Some years ago we sent out a Christmas card that turned out to be one of my all time favorites. I've been looking for that card ever since, but can't find it.
In the very center of the card are all the familiar characters of the Nativity. MARY, JOSEPH, THE BABY JESUS; the MAGI; the SHEPHERDS; the ANGELS. But then, gathered all around are all these regular people dressed in business suits and fancy dresses; some wearing Levis and overalls; some clad in rags, and others in uniforms of all kinds. There are old ones, and young ones, rich ones and poor ones; people from many nations and races. I remember the first time I laid eyes on that card. It hooked me immediately! I looked carefully at each face, each expression, almost as if I half expected to see my own face.
We're surrounded by Nativity Scenes--on greeting cards--in front of our altar-in our homes--displayed in neighborhood yards, sometimes right alongside Christmas lights and Santa and the reindeer. But is it real? I mean is it real? Or is it merely something cute, quaint, a nice story, something for children, not really real. Is the nativity scene just so much seasonal decoration? Is it real?
There are those who say that the only sure thing is what we read in our newspapers every day, and see on our televisions every morning; WHAT'S REALLY REAL is the senseless violence that seems to get closer and closer and closer all the time; WHAT'S REALLY REAL is global rising nationalism and political ethnic emergence that is triggering instability and war and suffering all over the planet; WHAT'S REALLY REAL is drug use and all the related heart-aches that go with it; WHAT'S REALLY REAL is the erosion of values; WHAT'S REALLY REAL is simply learning how to survive one day at a time in this frightening world, and to look out for self interests because no one else will. And, a part of me says "Amen" and "That is true!" But if it is true, then I also must acknowledge that to LIVE TOTALLY WITHIN THAT REALITY
-is to be reduced in dignity by the world...
-is to live as small as the world says we ought to live...
-is to be scrunched within the world's parameters...
-is to be crushed by the world's pressures...
-is to be dehumanized by the world's twisted values...
-is to cry in despair and hopelessness at the world's wounds and the world's pains.
-is to withdraw and isolate oneself and lose one's spirit...
If you and I decide that the dominant reality is the negative stuff that goes on in the world out there, then we, of all people, are to be most pitied.
If we gaze at the nativity scene with eyes that see nothing really real; see nothing really significant; see nothing connected with the divine, nothing relevant, I believe we will also look at ourselves, and look at one another and see nothing in ourselves or anybody else of any real great value either; nothing spiritual within us; creatures unrelated to God--alienated from anything holy and precious--insignificant specks of dust in the universe-- nothing more or less than creatures born, who live, and then we die--whose main purpose is to make the best of it for ourselves while we are alive in difficult world.
Have you ever seen yourself in the nativity scene? If you believe the only authentic and normative reality is the world out there--then probably not!
But tonight I invite you to take a risk for a moment or two, to kneel with me, in mind and heart, at the nativity scene. I invite you to come out from behind your desk, or your uniform, or your credentials, or your fears, or your pride, even your doubt and come with me to the nativity...
-to feel the woosh of air from the angel's wings...
-to open your eyes wide in expectation and awesome wonder...
-to hear the prophets tell us that God is coming to give light to any and all who are walking in great darkness...
-to walk in trembling and haste with the shepherds...
-to mount your camel and take a bold risk of faith like the magi.
I invite you to come with me to see if you can see your face in the nativity scene. So where are you? BY WHOM CAN YOU STAND?
WITH THE MAGI? I suppose not everyone is a free spirit who can go chasing dreams and stars like the MAGI. But there are some of us, maybe you, maybe me, maybe most, who travel on the wings of dreams, who respond to voices within that may sound a little like the voices of angels or the beckoning of God. I believe that most of us long and yearn for more, look for more, believe there is more than the mundane and the daily litany of bad news. There are some who take very seriously that God's presence does break through into our ordinary, cold and indifferent world, providing light for a new path when we've reached our dead ends--providing inspiration to guide us along our way. There are some who unashamedly look and believe that a light can and will shine even in their darkest, most darkest of moments and days. In other words there are those who still have the courage to follow the star. How about you? DO YOU... CAN YOU... WILL YOU... STAND WITH THE MAGI?
How about the with the SHEPHERDS IN THE FIELDS -- maybe that's you? Like the shepherds, there are many who care for sheep, or care for whatever it is that has been given to them to care for. They know their places, the places they live and the places they work. They fit into the routines that sometimes bore them to tears, or they live locked and trapped in situations that prevent them from fully using their wings and expressing their potential. Perhaps you know how it feels to be lonely and forgotten, or to be locked in by something, as though nobody cares what you do, or who you are! How about you? DO YOU... CAN YOU... KNEEL WITH THE SHEPHERDS?
Then there's JOSEPH. In most renderings of the nativity Joseph is usually standing off to the side or in the back. Perhaps sometimes you feel like Joseph--always finding yourself in the background, standing on tiptoe looking over somebody's shoulder to see what's going on. Yet you've been given great responsibility and a heavy burden--expected to give solid support to those who are given greater roles-- expected to be responsible as the day is long--always doing what is needed--expected to be a model of faith, one who has to believe--perhaps against incredible pressures and great odds! How about you? DO YOU... CAN YOU... STAND WITH JOSEPH? Some might even find themselves with MARY. Mary is the one who doesn't laugh in the face of God when she hears God's plans for the world, which she could have taken as one gigantic joke! When the angel says, "With God nothing is impossible," Mary accepts the promise of the angel and shapes her life around that promise! The very idea that within her womb grows the hope of all the ages...her son...the son of a nobody! Wow! Incredible! And yet, she believed it! She burst, not into cynical laughter, but into a song! And she went to her relatives to announce it with joy, not with shame convinced that she and the world stood on the brink of a reality that can make all the difference in the world, and for the worldly. How about you? DO YOU... CAN YOU... DARE YOU... BE THERE WITH MARY?
Christmas is not something that we do, even though it seems like we do more at this time of year than any other time of year. In all of our doing, and going, buying, and hurrying, and scurrying, we often miss Christmas. Christmas, first of all, is not something that we do, but Christmas, before anything, is something that happens to us. Christmas is about a divine reality trying to be born into our lives, and born into our sometimes harsh and cold world!
That divine reality can only be born in us when we come out from behind whatever it is we are hiding behind, and meet at the manger, and look the child in the eye, and cradle the child in our arms, and feel, touch, hold and smell real, authentic, passionate love like the world has never seen; see yourself very much included in the circle of that divine love; see your face in the nativity.
The world cynically carries on about being realistic! Sometimes we catch ourselves saying it too. But, once we have been to Bethlehem, once we have knelt before the child, once you've seen your face in the nativity, you'll never be quite be the same--cynicism and despair and fear can never win you over anymore!
In Matthew God warned the Magi in a dream to "return by another way." You see, once we've been there, really been there and seen the child--and sung our alleuia's with angels, seen life and reality through a new perspective--filled our hearts and minds with new thoughts, new dreams, new purpose; once we've been to Bethlehem, from that point on, our walk and our view is never the same again. NO matter how cold and broken and harsh the world gets, the fire and passion of God's love still burns in our souls and the world cannot win it's despairing victory in your heart ever again. Do you see your face in the nativity? Come with me to Bethlehem... and be touched... and believe... and be filled with God's passionate love for you... and then return from seeing the child by another way... a new way that makes a difference, for you, for me, for our world... a way that helps others see their face in the nativity too! Amen.