Christmas Eve Homily - 2011

I'm a little behind in my blog posting. How is it that life can be so very busy? Well, I am now trying to catch up. Here you go...

A Sermon for Christmas Eve (RCL Year B) 12-24-2011

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

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

Title:               Behold What You Are

Well, it has finally arrived, my dear friends. The sun has set on December 24, and our long Advent season of waiting has come to an end. And now our feast has begun!

Who here is excited that Christmas has arrived?

There is a nearly palpable feeling of hope and joy in the air during these days. It is a magical time of year and it feels easy to get swept up into the feeling. That is, if - of course – you are able to avoid the miles of traffic leading to the malls and the long lines at all of the cashiers in the grocery stores!

There can be no question that our Christmas celebration has been overtaken by advertisers and retailers in their frantic effort to make as much money as possible. Just watch the television commercials and anyone can see that what they are selling has nothing at all to do with the Christ Child in the manger in Bethlehem.

What began with St. Nicholas sharing some of his inheritance with poor girls in his town in order to save them from a life of shame and degradation has now blossomed into a frenzied rush of shoppers searching for the best deals and the perfect gifts.

This is unfortunate, and it is right for us in the church to distance ourselves from all of that consumerism, to hold it at arms length as we re-capture the true essence of our Christmas feast.

But it is true and right that Christmas is in fact all about gift-giving.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.”

Tonight, we receive once again the most perfect gift of all: Emmanuel, God with us.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, there is the Abbey of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. These Episcopal monks are commonly known as the Cowley Fathers, because their order was begun in an English town named Cowley. Oftentimes, when these men celebrate the Holy Eucharist, the consecrated Bread and Wine are presented to the gathered community as the presiding priest says, “Behold what you are!” To which all those gathered respond, “May we become what we receive.”

We will do the same tonight, and throughout the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany. The words are printed in your bulletin in the order of service, just after the Lord’s Prayer. Do you see them? Let’s practice it once together now:

            “Behold what you are!

            May we become what we receive!”

The Body of Christ was given birth by blessed Mary, and this is what we celebrate now.

But we also receive that same Body of Christ here at the Altar.
And the reason why we receive this Body is so that we might become that Body!

For by the grace of God, we are the Body of Christ! Us! Here! Can you believe it?

We are the Body of Christ active and working in the world today.

In the beginning of John’s Gospel, we hear the amazing summary of the Incarnation: “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

There is a trajectory in the Scriptures, a macro-movement of God’s interaction with the world, of word becoming flesh.

Once God spoke from above, a voice out of the dark cloud filled with fire and lightning.

But here we see God living among us, a baby crying and hungry and being soothed with his mother’s milk.

This is still the direction of God’s action in the world – taking the ideas, the hopes and dreams of God and making them real in flesh-and-blood human beings.

The Body of Christ here today. We embody that movement today. We are the ones who are called to take this amazing good news of Emmanuel – God with us in love and compassion and mercy – to take this news and to make it a reality in our daily lives.

Not just now, not just in December and January during this special season. But also in March and in July and in September. In every day in which the sun rises over us.

So now it’s time for us to give our gifts.

Our gift back to Jesus is to become what we receive!

After all, it is Jesus’ birthday! Give him the gift of letting his Word become flesh in you.

Give him the gift of becoming what you truly are! The Body of Christ taken, blessed, broken and given in order to love your enemies, to feed the hungry, to visit the prisoners, to set the captives free.

Trust me when I tell you that giving this gift to Jesus is also the perfect gift that you can give to your loved ones as well.

When we become the Body of Christ alive today, we become a channel of God’ grace and compassion and forgiveness and love to those around us.

Tonight, tomorrow, during these 12 days of celebration and joy, as you look into the manger, as you look to the Child who is born as the Prince of Peace, slow down and behold what you are!

And may we all become what we receive from his grace and love!

O come, let us adore him. Amen.

Christmas week holiday photos

Our cabin in Wilmot, New Hampshire. It's truly a winter wonderland in a pocket of boreal forest. We go out into the snow, then come in to read by the fire, play family games and eat. Moonlight sledding was a big hit on this trip!

Even our old dog, Ita, loves the snow! She is 11 years old now, though she has difficulty walking through deep snow with her bad hips.

We do lots of snowshoeing, always on the search to see the many moose who inhabit the woods around but who always seem to elude us! We follow their tracks and see where they sleep and eat, but no sightings yet.

The Great Brook over the ridge behind our cabin, just a short hike away.At the top is the Great Brook Falls.

The family reluctantly follows me through the woods on my adventures! I could be out all day exploring every rock and tree.

Nordic skiing at the local Pine Hill Ski Club on New Year's Day 2010. The perfect day! 30 degrees, sunshine with flurries and some fresh powder. Even Fiona (7 years old) enjoyed the skiing!

The Grace of God Has Appeared: Christmas 2009

Sermon for Christmas Eve 2009, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20

The time has finally come, my friends! The waiting is over! Our celebration has finally begun.
This night, my friends, changes everything!

This, tonight, is the meeting place of heaven and earth.
For this, tonight, is the stable in which God keeps his appointment to meet his people.
Not many high folk are here now, not many holy; not many innocent children, not many worldly wise; not all familiar faces, not all frequent visitors.
But, if tonight only strangers met, that would be enough.
For Bethlehem was not the hub of the universe,
Nor was the stable a platform for famous folk.
In an out-of-the-way place which people never thought to visit –
There God kept and keeps his promise; there God sends his Son.
(Adapted from Cloth for the Cradle by Wild Goose Worship Group, 1997, p.83).

Isaiah proclaimed the promise so long ago in the court of the great King of Israel:

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light!” I know how it feels to walk in darkness. I know that all of us often feel like we are in lost in deep darkness.

But look! On them the light has shined. Look! On US the light has shined! To US the grace of God has appeared. The great Creator of all things visible and invisible, hidden from our sight, shrouded in mystery, the great God to whom we owe our existence – this One is revealed to us now. But not is a show of power, or a display of strength. But rather in the surprise vulnerability of a baby.

And now, the grace of God has appeared. Now the hidden God is revealed. Now we see the true nature of God. And it’s not at all as we would imagine.

Because of Jesus, born of Mary, born in Bethlehem, because of this One, you can stand up with confidence tonight knowing that God loves you.

The stark, surprising truth is that there is nothing at all in the entire world that you could do that would make God love you any less! And there is nothing at all that you could ever do to make God love you any more!
Because of this bizarre night 2000 years ago, because of this crazy birth, we know that we are completely and utterly loved. Every wart and pimple and failure and mistake, and yes, even your successes too! Just as you are – you are welcomed and accepted. Because of this One, born this holy night.

When we came in tonight, we sang the famous Christmas carol: “Hark! The herald angels sing.” I find the final verse of that great carol to pique my interest the most.

Mild he lays his glory by… Well, to be honest I am not too sure about this one. There’s nothing mild about being born! I’ve been there a number of times, and even by observation and through vicarious participation only, it is clear that giving birth can never be described as “mild”. Nor can the cataclysmic event of God becoming human ever be characterized as “mild”. By this birth, the whole world as we human beings know it was thrown into chaos. Everything has been turned upside down by this baby! Wild, dangerous, revolutionary, perhaps, but mild – never!

However, the rest of this famous verse is right on target: Born that we no more may die Born to raise us from the earth, Born to give us second birth

Because of what happened on this night so long ago, our lives are changed now forever!

And I know that you’ve heard the story a thousand times probably, and maybe you’ve brushed it aside as cute and quaint and sweet, but not very important to your “real life”. Because it is oh so familiar and trite now.

But tonight, each of us has another chance, another opportunity. George Elliot is reported to have said that “It is never too late to be the person that you’ve wanted to be.”

Well then maybe tonight, maybe this Christmas is our chance to open the door of our heart, to allow God to change us. Because Jesus became what we are, we can become what he is.

That’s what the love of God does inside of us. It changes us forever. And that, my friends, is cause for celebration. So, let the party begin! Amen.


CHILDREN’S HOMILY

Merry Christmas to all of you!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

You know that Jesus is God, and Jesus came into the world, God was born as a real baby for one reason. Why? So that when we grow up, we can be like God!

Do you know how amazing this is? That we can become like God?

But what does that mean? What does it mean to be like God? ASK.

Yes, it means to love everyone equally – the same. It means to never say things out of anger, never respond out of fear. It means to always be generous with everyone, for God is the one who sends rain and snow to the righteous and the unrighteous. It means to never try to hurt other people, never try to hurt the earth.

To be like God means to treat all living things with respect. God lives this way, and because of Jesus, when I grow up, I can be that way too. And when you grow up, you can be that way too!

This is amazing! We need to give thanks!

It’s not easy! It’s hard to be born! And it’s hard to be changed like this!

But this is God’s plan for our lives, and Jesus makes this possible.

This is what Christmas is all about! It’s not about giving presents or eating dinners together or parties. It’s about what God wants to do in our lives, and Jesus makes that possible.

Blessed are you, my friends! Blessed are you that you have the privilege of celebrating this amazing birthday! Jesus, born a child and yet the King of all Kings, the Chief of all Chiefs, the Lord of all Lords.

So tonight let us sing happy birthday to the Lord Jesus!