Sunday, December 22, 2019

The Symbols of Christmas - 4th Sunday of Advent 2019


22 December 2019 – 4th Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25

When I began my pastoral ministry, a parishioner asked me what “Chrismons” are.  At the time I had no idea and little concern about it.  Years later I learned the word “Chrismons” is trademarked by Ascension Lutheran Church of Danville VA, that trademark having been entrusted to them by Mrs. Frances Kipp Spencer.  It was she who originated the concept of Chrismons in 1957. 

The Chrismons were Mrs. Spencer’s effort and determination to “Christianize” trees in the worship setting.  She believed the traditional ornaments were too secular to have a place in the church’s sanctuary.  The word itself combines Christ (or Christmas) and monogram – Chrismons.  These are symbols that tell the story of The Lord as revealed in Christ.  Many of the symbols are from the early days of the Church as well as from the Crusades of the Middle Ages, and some use the Greek alphabet as well.

I learned something from that period of willful ignorance in not knowing – or caring - what Chrismons are or the meaning they hold.  That lesson is this: though we may have little concern for such things that seem harmless, Christians can’t “not know” of such things while also embracing them just because they look good, give us the warm-and-fuzzies, or because “everyone’s doing it”. 

It is not at all about “overthinking” anything.  It is, rather, being careful not to embrace something without first vetting it, coming to understand it, and then deciding whether we agree with it.  As Christians, as witnesses to the Truth, everything we do, everything we display, and everything we say is a testament to what we believe to be True.

Symbols can be powerful reminders of what this Holy Season means … but only if the believing Church teaches and uses them faithfully.  These symbols, while well-intentioned, can also be a detriment to the Christian witness.  The fish, for instance, is a common ornament many stick on the backs of their vehicles.  Yet when the driver of that vehicle is driving and acting very un-Christ-like, the symbolism of the fish is lost and non-believers laugh and mock.

Another example would be the upside-down cross which has become a symbol commonly associated with Satanism.  Yet in the early Church it meant something entirely different.  Legend has it that when St. Peter was to be crucified, as Jesus was, he asked his executioners to turn the cross – and him – upside-down, as he was unworthy to die in the same manner as the Messiah (This is actually written in the apocryphal Acts of Peter).

The challenge we face is whether the many symbols we use and display have anything at all to do with Jesus or His birth.  I do not mean to demonize what have become common practices and symbols of the season, but we must always ask ourselves whether the symbols and practices and public displays articulate and convey the honest traditions of our faith without a lot of linguistic gymnastics – or if they are only cultural symbols of a more secularized Christianity.

There are many Christian groups – and, of course, non-Christian religions - that do not recognize December 25 as anything other than a date on the calendar.  Some of these Christian groups use Jeremiah 10:1-5 to dispute the use of a tree for any sort of association with The Lord and will not have one in their homes or their churches.  At the very least, they do not recognize December 25 as the birth of Jesus simply because it is not explicitly stated in the Scriptures.  What is worse is we call these guys “strange” … and that is only if we’re being kind.

So what is an appropriate symbol of Christmas – the Mass of The Christ?  What can we look to and hold to such esteem that the Greatest Gift Of All is not dismissed or disregarded or mocked?  How can we show Christmas to be The Lord’s greatest Gift to all of humanity?

How about Joseph, the “son of David”, as the angel called him?  St. Joseph is the most understated hero throughout the Scriptures.  There is not a spoken word attributed to him in any of the Birth narratives.  We encounter a simple man who had first believed himself to have been wronged by his beloved Mary.  Yet because of his integrity and profound sense of righteousness, he refused to publicly expose her because it would have meant not only “public disgrace” for Mary but, quite possibly, her life as well. 

What we find in Joseph is everything we are called to be and to do.  Joseph had every right to be angry and to respond not only in haste but in what for most would have been vindictive, irrational emotion.  He may have felt all those things, but he didn’t act on them.  Instead, he thought of a way to end it without further harm.

Yet when he was made aware of the significance of Mary’s pregnancy, he did not hesitate to respond in faith and obedience to the Word of The Lord.  No words from Joseph were necessary to tell us what we need to know.  There was only the heart of a man who was entrusted with the care of our Mother; the Holy Church which birthed then – and must still birth now – the Living Word of the Living God.

The symbol of the true meaning of Christmas is found within each of us and can only be displayed by our faithful responses to “the Word which became flesh and dwelt among us”.  It has nothing to do with physical symbols.  It is who we are, who we are called to be, who we had perhaps always hoped to be.

Let our lives be the enduring Symbol of Christmas, lives filled with gratitude and hope; and let Christ Jesus shine forth from all we do, all we are, and all we share.  Then people will understand Christmas.  Then they will understand The Father.  And then will they finally have something to rejoice and hope in.  Amen.

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