December 25, 2016, Christmas Day YR A
December 25, 2016 Christmas Day YR A The Rev. Deacon Anne Abdy "You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” Hebrews 1: 5 The Christ-Child is born! The Christ-Child is here! Alleluia! Alleluia.
The last time that I preached I suggested we were in a waiting period. We were “on hold” so to speak. I could not hasten the coming of Christ’s return. We had to journey through the season of Advent. We had to walk through the darkness to see the dawning of the light. So as I reflected on today’s readings, I, like many others, remembered family members who have passed and the family that I cannot be with on this special day. But I also remembered times of joy and the sounds of laughter.
As children living in a household with a father who was a priest, we did not always grow up playing cops and robbers. Instead, we played church or re-enacted Bible stories. The memory that bubbled to the forefront was the one where my brother and I re-enacted being the Holy Family. I remember this event is because there is a childhood photo of my brother dressed in a sheet wrapped around his body and a large stick as a staff. And me, sitting near the standing Joseph with a blue veil on my head and cradling a baby-doll in my arms.
Yes, the Christ-Child is born. While my brother and I engaged in imaginary play, Jesus is the God-incarnate. Jesus is human. This is not imaginary play. This is God made flesh.
Every year Christmas Day, this day, reminds us of the birth of Jesus. The astounding claim, “You are my Son, I have begotten you” from the Epistle today, is resounding through all the world. From Jerusalem with pilgrims taking selfies at the birthplace of the Holy Child to us sitting here today. We can easily be distracted by the opening of wrapped gifts, or the need to troll Facebook to watch from a distance friends’ celebrations this morning.
But on this day, as Christians we cannot forget the “connection between God and flesh.”[1] The connection between the body and Spirit. The God made flesh will translate into a bigger story of death and resurrection, and redemption and salvation for all. But that part of the story is far off.
Right now, the innocent babe lying in a manger is the reflection of God in humanity. The truth of this day, the incarnation of a human baby, “keeps us all awake and alert to the possibility of the glory of God in the flesh of humanity”[2] Today reminds us of God’s presence, a Holy Presence, in you and me.
Jesus is here. Alleluia! Alleluia.
Merry Christmas everyone!
[1] David Lyon Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Feasting On the Word, Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), 134.
[2] David Lyon Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Feasting On the Word, Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), 136.