Wednesday, December 19, 2018 (for Advent Four)

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”  (1 John 4:7)

(The Unconventional Baptist is going to take a two-week Christmas break. See you in January!) 

                There were times when I was in pastoral ministry that during Advent and Christmas I would wonder what, if anything, I could preach about the baby Jesus which might sound fresh, new and creative. Not that the Nativity Story, itself, is boring but there is only so much that one can say about Hope, Peace, Joy and Love before I feared that it might become too repetitive and people begin to tune out.  We’ve heard this before. There is nothing new here to see or hear.

It’s a wonderful story, but so what? What does it really got to do with you or your world or your life except it is a pleasant distraction for a few days of the year – at least, if one can afford it, or get along with family over turkey dinner or manage the stress and worry.

It is all too easy to gaze into a manger and become blasé about this curious event in Bethlehem.

How many hundreds of times have we sung the same old Christmas carols over and over again?

How many Christmas pageants have we, as parents and grandparents, attended and seen the same old dressing gowns, baby Jesus doll and shepherds’ costumes?

How many candles have we lit on Christmas Eve?

How many times have we heard Luke 2: 1 -20 be read?

Here is an incredible, wondrous and highly imaginative and inspired Story which tries to bring the Love of God down to earth, just for us. Let us not take this Story for granted or assume that there is no relevant, current, contemporary   message that could renew, re- animate, and re-introduce the themes, the majesty, the glory of Christmas for each and every one of us.

Paul wrote, “But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.” (Galatians 4: 4 -5, Good News Bible)

When the right time came – I would suggest that our present time too - today, this Christmas -  is especially also the right time for the Love of God to be seen and felt and to engage the world in which we live.  There is no more appropriate time than right Now for the fresh Word of Love to become flesh and blood and bone to bring a message of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. Heaven knows that we could use this Message, especially in this day and age.

I haven’t done the homework about who chose them or when these themes were chosen for Advent. But I know that as I observe the world in which we live I am struck as to how critically important these four themes are for the times in which we live. I am not prepared to sentimentalize these themes into cozy, warm, Christmas-y feelings. They are deep-seated, tough themes for hard times as they challenge the political, secular, worldly drift that, as surely as Caesar Augustus’ decree, treats us as commodities and political bases to maintain power and coercion.

Ignore them at your peril.

Perhaps, that doesn’t sound very Merry Christmas-like. But what I am trying to say is that the Birth of Jesus is a sweeping venture by God to re-engage humanity in the Work of God’s Love and Grace, which we name as Redemption.  This Birth is highly imaginative, creative, lively, all-encompassing even in its simplicity and mystery. Don’t underestimate the sacred power which permeates its core and purpose.

Find yourself in embedded in the lives of Elizabeth and Zechariah, or Mary and Joseph or the shepherds’ field, or the innkeeper or the magi or even Herod. Find yourself swaddled in the dynamic of the imagery and subtle overtones of God taking on the arrogance and pride of the Roman world with a message of all things, Love.  

Blows your mind!  Have a truly wonder-filled Christmas!

Dale