The celebrations are over, the last package’s wrappings are landfill, the decorations are about to come down if there are any still left hanging, some toys didn’t quite make the cut and are either now forgotten or broken, and soon the bills will start rolling in for those whose entire Christmas celebration was more a tribute to MasterCard. For all its trappings, however, most of us still come away from our Christmas celebrations with few regrets. We’ve been able to spend time with loved ones, some whom we may not see again until next year and some we may never see again. Even with the “morning after” credit card regret, there is always going to be something special about watching a child’s face light up when an unexpected gift is opened on Christmas morning, that special moment which makes us forget what we went through to acquire that particular gift.
Even still, something is not quite right. The very first sermon I ever delivered was on a Sunday following Christmas and I still remember thinking that if ever there was a raw deal for a new preacher, that would be it! How can Christmas be followed? Christmas is the BIGGIE, isn’t it? After a long year, whether good or bad, Christmas is the climax, isn’t it? I’ve since learned that it is probably best not to even try to preach Christmas. The Gospel accounts pretty much cover the ground, and there is not much left to say that hasn’t already been said. But I think I have also finally figured out why it is so difficult to follow Christmas for preachers and laity alike.
Just prior to Christmas we have our Advent count-down. We begin to focus not only on the birth of Messiah but also on His Second Coming. We teach and we preach to stand prepared just as John the Baptist admonishes us to “make straight the path” for the Lord’s coming. Four weeks (and often more!), three weeks, two weeks; the excitement mounts, the plays and cantata’s are rehearsed, prepared, and presented, the charity collections are in full swing and …. BOOM! We’re there.
After that, what next? Even as Advent is a time of preparation, we have a definitive count-down with a finite ending. We light one of five candles for the weekly count-down, and we reach the climax. It’s over. We’re done. That is, of course, until we begin to approach Lent. Then we begin anew yet another season of “preparation”, but this time the kids are not really as involved. They can more easily and readily embrace the “birth” of the Savior but to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure when anyone is fully prepared to accept the “death”.
It occurred to me as my family and I were driving home from my in-laws that the Church loses some much-needed momentum after Christmas. We Christians are a pretty self-contained bunch when it comes to our holy days. On Christmas should we be holed up at our homes or huddled in our churches, or should we not rather be living according to the dictum of John Wesley who insisted that the WORLD was his parish and that the Good News of the Gospel should be shared out where the masses are instead of inviting the masses to come to us where we are?
The momentum that builds during Advent provides this kind of spirit without fail every single year, and every single year with few exceptions we peter out about 12/27 and lose that precious momentum. I was never more acutely aware of this until a co-worker challenged the concept of “organized religion”. When questioned about her objections – and know that I have typically written off such persons as those who will reach for any excuse not to attend church – she pointed out that her perception and experience with “organized religion” has been more along the lines of forced beliefs and self-contained greed and exclusivity meaning that we are pretty good at ministering to ourselves and perhaps to one another, but we don’t really care to do much more than this. OUTSIDE the Christmas season, that is.
While I am almost certain that Luke’s very brief glimpse of Jesus’ childhood (Luke 2:41-52) has some more profound lessons for us than what I can glean from it, the one thing that stands out to me, especially as it relates to the birth of Messiah, is that the Birth itself is a culmination of nothing. The Salvation story does not end at the manger. Jesus was born, of course, but He did not remain a “babe wrapped in swaddling clothes”; He grew up and He moved on. His upbringing, His education, His faith were all fed and nurtured and developed over time. His special gift was easily recognized by the elders in the Temple, but Jesus was still a child who had some growing up to do.
Then we get to see Jesus as a young man coming to John to be baptized. After this, He enters into His ministry which would necessarily include His encounter with the evil one, perhaps AKA “the world”, which He was able to endure by His abiding faith. Once this moment is conquered, Jesus selects His apostles and continues His ministry.
Is the momentum apparent? All the way up to the moment of His death, the only time His apostles kept to themselves was after Jesus was crucified and they were afraid. For the very first time their faith was tested and with perhaps the exception of John and the women including Mary, the followers of Jesus failed. They fled. And for three days - in the absence of Christ - until the Resurrection, all momentum of what He had begun was lost. Everything stopped. Is the connection apparent?
As we reflect on the full measure and infinite value of the Christian celebration of Christmas, we must not neglect to remember that just at a time when humanity should have been coming to the Lord, the Lord instead chose to come to US. He did not wait until the world would suddenly come to its senses and realize how alone we really are and how desperately we need Him. He watched us suffer long enough and came to us WHERE WE WERE THEN and surely where we are now.
How much more momentum do we require before the sleeping Church will awaken and realize that those who oppose our “organized religion” can see us more clearly than we can see ourselves? How much more momentum do we require before we realize that just as the Lord came to us when we needed Him the most, we AS HIS BODY must go where we are needed most? And not just at Christmas time but throughout the year.
The boy Jesus still had a lot to learn as a child; so did His parents and so do we. May we continue to find ourselves always and regardless of biological age as inquisitive 12-year-olds in the Temple seeking and searching and growing.
Amen.
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