The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord – Christmas 2022
The great divide on the path of those who believe in Christmas and those who did not was growing even wider. What was Santa to do? He wanted people to believe in the magical, mystical season. Events in the world had led people to disbelief and a hard-nosed approach to him and the season which brought joy, love, peace, and good cheer – if only for a few weeks each year.
Santa found an extraordinarily challenging disbeliever this year – a 10-year-old boy who had lost his father not a year ago in a fiery car crash in which his father rescued the driver but then lost his own life in the fire. This young boy no longer believed in anyone or anything. Santa found this disheartening. No young boy should be in this predicament – every young child should still know the wonder, the magic of Christmas!
Santa decided to send one of the Christmas angels to work on this young boy’s problem. He chose Balthazar, a radical angel, who always chose to break the rules and do things his own way in getting the job done. For instance, he used magic dust when he was not supposed to in order to accomplish a minor feat.
Josh, the young boy, found himself at odds with his younger sister who believed everything about Santa and Christmas.
Balthazar tried everything with this young boy to help him believe once again in the mystery of Angels, and the magic of Christmas. Finally, Josh, attempting to break into a house to steal for Christmas presents was surprised by a silent alarm, which alerted the police. Once inside the house, the police found only Balthazar, whom they arrested and charged with burglary. After several days of pondering, wondering, and feeling guilty, Josh turned himself in as the culprit and realized that Balthazar was going to any lengths to prove to Josh that there are reasons to believe in Christmas and Angels and Santa, and more importantly, someone who believed in him! The story ends with Josh regaining his belief in Christmas and angels.
We gather here this evening (this morning) for a special reason. The world, as God designed it, had begun to form a great divide – the believers and the non-believers, those who chose to let God into their lives and those who chose to keep God at a distance – going it alone.
God had made the world in a simple fashion – wanting us, as the old Baltimore Catechism stated: “to love Him and worship Him in this life, so as to live with Him in the next.” But as was the situation with the young boy Josh, in the story, humanity, after a few calamities and problems, decided that there was no use for God and decided to go it alone. God must have been disappointed in humanity, but God did not abandon humanity, instead he sent His only Son into the world. God sent the Son, not to punish or condemn us or to ridicule or even to isolate those who did not believe, but to show all of us the immensity of His great love for all of humanity.
Our celebration of the Birth of our “Christ and Lord” elicits great exaltation born in the “city of David,” angels appear and bring “good news of great joy,” heavenly hosts of angels sing out, and praise and glory are given to “God in the highest,” a “light has shown” in the darkness of people’s lives. The child reveals “the glory of our great God.” All of this is worth more than all the toys, the firs, and the electrical and technological appliances in the world. Yet, it still gets better than all this!
The coming of the Savior in human flesh is cause for exaltation but the real meaning of the Incarnation is that God loves us (humanity) so much that God becomes human so that humanity can participate in divinity. The Word made flesh proclaims to us that our very humanity is the source of our worth. And it does not get any better than this!
The mission of the Christ child, the Prince of Peace, the God-hero, Emmanuel, was to bring all of humanity into believing once again in the healing, forgiving, compassionate, unconditional love of God for all people.
For all his royal and divine power, Jesus will not stretch out his hand to dominate, but to heal; not to condemn, but to forgive; not to turn away, but to gather in. His humility is genuine, not fake: though He is divine, he is born as human, though royal, he is laid in a manger; though ruler, shepherds attend him.
As humanity, we spend so much energy condemning and ridiculing one another because we are traditional or progressive; we isolate because of wealth or poverty; we condemn because of lifestyles that are different from our own. But the wonder and the mystery surrounding this feast of Christmas is simply this: that God sent His own Son into the world to offer salvation to ALL of us, regardless of our differing viewpoints, regardless of our financial status, regardless of our lifestyles, regardless of our racial status. Remember – Emmanuel: God with us! God is with us, all of us!
For all of us who struggle with how God can love someone different than ourselves remember, that the lowly ones, the lonely ones, the little ones, the poor ones, the rich ones, the ones who ask: “is there a God,” are all loved and all saved by this same Prince of Peace we come to worship tonight (today).
May the Infant Savior bless you and your families with peace, joy and love this season, and throughout the new year.
Isaiah 9:1-6
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2: 1-14