Church of the Holy City

Finding the Christmas Spirit

Finding the Christmas Spirit
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
Christmas Eve 2012

I had a hard time finding the Christmas spirit this year. I don’t know why. Perhaps it was because much of my energy was spent on the vacation to the Caribbean I am planning for March. Perhaps it was because of my busy schedule of work, which I am a bit behind on. I don’t know. I don’t mean to say that I was as sad as Charlie Brown, who got depressed around the Christmas season. I wasn’t feeling bad. I just didn’t feel that tingle of the Christmas season as I have in the past.
But my feelings changed. The Christmas season did sneak up on me and little by little I began to feel the sanctity of the season. The season made its inroads into my heart by a simple but definitive act on my part. I bought this year’s Christmas cards. And when I began to think of all the people I would be sending them out to, I began to feel the joy of Christmas.
We all hear that Christmas is a time of giving. It is a time of gifts. The money I spend on gifts sometimes makes it hard for me to get through the month. Sometimes I even go into debt. But I don’t feel anxiety when I am low on money for the purposes of Christmas giving. This is debt I gladly assume. It makes me feel good to think of the people I will be gifting this year, and each year.
I think that our rituals of gift-giving have a sound religious grounding to them. For when Christ came to earth, it was humanity’s greatest gift. God came to earth to give us His love, His peace, and His salvation. The coming of God into the world was the gift of salvation to the human race, who didn’t know how bad off they were.
The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus came into the world that He made, but the world didn’t know Him. He did have a great following in this world. He had such a following that the religious and secular authorities thought Him a threat. But many of His followers didn’t understand Him. They thought He would be a material ruler and that He would establish a kingdom in Israel, drive out the Romans, and set up Israel as a light to the rest of the world.
The prophets predicted this great miracle when the Messiah would come. They saw a time when the thick darkness would be pierced and light from heaven would shine down on the world. Some prophesies said that the created order would be redeemed and the whole earth would be renewed.
But neither a conquering king came, nor did cataclysmic transformation of the world take place. What happened was something no one could have imagined. What happened very few even saw, and even fewer understood. One noisy evening, in the crowded city of Jerusalem, in the dead of night, a mother gave birth to a baby. This baby was born in a barn with the animals. He wasn’t born in a palace, a temple, or even a hotel. This is how God chose to enter the world.
He didn’t announce His arrival to the movers and shakers of His time. King Herod heard about it from foreigners. And it was only after those foreigners told him about Jesus’ birth that the chief priests and teachers of the Law were told about it. But those foreigners, who practiced another religion called Zoroastrianism, knew something that the Jews didn’t–the Savior of humanity was born. And rustic shepherds out in their fields were told about Jesus’ birth. These were not rich and powerful. They did not have their heads cluttered with affairs of state or matters of theology. They had only the safety of their sheep in mind and the beauty of the stars that late evening. Their quiet was interrupted by bright light and a choir of angels, and they were afraid. But their fears were calmed by the angels, and they went to where Jesus was born, and worshipped in wonder.
This was the nature of the first Christmas spirit. One humble family. Three foreigners who practiced a foreign religion. And humble shepherds. I doubt if anyone really knew what was happening that first Christmas night. I doubt if anyone knew that God was bringing the gift of salvation to the whole of humanity that night. I doubt if anyone knew that God had come to us as a human baby to form that everlasting covenant of love that the prophets had proclaimed. I doubt if anyone knew how badly they needed what Jesus Christ would bring to the world.
And after the resurrection, when it appeared that the world would go on as it always had, without the renewed earth that the prophets had predicted, people still remembered that baby born that night. As society performed sacrifices to the great Roman gods, and as the Jews followed the prescriptions of the rabbis and also performed sacrifices to Yahweh, a small group of people scattered through Israel met in houses and shared common meals together. And as they broke bread together, they told stories about that baby born Christmas night. They had no idea that the western world would be transformed by their memories of that baby.
It is fitting that we celebrate Christmas with the parties, common meals, and gifts that are part of the season. For Jesus Christ showed the world a new way to relate to God and to each other. Jesus Christ reminded us of our joy in and our need for mutual love. And those parties and dinners and gifts for just a few weeks or days remind us of the same things–the joy of and our need for mutual love.
In the midst of these festivities, let us remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. Rejoicing in each others’ company is what Jesus came to teach us. But let us remember our joy in God’s company, too. Isaiah 61 compares our relationship with God to a bride and bridegroom. In that chapter we are promised everlasting joy. And in Jeremiah, God says that He will write His law upon our hearts; He will be our God and we will be His people (31:33). Our fundamental relationship is with God. This gives God joy. And when we feel His joy in us and our joy in each other, then the Christmas story is in its fullness.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, you came to earth 2,000 years ago. Your Divine power and glory took the form of a tiny human baby. The Word was made flesh. Your presence transformed the world and ushered in a new era for the human race. Your brought salvation to a people dearly in need of your transforming love. And Lord, we are still in need of your presence. We ask for you to come to this world as you did in years past. Come into each of our hearts and transform us through your healing love. Bring your salvation to us individually, as you did to the Near Eastern world so long ago.
Lord, as we look at the world we see wonderful transformations happening. Issues of gender, race, and creed are showing such signs of progress. It appears that the world is opening its arms to each other and embracing people who appear different from each other.
Yet we also see alarming things in the world around us. It appears sometimes as if the world has no longer any need for you, their Maker. As in days long past, today we ask for you to come to the world in your New Church, transforming the world, and making all things new. While we may not understand, we have faith in your Divine Providence We know that the world is unfolding according to your will. We know that all that happens is according to your providence. We trust that your salvation is as near to us and to this world as it was when your holy feet walked the dust of Palestine.