St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
December 27, 2015
The First Sunday
after Christmas
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Psalm 147
Galatians 3:23-25;
4:4-7
John 1:1-18
Incarnation: God Enters the Mess
Merry
Christmas!
We
have been having a beautiful Christmas here at St. Paul’s.
Our
Christmas Eve celebrations were just great.
The
kids, led by Gail and other generous and patient, oh so patient, adults offered us a really touching Christmas
pageant – and little Kennedy James was a trooper as the Baby Jesus, not letting
out even a peep as far as I could hear.
And
then our “Midnight Mass” was spectacular.
We
had the biggest crowd I can ever remember seeing here on Christmas Eve.
The
church was full of parishioners, neighbors, family and friends – all eager to
celebrate the festival of Our Lord’s birth.
The
music was just gorgeous – and I’ve put in the standing order that as long as
I’m rector I want a xylophone to be played on Christmas Eve.
And
then on Christmas Day we had a quieter, more intimate celebration. In the quiet
of Christmas morning I could really sense – really see – the light of Christ –
the light of Christ shining brightly – the light of Christ that has not been
and can never be overcome by the darkness.
One
more thing: I’m so happy that for the second year in a row we were able to
celebrate Christmas with our friends from our sister church, the Church of the
Incarnation. It’s something that I hope will continue after their new priest
arrives.
I
found – find – it very moving to see our kids and their kids putting on the
pageant together – to see our worship leaders and our worship leaders carting
the cross, reading the lessons, and serving the Body and Blood of Christ.
Incarnation.
Of
course, Christmas is all about incarnation – all about the incarnation – all about the mind-blowing event of God becoming
one of us, becoming flesh, in Jesus of Nazareth.
Incarnation.
As
the Evangelist John writes in the Prologue to his Gospel that I read today,
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
Incarnation.
For
those who’ve been in the church for a long time, it’s easy for us to forget, to
lose sight, of just how mind-blowing the Incarnation is – that the God of the
universe chose to enter the mess – chose to enter our mess – in and through Jesus of Nazareth, born to a couple of
nobodies, in poverty, in an out of the way place, noticed by almost no one.
Incarnation.
The
God of the universe chose to enter the mess – enter our mess – and that changes everything.
On
Christmas Day there was a piece in the New
York Times called “The Christmas Revolution.” In it the author writes,
“Because
the Christmas story has been told so often for so long, it’s easy even for
Christians to forget how revolutionary Jesus’ birth was. The idea that God
would become human and dwell among us, in circumstances both humble and
humiliating, shattered previous assumptions. It was through this story of
divine enfleshment that much of our humanistic tradition was born.”
God
chose to enter the mess – to enter our
mess. So this means that human beings must really matter – that we must really
matter to God.
And,
if we all, especially the poor and the lowly, really matter to God, then we should
– we must - matter to each other.
Incarnation:
God enters the mess.
As
Christians, you and I are meant to enter the mess of life – the mess of our
lives.
As
followers of Jesus, you and I are meant to enter the mess of life – to reach
out to those who are suffering because of illness or loneliness or unemployment
or poverty or grief or just sad because life can be hard and full of
disappointments.
As
followers of Jesus, you and I are meant to enter the mess of life – to share
what we have with the poor – to drop off items for the food pantry to feed
people we don’t even know – to donate gloves to warm the hands of the poor and
homeless – to make room at the Stone Soup table for absolutely everyone, fellow
parishioners, neighbors, friends, and especially the poorest and least loved of
all.
As
followers of Jesus, you and I are meant to enter the mess of life – to pray at
the sites of homicides, to demand better protection for our neighborhoods, to
insist on better schools for our children, and to work to provide decent
shelter for all.
As
followers of Jesus, you and I are meant to enter the mess of life by welcoming
everyone who walks through our church doors and by going out into our city and
letting people know that they can come here and bring their mess, bring their
mess with all the rest of us who bring our mess every Sunday.
We
need to let people know that they are welcome to bring their messes and place
them before the God who chose to enter the mess, to enter our mess, in
Bethlehem long ago.
So,
it’s still Christmas!
Merry
Christmas!
We
celebrate the divine enfleshment.
We
celebrate God choosing to enter the mess – to enter our mess, revealing that human beings must really matter – that we
must really matter to God – and that we should – must - matter to each other.
The
God of the universe chose to enter the mess – enter our mess – and that changes
everything.
Incarnation.
Amen.
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