Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Christmas Light

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen & Church of the Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
December 25, 2018

Christmas Day
Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98
Hebrews 1:1-4
John 1:1-14

Christmas Light
            Merry Christmas, everyone!
            Thanks to the hard work and dedication and talent of many of our parishioners, we had beautiful Christmas celebrations last night – a moving pageant presented by our kids, and an over-the-top spectacular “Midnight” Mass, (at the more reasonable hour of 10:00, of course!)
            And, now we’re back here this morning for out simpler but no less beautiful or important Christmas Day service.
            Merry Christmas!
            As usual, I’m trying hard to stay in the moment, but I’ll admit I’m looking forward to some slower and quieter days ahead – and I hope you’ll get some time for peace and rest, too.
            One of the things I’ve been thinking about doing is catching a movie or two this week – something I almost never get to do.
            I don’t even get to watch too many movies at home, partly because I tend to fall asleep somewhere in the middle of the story!
            But, a couple of months ago, Sue and I finally got around to watching the documentary called Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
            Have any of you seen it?
            You can know for sure that it was really good because I was wide-awake through the whole thing!
            As you may know, the movie is about Fred Rogers – better known to kids and parents from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s as television’s “Mister Rogers.”
            For years, Mister Rogers and his small band of actors and puppets entertained kids (and, probably at least some parents, too) with the simplest of ingredients.
They included a very basic living room set, walking through a door, putting on a sweater, lacing a pair of sneakers, singing songs, and, of course, what really captured my imagination as a kid: a trolley that took us to the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe” ruled by King Friday XIII.
I remember very clearly the trolley and I remember the miniature model of Mister Rogers’ neighborhood that we saw at the start of each show, but I can’t say that I consciously remember the specific lessons that he taught on his program, though I bet they sank into my head and the heads of lots of other kids back then.
Watching the documentary I learned a lot more about Fred Rogers and his work.
I had known that he was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, but I hadn’t realized that he really saw his television work as his ministry – he never had a church of his own – just the fake living room, the trolley, and the puppets.
I also learned that, like all saints, he was not quite perfect.
He was a little bit vain about his weight – proud that he maintained exactly the same weight his entire adult life.
He also wasn’t completely satisfied to be seen as only a TV personality for kids. Later on, he tried to present programming for adults but it never really took off.
And, it’s true that towards the end of his life he had trouble grappling with – making sense of - some of the great tragedies of our time.
But, although I hadn’t realized it when I was a kid, on his deceptively simple show Mister Rogers was addressing some of the most difficult issues that any of us, young or old, ever have to face, things like divorce, disaster, and death.
And, even after his death, the kindness, the example, and the wisdom of Fred Rogers live on.
For example, when disaster strikes, people often post on social media what he said to help kids cope with tragedy: “My mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in the world.”

In today’s Gospel lesson, we heard the story of the first Christmas as told by John the Evangelist.
The way John tells the story, there’s no Mary and Joseph, no angels or shepherds, not even a newborn baby placed in a feeding trough meant for animals.
No, John offers us a cosmic Christmas – going all the way back to the beginning – to the Word that was with God, the Word that was God.
And, because God loves us so much, the Word entered the world in and through Jesus – the Word entered the world as light – light shining in a deeply shadowed world – light that shines far brighter than any shadow.

As I mentioned in my sermon last night, I’ve been thinking a lot lately how hard life was for the people we hear about in the gospels – living in a brutal empire with hazards and hardship all around – and yet even in their time of deep shadows at least some of these suffering people we hear about in the Bible saw the Light – and then they spread that Light to others through their words and actions.
Christmas Light.
And, the truth is that we also find ourselves living in a time of deep shadows, our own personal shadows and the shadows covering our country and world – and, yet the Light of Christ is still shining  - I saw it bright and clear last night and I see it this morning - and the Light of Christ cannot be overcome, can never be extinguished.
But, as Teresa of Avila said, today Christ has no body in the world but ours.
So you and I are meant to shine that Christmas Light not just on December 24th and 25th, but all year long.
In ways large and small, we are meant to shine that Christmas Light into the deepest shadows of life – to be the messengers of peace praised by the Prophet Isaiah – to be the helpers looked for by Mister Rogers and his mother.

Yes, the Christmas Light has been shining so bright last night and today in this beautiful place.
And, my Christmas prayer is that, with God’s help, we’ll be like Fred Rogers, and use our simple gifts of love and kindness all year long - to shine the Light of Christ into all of our neighborhoods.
Merry Christmas, to you all!
Amen.