Christmas Day, 1998
Here in the midst of the darkest part of the year, we hear again the words of the prophet Isaiah: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shined... For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace...
In the wonderful nativity story from Luke, the birth of this Holy Child is also announced with great light in the middle of the nighttime out-in-the-fields darkness, as the glory of the Lord shines around the shepherds a great light that originally terrified them. They knew this was no ordinary light. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people..."
In the middle of darkness, a great and shining light, a sign of God's promise coming to fruition. So many apparent paradoxes coming to unity in this little baby child.
In 1652 Richard Crashaw wrote a beautiful Nativity Hymne about this strange and wonderful thing the light of Christ, the Prince of Peace, shining through a tiny newborn, not in a grand palace but in the straw of a manger-bed:
Gloomy night embraced the place
Where the noble infant lay;
The babe looked up and shewed his face,
In spite of darkness it was day!
It was thy day, sweet, and did rise,
Not from the east, but from thine eyes...
Welcome, all wonders in one sight!
Eternity shut in a span,
Summer in winter, day in night,
Heaven in earth, and god in man.
Great little one, whose all-embracing birth
Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heav'n to earth.
Several years ago at my seminary, we were celebrating the feast of St. John the Baptist, the one who came before Jesus to announce his coming. One of the men from the senior class was to read the Gospel story from Luke, about the prophecy of John's father Zechariah. When we think of John the Baptist, we usually think of the shaggy guy out in the desert, full-grown and full-blown, wild-eyed and wild-haired, fiery and noisy. But Zechariah's prophecy was made when John was a newborn. So the man who was reading the Gospel memorized the reading, and went over to a woman in his class and borrowed her newborn baby. Cradling the tiny baby in his hands, he spoke the words of the prophecy: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.... that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
The man handed the baby back to the mother, and we went on with our worship but in seeing those words spoken to a tiny baby, our way of hearing that passage was forever changed for all of us. May we hear the Christmas birth-story of the infant Jesus this year in a way that changes not only our listening but also our lives.
The dawn from on high will break upon us. That promise is still there for all of us on this Christmas Day the promise sung by the prophet Isaiah, told in the story of the infant John who would announce the dawn from on high, and in the story of the infant Jesus who would bring our salvation. That story is the Good News given for all of us. Now as well as then, here as well as there, to all peoples for all time.
In a familiar Christmas carol, we sing, in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
The hopes and fears of this strange year as well, with the new millenium looming and the events of the last year weighing heavy all met in Christ, the light of the world. This is and is not the story of the birth of a little child. It is also the story of the coming of the Light of the World.
In a few months, we will process through the darkness of the beginning of the Easter Vigil, bearing the Paschal candle representing the coming of our Savior; three times we will sing The light of Christ; Thanks be to God.
Thanks be to God now, today, for the coming of the One who saves us, for the celebration of the beginning of his earthly life. It is about more than a cute creche; it is about the very basis of our lives, the shining of a great and beautiful light into our darknesses, the coming of the dawn in all the hidden nooks and crannies of our hearts and minds and souls. That is the promise and the reality.
May we come to know that story, that reality in the depths of our being and of our living. May we say today and every day with Crashaw,
We saw thee, and we blessed the sight;
We saw thee by thy own sweet light.
The Rev. Lois Hart
lhart@stmargarets.org
25 December 1998