O
Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
cast
out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.
We
hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O
come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
The blessings of the Holy Child born of Mary
be with
you and welcome you here under this roof
which
tonight is a glorified stable adorned by loving hands
and
where room is abundantly available
and
no one is shut out.
Welcome!
And we want to offer a special welcome to
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
to
all those visiting here tonight,
family
members and friends and neighbors,
all
of us together joining in song and prayers
and
the sharing of our precious feast of bread and wine,
modest in
that it looks small – a bit of bread, a sip of wine –
like
the baby in the manger,
but
nevertheless a hugely abundant sacramental resource
to
nourish and strengthen the most hungry soul.
It
is good to be here tonight,
to
choose to come here in the midst of whatever else is occurring
in
your homes and your lives for this holiday.
May
you find a refuge of love and joy here
in
the midst of a world of anger and violence and grief.
For
many throughout the world life is particularly hard and dark
either
from warfare and terrorism
or
from a continuous denial of justice
or
from the aftermath of angry violence
at
the hands of the mentally and emotionally damaged
or
the result of domestic violence
or
in the bondage of the new slavery of human trafficking.
So
much inhumanity coming from human beings.
This
year as I was pondering the ancient story of the Nativity
one
word in the text stood out for me in an unexpected way.
“And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host…”
--
heavenly host, host
--
What
is it that we usually picture in our minds for this?
Do
we see an angel choir with cherub faces
floating
aloft on gorgeous wings in the starry night sky
and
singing glory to God?
But
that is not what the word host signifies
here,
because
the word in the text, which is translated as host here,
is
actually the Greek word for army.
That
shifts the imagery significantly.
The
shepherds out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night
are
startled by the appearance of a bright messenger from God
there
in their midst
announcing
the birth of their Savior who, oddly enough,
will
be recognizeable, because this will be a baby
whose
cradle is a feeding trough, a manger.
And
then to compound the paradoxical news
the
angel is suddenly surrounded by an army vast in number,
an
army of angel warriors.
And
their war cry is “Glory to God in the highest,
and
on earth – peace!
What
were the shepherds to think? or
us? What are we to think?
The
historical setting for all this taking place
was
a particularly harsh and violent time.
The
people to whom this angelic message came lived in a country
groaning
under the oppression of a conquering army.
Any
hint of rebellion was put down violently by the heavy military presence,
and
further discouragement for revolt came in the form
of
crucifixion publicly displayed.
And
these people were being forced to pay heavy taxes,
taxes
to pay for the military expenses
of
the very soldiers standing over them.
Think
of this – the largest part of the Roman budget was for the military,
just
as it is for us in this country today.
What
might the shepherds hope for?
God’s
army come to liberate them?
Yet
what do the angels say?
Peace
on earth in those humans of good will,
in
those whose will is consistent with God’s will.
And
this will be accomplished for you and in you
through
the Savior born this night,
born
not in a royal palace to be commander in chief,
but
in an obscure and unlikely place.
What
a wonder!
In
the midst of all this inhumanity of violence and cruelty,
the
Holy Divine intervenes
complete
with an unearthly army of spiritual beings,
but
not as a political, military supreme divine leader
to
oppose the divine Roman emperor,
but
simply as a human being,
a
human being who would live among us
and
grow up and experience fully life in this world,
and
who would show us what it really means to be a human being,
what
it is like to live into the full potential of human being.
And
where did that full and mature humanity take him?
Right
to a Roman cross.
A
violent end reserved for criminals and enemies of the state.
Yet
that was the plan all along.
From
the moment of the first breath of the baby Jesus
his
fate was sealed; there would be a last breath.
Thus
it is with all of us.
But
for the Savior he would spend his life and give that last breath
as
a gift to all -- the gift of himself to be in us
that
we might know, really know and experience
that
peace the angel army proclaimed.
This
is liberation --
then
and now
from
all that oppresses
from
every inhumanity that can be perpetrated.
If
you do not know peace, the peace that passes all understanding,
then
come to the manger and gaze upon the Holy Child
until
the peace comes.
The
Christ Child is with us tonight,
en-fleshed
in bread and wine
and
our hearts.
I
conclude with these words from another the carols:
Yet with the
woes of sin and strife
the
world has suffered long;
beneath the
heavenly hymn have rolled
two
thousand years of wrong;
and warring
humankind hears not
the
tidings which they bring;
O hush the
noise and cease your strife
and hear the angels sing.
