Sermon – 12-05-21
Luke 3:1-6
Former Archbishop of Canterbury,
Rowan Williams, opened a lecture on his thoughts about the meaning of Christmas
by referring to the second verse of the popular Christmas Hymn, O Come All
Ye Faithful.
The second verse he claimed gets,
decisively, at the question, "Who is it that is at the center of the
Christmas story?"
"God
from God…Light from Light eternal, lo! He abhors not the Virgin's womb; only
begotten Son of the Father." Hymnal #83, v. 2
Williams goes on to say, "It
is the King of Angels, it is God who is at the center of the [Christmas] story.
But not simply God as such, but God from God.
God's life boiling over from eternity into time. And when we've sung God
from God, we go on to use one of the most ancient and powerful images for what
that means, Light from Light…The light of God truly flows out into the world
and yet leaves God undiminished, like a candle lighting another candle…Action,
energy that flows out from God and is no less than God, and yet does not
diminish God… the God we believe in, as Christians, is a God who holds nothing
back. That is the Divine nature. God gives what God is." Rowan Williams - Christmas
God from God. God's life
boiling over from eternity into time. The image is of God
flowing from God. God steadily infusing us with the light and the love that is only
his to give, while remaining, in all ways, undiminished, fully God. God from
God. Light from Light.
Centuries earlier
the Medieval Desert Father, Meister Eckhart, one of the most brilliant and
controversial mystics in the history of Christianity, in his densely packed writings
alluded to the very same concept of the “boiling over of God into humanity.” He
wrote, “The created world is a ‘boiling over’, spilling out from God’s inner
‘boiling.’…God finds delight and satisfaction where he finds sameness. He finds
it a joy to pour his nature and his being completely into the sameness, for he
is this sameness itself.” (Harmless, W. Mystics; pp.116-117)
As we journey through this Advent
season these are important theological musings. Musings that envision a God who
so delights in our being that he continually ‘boils over’ with Light and Love. Unceasingly
it pours into the world and thus into our lives. This interpretation of God’s
continual offering of Light and Love is central to the soul-healing and faith-healing
that must take place in today’s world. A world deeply wounded, traumatized, and,
sadly, questioning of their faith, of God.
I say this as a preface to
thinking about what Christmas means for all of us – the St. Simon’s family – as
we hope, cautiously, to emerge from almost two years of Covid 19 inflicted
trauma; yet, not knowing at all what is “around the next corner.”
Indeed, even as I wrote this
homily the day after Thanksgiving 2021 the trauma continued. News outlets were
delivering reports of a new Covid variant – one perhaps more contagious and deadly
than its predecessor. The financial markets reacted to this news with a massive
plunge. Travel restrictions were once again put into place. Suddenly the future
looked more ominous than it did just the day before when we were enjoying our Thanksgiving
holiday.
The trauma to our souls continues,
unceasingly.
I do not use the word trauma
lightly. Trauma is real. It
results from exposure to an incident or series of events that are emotionally
disturbing and potentially life-threatening. Trauma has lasting adverse effects
on one’s functioning. On one’s mental, physical, social, economic, emotional,
and spiritual well-being.
Covid19 and its variants were,
and still are, for us and for all the world an ongoing traumatic event. Our
ways of functioning have been, and in many cases still are, being massively disrupted
and severely compromised by the ongoing trauma imposed by the presence
throughout the world of a rapidly spreading, potentially deadly illness. Trauma
that has deeply affected our mental, physical, social, economic, emotional, and
spiritual well-being.
Trauma is the root cause of the anxiety,
depression, panic, and fear of death that many in our community and in the
world have and are continuing to experience.
The antidote to trauma is often
referred to as post-traumatic care. Central to this care is a stable, caring, inclusive,
and trustworthy environment that provides a community focused on healing. The
kind of community that God envisions for his loved ones, his children.
This is where St. Simon’s and its
thoughts on Christmas enter the picture.
On Christmas Eve through the
birth of his Son Jesus, “God’s giving to us what God is”, our Christian
faith takes on a new dimension. God enters our lives in a new way. With the
arrival of Jesus, God chooses to be among us. God choses to live as fully human.
Human in every way, just like you and me.
As the carol Hark the Herald
Angels sings out, God is “Pleased as man with man to be.”
And in Jesus, God with us, we
begin to see new and expanded ways in which we can exist in the world. Ways
that are filled with divine love and deep compassion for the entirety of
humankind. Ways in which every citizen of the world is recognized as God’s
beloved child. Everyone equal in the eyes of God. Ways that have the
possibility of creating stable, loving, and life-giving communities both at St.
Simon’s and throughout the world.
Advent is a time to empty our
minds of daily confusions and to spend time in prayerful reflection. It is a
time to reflect on, to contemplate the meaning of God’s incredible gift of Christmas.
Advent is a time to discern how to prepare for the arrival of ‘God from God,
Light from Light’ into our lives.
The gift of God from God;
Light from Light is our call to lay aside beliefs and behaviors that lead
us away from the Light and the Love that will arrive on Christmas Eve. It calls
us to grow as compassionate human beings, as loving healers, and as faithful
disciples. It calls us to create stable and caring communities that offer a
place for those who suffer from the effects of this traumatized world.
Through the gift of Christmas, we
are called to love each other as God loves us, with a ‘boiling over’ love
filled with action and energy.
The Apostle Paul lived his life spreading
the word of this gift throughout the Roman Empire. In his Letter to the Philippians
he wrote, “For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the compassion
of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow still more
and more with knowledge and full insight to help you determine what is best, so
that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the
harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and
praise of God.” (Phil.
1:8-11)
In this passage, Paul prays that
the Philippians might be filled with the fruits of righteousness - be
acceptable to God. He goes on the say that it is only through experiencing God IN
us that we are equipped to bear the gifts of these fruits– to walk not
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:4)
Paul prays that his followers in
Phillipi will be filled with a love that overflows. A love through which
they produce 'the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ
for the glory and praise of God.' A harvest
of light and love that brings to the world the Light and Love of God that is
present in Christ.
As usual, definitive marching
orders from Paul. As Christians we are to walk not according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. According to God’s way of loving us. According to the
way of Jesus.
In light of all these thoughts, today’s
passage from Luke’s gospel pops out with new meaning and incredible power as we
hear John the Baptist cry out:
"Prepare
the way of the Lord, make his paths straight, every valley shall be filled, and
every mountain and hill be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways be made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ (Luke 3:5-6)
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.’
Get ready for Christmas. Clear
ample space in your heart, in your mind, and in your soul to be amazed at the
incredible arrival of God from God, Light from Light. Get ready for the
arrival of God made man – Jesus and all that his birth as our human savior
means.
Christmas is thrilling, amazing –
but it is only a beginning. The beginning of a journey in which we as
Christians, disciples of Christ, are formed by and must act according to the
reality and the theology of Christmas.
As we gather each week at St.
Simon’s, as we interact with family and community, will we open our hearts and
minds, recognizing the trauma that all have suffered? Will we work together to
create a stable and caring community in which all are equally valuable in the
eyes of God – in which healing, compassion, love, and forgiveness are a
priority?
Advent is the time to think about
all of this. Christmas is the time to joyfully receive our gift and allow it to
boil over into the world through the King of Angels – God – in us. AMEN
