Glory

Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
December 25th, 2009

Christmas Day
Isaiah 62:6-12
Titus 3:4-7
Psalm 97
Luke 2:1-20

Glory

You may not believe this, but I’ve been told that the so-called Christmas season can be very… stressful. There are many sources for this holiday anxiety. For many of us there is the anxiety of trying to get everything done for last night and this morning – presents bought and wrapped, house cleaned, food prepared, table set, fingers crossed that there’s no family drama to spoil the holiday.

For others of us, the stress comes from a different place – the sadness we may feel about someone we love who is sick or has died. For us, there is the challenge of being in “good cheer” when all we really want to do is get back into bed, pull up the covers and wake up when Christmas is over.

Christmas can be stressful for kids, too. Teachers have been known to cram a lot of work and tests into the last days of school before Christmas vacation. And, I’m sure this isn’t true for the kids here today, but I used to worry that I’d be judged as naughty, not nice, and there’d be a bag of coal waiting for me under the tree on Christmas morning.

I wish I could tell you that the Church is free of stress and anxiety today and in the days leading up to Christmas. Unfortunately, the truth is just the opposite. It takes a lot of work and planning by many people to put on the spectacular celebrations last night and here this morning.

Everyone has different ways of dealing with stress and anxiety. One of the things I try to do to calm myself down is try to focus on what’s most important, what’s essential.
And, as far as Christmas is concerned, there are three essential pieces.

First, of course, we need to gather together. Second, we need to hear the old, familiar and yet still-so-powerful story of the birth of the Messiah. Finally, the last essential ingredient for a Christmas celebration in church is hymns.

Can you imagine a Christmas celebration without hymns? Can you imagine Christmas without these poetic texts set to music to praise God? I know some of us are uncomfortable singing, and yet, for even the most tone-deaf it’s hard to resist singing just a little bit of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!” or “Joy to the World”.

Hymns are essential to our celebration today and in fact they’ve been an essential part of the Christian life right from the beginning.

Hymns are certainly an important part of the Gospel of Luke. In fact, Luke uses several hymns to help tell the story of Jesus’ birth.

First Mary, while visiting with her relative Elizabeth, bursts into song, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior…”

Second, Luke tells us that the priest Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and sang a hymn prophesying about his son John the Baptist: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways…”

Today we heard and sang the third hymn. The heavenly host appears before the shepherds, singing, “Glory to God in the highest heaven!”

These hymns are rich and powerful and they have all inspired so much beautiful music. But, as I thought about today’s angelic hymn – a hymn that is so familiar and seemingly so simple, I started wondering what exactly are these angels singing? What does it mean to sing “Glory to God”? What is glory?

In the Bible, the word glory is used in two different ways. The first meaning is the honor and esteem we should give to God because, well, God is God. As our creator, and the source of life and love, God is worthy of our praise and so we give honor to God.

But there is second meaning of glory in the Bible. Although God is invisible, the people of Israel came to understand that sometimes they could see signs of God’s power and presence – what they called God’s glory. So they were able to see God’s glory, they were able to see God’s power and presence, in the tabernacle they carried those forty long years in the desert and they could see God’s glory, they could see God’s power and presence, in the Temple. In today’s gospel lesson Luke tells us that the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds “and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”

In Luke’s telling of the birth of Jesus, both meanings of glory meet one another.

The angels sing out and give honor, give glory to God, because in that feeding trough in Bethlehem, the shepherds, along with Mary and Joseph and even the animals, were about to see God’s power and presence.

In that helpless newborn child, born in the humblest of circumstances, they and we see God’s power and presence – we see God’s glory.
In that helpless newborn child, born to a young mother with so much to ponder in her heart and an adoptive father who had to take a very great leap of faith, we see God’s power and presence – we see God’s glory.

In that helpless newborn child, wrapped with bands of cloth and lying in a feeding trough used by animals, we see God’s power and presence – we see God’s glory.
And when we see God’s glory the only correct response is to give God glory – to give God honor and praise and thanks for living among us in Jesus. So Luke tells us, “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.”

But, there’s even more to God’s glory than the story of Jesus’ birth.

On Christmas, of course, our focus is on Jesus’ birth, but we can never lose sight of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Just because it’s Christmas, we don’t take down the crosses in church. Just because it’s Christmas we don’t forget about Good Friday and Easter. Just as we do each Sunday, in a little while, we’ll gather at the table, remember the Last Supper and we will see Jesus, see the glory of God, in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.

Just like those long-ago shepherds, just like Mary and Joseph, we also see God’s glory in Jesus and the only correct response is to give God glory.
But, there’s even more to God’s glory.

In our baptism, we become the Body of Christ in the world. So, if we are open and paying attention, we can see God’s glory in one another and the only correct response is to give God glory.

Over the past few weeks, right here in this little part of the Body of Christ called Grace Church, I’ve been reminded that if I’m open and paying attention I can see God’s glory and the only correct response is to give God glory.

I saw God’s glory in a family gathered around their dying mother, united in love, holding her hand, kissing her forehead, and telling her over and over as she slipped away, “We love you, Mom.” “We’re going to be OK, Mom.” “You did a great job and now you deserve to rest.”

Glory to God in the highest!

I saw God’s glory in the elderly parishioner, recuperating from a broken hip, who in the midst of his painful rehabilitation came up with an idea for a new ministry. He offered to come with me as I visit people in nursing homes and rehab centers and be a living example of hope for people working at their own rehabilitation.

Glory to God in the highest!

I saw God’s glory in the person who drove through the middle of a violent snowstorm to bring an old and sick cat to the vet – making it possible for that beloved family pet to die knowing for sure that it was cared for.
Glory to God in the highest!

I saw God’s glory in the parishioner who has personally visited nearly all of the organizations supported by our outreach funds, in the person who drops off food into the Food for Friends barrel hoping no one sees, and the team from Grace Church who went to Jersey City to lead the funeral of someone they never even met.

Glory to God in the highest!

Just like those long-ago shepherds, just like Mary and Joseph, we also see God’s glory in Jesus and the only correct response is to give God glory. On Christmas and every day you and I are the Body of Christ in the world and despite our stress and anxiety if we are open and pay attention we can see Jesus – we can see God’s glory – in one another.

And so along with the angels the only correct response is to sing, Glory to God in the highest!

Amen.