Christmas

“Our Christian faith does not teach us that God became incarnate in someone named Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago. Rather, our faith teaches that in the person of Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago it is revealed that God has become incarnate as us. That God’s life and our life are one life.”
- Dr. James Finley

This truth is what I hope to preach this Christmas.

Dr. James Finley is a core faculty member of The Center for Action and Contemplation alongside Richard Rohr. He says the above in a short video perspective on Rohr’s latest book, which I’m slightly obsessed with, The Universal Christ: Another Name for Every Thing.

How do we preach something as profound as the incarnation? While worship is worship and we know the drill, Christmas is a pretty big night and day of the church year. Greenery, poinsettias, candles and creches fill our sanctuaries and parish halls. Costumed children fill aisles and stages. Excitement and energy permeate the air. And most importantly there will be PEOPLE! For most of us, more people than we typically see.

And I don’t think most of them are expecting something profound, or theologically deep, or even too intellectually challenging. I think most of them are expecting something akin to this.

One year that’s how I opened my sermon. It was the year that SNL skit aired and went a bit viral. So I referenced it while pointing to my church’s version of our Christmas Eve Spectacular!

And after the polite laughter, we can settle in. Because when you think about it, what is really spectacular is how unspectacular the night of Jesus’ birth was. A government was insisting that ordinary people get counted, get their documents. A family affected by that decree had to find a place to have a baby far away from home. And nearby, day laborers were doing their job taking care of their flock. Sleeping outside as they would on any other night. Aren’t all of these realities still present?

Yes. They are all too ordinary.

Back in 2018 I went on a pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy. The group I traveled with stayed with the Franciscan Missionary Sisters. Next to their monastery is the Chapel of the Pilgrims, built in the 15th century. It is small and covered in gorgeous frescoes. The sisters worship there daily and it is open to tourists.

We had the privilege of getting private time in the chapel during which the director of the order came to meet with us. And even though it was May, she wanted to talk with us about the Annunciation in Luke.

I wish I could tell you precisely what she said. For about 15 minutes, with a lilting Italian accent she talked about the simplicity of that story. How God comes to us like Mary in our everyday and ordinary circumstances.

In the rooms of our house. In our kitchens and gardens. How everywhere God invites and awaits our acceptance. Waits for us to see. That’s how God was born into the world on an ordinary night. In a manger, surrounded by hay and animals. And you and I, she said, are ordinary people. Ultimately our denominations are not important, because what is important, what is meaningful is our love of God. While each one of us is unique, we are not different.

Each one of us is a beloved child of God, filled with the divine light of God, grace upon grace. And the spiritual life is the desire to live this truth in the ordinariness of our lives. Day by day.

What I definitively remember were the tears streaming down my face when she finished. Her words were profoundly moving. She was so authentic. So real. So, ordinary.

God’s life and our life are one life. This is the gift of Christmas. This unveiling of who we are is what enables us to shine our divine light, this little light of ours, in the world. You and I and all the people in those pews are the lights that shine in darkness for one another. In ordinary homes, and ordinary churches, through our incredibly wonderful, unique and ordinary lives.

That’s what I hope to share on my favorite night of the year. A night when, in the midst of darkness, I have the privilege of telling people the good news. That because of this holy night, their life and God’s life are one life. We need not be afraid. God is with us. The light shines in the darkness. All of us have received grace upon grace. If only we would dare to share that light, that grace, that love with one another through all the ordinary days of our lives.

Merry Christmas.