{"id":1918,"date":"2021-12-26T09:23:12","date_gmt":"2021-12-26T17:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/?p=1918"},"modified":"2022-02-06T21:45:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T05:45:07","slug":"a-christmas-carol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/?p=1918","title":{"rendered":"A Christmas Carol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Christmas scene is so simple and so human.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s just a family: two young parents, a new baby.\u00a0\u00a0The setting is a barn.\u00a0\u00a0There are no angels (they\u2019re out in the fields with the shepherds) and nothing supernatural happens.\u00a0\u00a0That humble scene is enough and perhaps the point.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to watch a video of this sermon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the bleak midwinter frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter long ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s another Christmas carol we sing this time of year.\u00a0\u00a0You\u2019ve probably sung it yourself although you may not recognize this introduction:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe sun is shinning.\u00a0\u00a0The grass is green.\u00a0\u00a0The orange and palm trees sway.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s never been such a day, in Beverly Hills LA.\u00a0\u00a0But, it\u2019s December the 24th and I\u2019m longing to be up north.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the next line?\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s right. \u201cI\u2019m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in Santa Monica, a little west of Beverly Hills, L.A.  So the Christmases I used to know were mostly of the \u201csun is shinning; the grass is green\u201d variety.  The only white Christmases I ever knew were the ones I saw on television Christmas specials or the pictures on Christmas cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New England village dusted with snow, lit by lamplight with folks bundled in hats and scarves, carrying packages, is our iconic image of Christmas.  \u201cThe moon on the breast of the new fallen snow.\u201d  \u201cAll the snow lay round about, cool and crisp and even.\u201d  It\u2019s all \u201cWinter Wonderland\u201d and \u201cSleigh Ride.\u201d  But that was never my Christmas.  I always felt a little cheated as a child singing carols beneath the swaying orange and palm trees.  I, too, dreamt of a white Christmas, and felt nostalgia for a Christmas I never knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It just didn\u2019t feel like Christmas without snow.\u00a0\u00a0I wanted Frosty the snowman, and snow angels.\u00a0\u00a0Santa arrives on a sleigh, after all, not a surfboard.\u00a0\u00a0And even if it\u2019s a flying sleigh that doesn\u2019t technically require snow for the runners, there\u2019s still something wrong with a sun-drenched Christmas.\u00a0\u00a0Christmas should be a \u201cfrosty wind made moan\u201d in the bleak midwinter, not a hot wind off the desert.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s Santa not the Santa Anas that I picture for Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it helps to remember that the original Christmas of Jesus\u2019 birth probably looked a lot more the introduction to Irving Berlin\u2019s song than the white Christmas Bing Crosby goes on to sing about.\u00a0\u00a0The climate in Bethlehem is a lot more like Bakersfield than Boston.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s cold in Bethlehem in the winter but seldom gets below freezing.\u00a0\u00a0They get a little rain but seldom any snow, nothing you could ride a sleigh on.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve not been to Bethlehem but I have looked down on it from Jerusalem.  Jersusalem is on the top of a hill and Bethlehem is only about 6 miles south.  It\u2019s a small Arab-controlled town.  Poor and tired, like Mary and Joseph, come to think of it.  Nothing to make a special trip for.  And probably Jesus wasn\u2019t even born there.  It\u2019s far more likely that Jesus was born in Nazareth where everyone agrees he grew up.  The story of the family taking a special trip to Bethlehem for the census was made up later in an attempt to make Jesus\u2019 birth match the prophesy from Micah about a ruler of Israel coming from that town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it\u2019s not at all illegitimate to have an authentic Christmas even in sunny California.\u00a0\u00a0An authentic Christmas doesn\u2019t require heaps of snow, or even heaps of fake snow on the roof or in the yard.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, Christmas is a very simple thing.\u00a0\u00a0It doesn\u2019t require hardly anything special at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you remember that line from the Christmas Classic, \u201cHow the Grinch Stole Christmas\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0The Grinch thought he could ruin Christmas by stealing all the trappings of Christmas.\u00a0\u00a0And then he wakes to discover Christmas has come anyway for the Hoos down in Hooville.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes, or bags.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Jesus came to the world, he didn\u2019t come the way people expected the Messiah would enter the world.\u00a0\u00a0He came without ribbons.\u00a0\u00a0He came without tags.\u00a0\u00a0The divine spirit comes into the world not in a cathedral but in a barn, not among the rich and the powerful, but among the wandering and the poor, not first of all to those already feeling hope and joy and love, but first of all to those who aren\u2019t feeling much hope, or joy, or love.\u00a0\u00a0The divine spirit sometimes feels like holy ecstasies of radiant white light, but can also be born quietly, in the bleak midwinter of our souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas comes where we are, when we need it.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not about a grand entrance or a maxed-out credit card.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s about us needing a little light in our darkness, a little softening where we\u2019ve gotten hard, a little warmth where we\u2019ve gotten cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my favorite Christmas songs isn\u2019t actually a Christmas song at all.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s the song \u201cWe Need a Little Christmas\u201d by Jerry Herman from the show \u201cMame.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Auntie Mame and her household are in a bad situation and she decides that what she and the family need to lift their spirits is Christmas now, nevermind the calendar.\u00a0\u00a0She sings, \u201cHaul out the holly; Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.\u00a0\u00a0Fill up the stocking.\u00a0\u00a0I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now. It hasn’t snowed a single flurry, but Santa, dear, we’re in a hurry.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Her nephew Patrick complains that it isn\u2019t even Thanksgiving yet.\u00a0\u00a0But Mame has the right idea.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not about waiting for December 25, nor must it be over now for a year because we\u2019ve reached the day after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas is about the special ability of joy to slip in through the tiniest crack in a hard life just when we need it.  Auntie Mame sings, \u201cIt’s time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough.  For I’ve grown a little leaner, grown a little colder, grown a little sadder, Grown a little older.  And I need a little angel.  Sitting on my shoulder.  I need a little Christmas now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus, so the story goes, practically sneaks into the world.\u00a0\u00a0He finds the absolutely smallest, lowest, most humble possible place to enter the world.\u00a0\u00a0Just as we\u2019ve come to substitute a snowy New England village with the actual original Bethlehem setting. we\u2019re liable to mistake \u201csing choirs of angels joyful and triumphant\u201d when we should be thinking \u201csilent night.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Remember that the angels singing \u201cGloria\u201d aren\u2019t there in the barn with Mary and Joseph.\u00a0\u00a0They\u2019re out in the country singing to the shepherds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the story from Luke:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.  \u2026  And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem;  \u2026 to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that\u2019s the scene in the barn when the shepherds get there.\u00a0\u00a0Just Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.\u00a0\u00a0The angels are back in heaven.\u00a0\u00a0The three kings, also known as the wise men or Magi, won\u2019t arrive for several weeks yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It\u2019s a simple and quiet and humble scene.  And what do the shepherds actually see, when they arrive out of breath hoping to see the glory the angels sang about?  There\u2019s no miracle.  There\u2019s nothing supernatural going on.  It\u2019s a barn: dark and cold and smelling like a barn.  It\u2019s just a young man and a young woman and a new baby.  There are no Spielberg-ian lighting effects.  No swelling background score signifies that something important has happened.  If there\u2019s any music it\u2019s only Mary singing a lullaby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silent night.  Holy night.  All is calm.  All is bright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crystal Cathedral, down in Garden Grove, when it still existed, used to hold a Christmas spectacular ever year.  I never saw the show but the ads promised special effects, and live animals, and flying angels on wires zooming around the sanctuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then I think of the amateur Christmas pageants I\u2019ve put together with my congregations.  No special effects, no live animals, no flying angels.  Simple costumes.  A few decorations.  No souvenir tee shirt to buy in the gift shop.  No gift shop either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Christmas we don\u2019t have even that.  Here we are.  On Zoom.  In our livingrooms and kitchen tables.  Just me, and Sara, and a few powerpoint slides, and all of you.  Just us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s Christmas this year.  It\u2019s easy to feel a little small compared to the show that some people make of Christmas.  Or the Christmas of other years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But look at the sort of place that God actually chose for the birth of Jesus.  Does it remind you more of a Crystal Cathedral or of your own livingroom?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Mary first got the news that she would be the woman to give birth to the savior of all humankind she responds with the words from Luke called \u201cThe Magnificat.\u201d  She says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy soul magnifies the Lord,\u2028 And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.\u2028 For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden, \u2028For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.\u2028 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.\u2028 He has shown strength with His arm:\u2028 He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.\u2028 He has put down the mighty from their thrones,\u2028and exalted those of low degree.\u2028 He has filled the hungry with good things;\u2028and the rich He has sent empty away.\u2028 He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;\u2028As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can hear in those words, a young woman who is both humble and proud.  She knows that she is young and poor, invisible, inconsequential.  And then she\u2019s told that of all women, she has been noticed for greatness.  Suddenly what was ordinary has become special.  What was small has become enormous.  What was low has become elevated.  What was destined to be little known and quickly forgotten has become, \u201cgenerations shall call me blessed.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The universal spirit of love that urges all creation toward joy, does not select some places as suitable and reject others as not up to divine standards.  The universal spirit of love does not weigh some human hearts as deserving and others as unworthy.  There is no list of approved sanctuaries where God might properly be worshipped, and others that God refuses to bless.  There is no livingroom too untidy for holiness to visit.  There is no spirit so broken that healing cannot emerge.  There is no depression so black that a light cannot shine in.  There is no loss or loneliness, or anxiety too overwhelming, or physical pain too debilitating that we couldn\u2019t be comforted, \u201cBlessing came to Mary.  It can come to me.\u201d  The spirit of love leapt right over the Temple in Jerusalem and landed in lowly Bethlehem instead.  Love can appear in Oildale or Panama just as well.  Salvation was born in a barn.  It\u2019s not going to sneer at the dust on your coffee table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no wrong place, or wrong time, or wrong way for hope to enter the world.  Christmas doesn\u2019t require flying angels or flying snow, either.  The birth of a savior needs only a person or two, and the birth of something new among them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we most need hope and reassurance, as perhaps we do today, the Christmas story assures us that an everflowing, undiscriminating stream of love and creativity is available.  The Christmas story is not a literal history that happened once, long ago, but an archetypal story of how the divine works everyday in every life, not just for Christmas Day but for the day after Christmas, too, in the bleakest midwinter or in blazing summer, in Bethlehem, or Boston, or Bakersfield.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you need that entrance of the divine light in your life, you could ask for it today.  Take a deep relaxing breath.  Open your heart.  Create a space, even if it feels like you\u2019re only laying hay in a manger.  Let it come.  You\u2019re neither too high nor too low to receive the gift the universal spirit of Love wants to give you.  \u201cLet every heart prepare a room\u201d the Christmas carol urges.  Beauty and joy could be born even now.  In this Zoom room.  In whatever room you\u2019re in this morning, later today, or tomorrow.  In your heart wherever and whenever you need it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Christmas scene is so simple and so human.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s just a family: two young parents, a new baby.\u00a0\u00a0The setting is… Read more A Christmas Carol<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons","category-writing"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1918"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2052,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions\/2052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}