but a word of hope for “now.”
“Lo, there
were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night.” Although we live in a very different world
from these shepherds, do not think for a moment that they needed a word of hope
for their present reality any less than we need one today. They lived in occupied territory. They knew great hardship and suffering. All of the things that threaten to defeat and
destroy every generation were part of their story as much as they are part of
ours. What were their needs? How did they suffer? What meaning did they seek for their
lives? The human condition changes not
from age to age.
“But
suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone
about them and they were afraid.” Sometimes
fear grips us when the possibility of change is before us, for even though we
have longed for change, prayed for healing, we can fear it. We have become so accustomed to the pain we
experience, we have become accustomed to the brokenness of our lives and of our
world, the brokenness of the systems of power that rule this world, that a
challenge to that pain and brokenness might seem frightening at first. What we experience may be difficult for us,
but it is what we know. Better the devil
we know, so the saying goes.
But into
this fear of taking the plunge into the unknown ocean of hope, into this fear
of taking a risk for healing, reconciliation and new life, the angel announces “Fear
not!” Fear not. How easily it is said, but how much more
difficult it is to follow, to believe. Yet,
the announcement to be not afraid carries with it a promise, and it is a
promise that undergirds the proclamation and washes our fear away. “Fear not, for I bring you glad tidings of
great joy! I bring you good news!” Into
the midst of all the bad news of our lives and the brokenness of this world,
good news is spoken, glad tidings are proclaimed. And what is this good news? Today, in the city of David, a saviour is
born.
Today a saviour is born; not tomorrow,
not next week, not in some far off, distant utopian future. Today, this very night, Jesus is born. This is the power of the Gospel. This is the
truth of its message: God with us, Emmanuel. God changes us now. The moment is not long in
coming. The moment is now. The Shepherds were not told to wait, nor
did they go to sleep and wait until the morning. No! They made haste in the late evening hours: “Let
us go and see this thing that the Lord has done!”
The message
is no different this very night. Amidst
the brokenness of this age and of our lives, the angel voices proclaim, “Fear
not! For unto you is born this day, a saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” And as it was for the Shepherds, so it is for
us, Jesus has come, our God Incarnate, God in the flesh, God made human,
Emmanuel. We need not wait, we need not
hope for a better day, for hope meets us tonight! Shall
we then make haste to greet him as he comes to us?
And what of
the suffering of this present age? What
of the corrupt systems? What of our
broken world? I say, that when God
changes you and when God changes me, God changes the world. With every heart that receives him a new
piece of divine reconciliation occurs. With
every heart that receives him, a new and generous heart is created that says “no”
to all the forces and powers that seek to destroy this world and the people in
it. With every heart that receives him, human dignity is restored.
God changes
us. Jesus changes us. It is not all about what happens when this
life is finished, although God cares about that, too. It is about God changing this world,
transforming this world, one life, one person at a time. When God changes me, when God changes you,
together we become a people whose lives are modeled on compassion, generosity,
love and hopefulness. When Jesus is
birthed in us, these things are birthed in the world, and the world is changed. When I know joy, the world knows joy. When I know love, the world knows love. When I know hope, the world knows hope. When I am changed, when I am transformed, the
world is changed, the world is transformed.
And so, this
very night, angel voices proclaim that Good News again. Let us heed their call, and like the
shepherds of old, make haste to greet him.
But more than that, like them, let us bear witness to this thing the
Lord has done. Let us bear witness in
our changed lives as the shepherds did in theirs. May you know his life-transforming love this
Christmastide and always, that each of you might carry the Christ Child to
those who in turn need to hear the life-changing message, “Fear not, for unto
you is born a saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
c. 2011, the Rev. Daniel F. Graves
