A Message for Christmas Eve 2007

 

by The Rev. Dr. James S. Harrison

First Congregational Church, UCC

Woodstock, CT

 

One of my favorite contemporary theologians, Marcus Borg, tells of preparing a presentation for an Episcopal men's group in the early 1990's.

Borg is a professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University.

He is a much sought-after speaker and lectures widely across our nation and has spent a lifetime studying Jesus of Nazareth—so he is certainly well equipped to speak to any group about that subject.

But in the opening chapter of his book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, he describes how this particular men's group, whose times together were marked by personal sharing and testimony, instructed him specifically with a twofold task—"Talk to us about Jesus," they said, "and make it personal."

Surprisingly, he said, nobody had ever asked him to do that before.

While he had given hundreds of lectures about Jesus during the course of his career, nobody had ever asked him to "make it personal."

 

As I was re–reading a portion of that book in preparation for what I wanted to say tonight I thought to myself, "That's the difference between a lecture and a sermon."

While I humbly admit that some of my sermons can border on being lectures, what most people want to hear from a preacher when they come to church is something personal—something heartfelt, something that emanates from the preacher's life experience--especially on Christmas Eve.

So, in as personal a way as I can, I want to talk to you tonight about Jesus and me, and invite you to be open to the possibility that this Jesus, whose birth we remember tonight, wants to draw you and me, with him, into the life of God.

And, if we get drawn in that direction we need to be open to the possibility, too, that we may be changed.

 

I have also learned over the years that when people come to church on Christmas Eve they aren't interested in a long and drawn out sermon, because we all want to get on with the festivities of the evening and the surprises and joys of tomorrow morning.

For that reason, in addition to trying to be personal, I also want to keep this simple.

 

So, who is Jesus for me?

There are three things that I know about Jesus and would share with you this evening.

The first is the one thing that frequently gets over-looked when we talk about Jesus in church, and that is his humanity—and actually that's what Christmas Eve is all about, too--the Holy One becoming one of us—"the Word became flesh and dwelled among us full of grace and truth."

I believe that Jesus is the one who shows us what it means to be fully human—to laugh and cry, to love and to contend with others, to feel deeply and live with joy, exuberance and goodwill toward all.

When I read the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life, think about the way he treated people, and marvel at how his life was so infused with a sense of gratitude, joy, peace, kindness, love and compassion, I know that he lived his life fully.

He's the kind of person I'd most like to hang around with.

He's the kind of person who says to us, "You already have everything you need to be fully human.  You don't need anyone from outside telling you what to do.  It's all there already.  In your life right now, God has given you everything you need to be the loving person being God created you to be.  Go for it!"

So, first of all I want you to know that I believe that Jesus is the mirror into our humanity—when we gaze into his being who we are created to be comes into clearer focus.

The glory of God, Bishop Iraneaeus said in the Second Century, is a human being fully alive.

Nothing symbolizing our humanity more poignantly than does the image of a new born baby—the Christ Child the Shepherds and the Wise Men came to adore.

So, on this Christmas Eve we remember that Jesus was one of us.

And it gives me hope to know that because he could live so fully as a human being, that you and I can live that way too—with compassion for one another, with forgiveness, and with joy.

 

Secondly, while I feel strongly Jesus companionship as a fellow human being, I experience Jesus also as a window into the life of God.

One of my preferred ways of addressing God in prayer is to begin by saying, "O nameless God of many names…."

In reality, I believe that the mysterious being we call God is so far beyond our comprehension that any attempt to name or describe that reality is woefully inadequate.

All religion is a human response to this mystery.

For those of us who whose response to this mystery has been shaped by the story of Jesus, the Child of Bethlehem and the man he grew to be, is a window into that sacred mystery.

When we see Jesus resisting the powerful oppressors of this world with unconditional love, when we see him healing various hurts, when we experience his amazing hospitality and forgiveness, when we hear him teach with authority and moral power we see in his being and activities the power and presence of God at work in human life.

This second way of knowing and understanding Jesus paints a halo around the head of the human Jesus.

This is the Jesus we most frequently encounter in Church—the Jesus who was one with God.

This second way recognizes the divine nature of who he was, and is a part of how I experience and understand the personality of Jesus—the part the Christian tradition names "the Christ."

 

In those two ways of describing who Jesus was and is for me, I stand squarely in the mainstream of the Christian tradition.

I don't want to go into all the doctrinal precedents for what I just said.

Simply put, the historic testimony of the Christian Church in all its shapes and forms has been that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

Jesus shows us what it means to be fully human.

And Jesus is a window into the life of God.

In the season of Christmas we lift up this great mystery, the mystery of the Incarnation and we sing about, we tells stories about it, we pray about it, and we ponder it all as Mary pondered that truth in her heart.

And the words, and music, and moods of this season trigger in us a sacred reverence for this mystery and for a moment we set aside all of our questions and doubts and we go with the flow of the evening, and the song of the angels—Glory to God!

 

But the third testimony I would share about Jesus and me tonight is where I part ways with many of my friends and colleagues in the Christian church—and I do so humbly accepting the consequences of getting out of that mainstream.

I am willing to do that because I believe that's the direction Jesus himself is leading us toward today.

Where I part ways with many in the Christian tradition is this--

When I say that the reality we call God is most clearly defined by the personality of Jesus Christ, I am not saying that God is confined to, or limited by the personality of Jesus Christ.

I believe the story of Jesus reveals the love of God and demonstrates exactly how God would have us live, and I cherish that affirmation and acknowledge Jesus as my savior, Lord, brother and friend.

But I do not believe the story of Jesus exhaustively defines the reality of God.

I do not believe we can say that God was only in Christ.

Can we know with absolute certainty all the occasions of God's self-disclosure throughout history or in whatever history is to come?

I don't think so.

That's why in my way of following Jesus I try very hard (sometimes more successfully than others) to make room in my faith for the faith of others, and acknowledge that there are many ways into the life of God.

When you begin to think like that, dear friends, many of the sacred assumptions of how our Christian faith has been practiced over the centuries are turned upside down.

When you begin to think like that your life may be changed.

And when one more person begins to think like that, and acts from that simple place of hospitality and humility, the dream of reconciliation and peace in the human family starts to become a reality today.

 

I believe it all began that night in Bethlehem when light looked down, and peace looked down, and love looked down and crept in beside us.

Because that baby grew to be a man who taught a revolutionary ethic of unconditional love and practical forgiveness.

That baby grew to be a man who broke down the dividing walls of hostility that humanity creates and lived out his notion that all (of whatever tribe, or faith, or nation) are loved and welcomed in the new world that God is creating.

And on this Christmas Eve as we gather to praise his birth it is my prayer that the great hospitality of mind and spirit that Jesus so clearly taught and lived will be born anew in each of us.

 

Emanuel:  God with us, God in us, God through us, God for us.

Amen.