Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash
It probably feels hard to keep the “merry” in “Merry Christmas” this year.
We will miss so many of the usual Christmas traditions.
It will be hard not to feel the arms of loved ones around our shoulders, the movement of air vibrations coming from behind as the organ and choir belt out the “Hallelujah” chorus,” or a sacramental wafer placed reverently on our tongues.
While it is right to grieve, it is also right to find unexpected blessings in our stripped-down celebrations of the Incarnation this year.
We can focus more clearly on the “why:” Why did God choose to live among us?
Reason #1: To “Compassionate”
I know “compassionate” won’t be found in the dictionary, but it should be.
God was compassion incarnate.
God lived, breathed, demonstrated, and “verbed” compassion by going through what we go through.
Think of what God accepted by being born:
Human vulnerability through dependency on parents to be fed, clothed, sheltered, kept from harm, learn a trade and make a living
Human maturation like growing pains, and outgrowing his sandals. (Did an adolescent Jesus ever yearn for sandals like the rich kids wore?)
Human ignorance that required teachers and study to learn Hebrew to read, math and geometry to shape wood into furniture or a shack, Roman law to know his “rights” as a citizen.
Human confines of time and space. Assuming God is omnipresent, did the human Jesus miss not knowing what was happening in the Americas, or Indonesia, or Antarctica? Did Jesus experience that like a long news blackout?
And all the human feelings, like fear, joy, sorrow, frustration, anger, curiosity, gratitude, shame, wanting to belong, be seen and understood.
Why go to so much trouble?
So we would know that God, the most powerful force in the universe, knows.
Never can we say we learn, suffer, fear, mourn—or die—alone.
What better Christmas gift can anyone ever receive?
Reason #2: To Serve
Imagine if your favorite (and not so favorite) politician, CEO, and entertainer gave up their fame, power, and existing and future income beyond the 2019 median American household income and live on $68,733 per year, and instead:
Uplifted the poor in spirit
Comforted those who mourn
Empowered the meek for leadership
Worked at the local level to change the laws for those who have not received righteousness
Forgave those who dissed them
Praised community peacemakers and organizers
Organized welcome efforts for newcomers to their neighborhoods
Sought out and addressed the root causes of poverty, fear of others, and the selfishness of “me and mine” above “you and yours'“
Suggested to their fellow rich and powerful that they join them in service
It’s almost inconceivable that people with that much at their disposal, people who can do pretty much anything they want whenever they want, would give it all up.
How much more astonishing for God to have done so then?
God who has all the power, all of it, and gave all of it up to serve.
Even though God gave everything up to serve others, Jesus still always had enough.
If we were to do the same, I’m pretty sure we would too.
The Incarnation would become us—and keep on giving.
Reason #3: To Redeem
Kathleen Norris wrote, “For me, the Incarnation is the place, if you will, where hope contends with fear. Not an antique doctrine at all, but reality—as ordinary as my everyday struggles with fears great and small, as exalted as the hope that allows me some measure of peace when I soldier on in the daily round” (Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, p. 30).
Yes, God came to redeem us from “the big one,” death, by forgiving us our sins, for which we can (literally) be eternally grateful.
But as death happens only once and at the end of our lives, Jesus also redeems the day-to-day.
Jesus reshapes our daily fears and turns them into hope.
Our fears, after all, are the manifestations of dread that we might lose something that matters to us, like power, wealth, fame, respect, safety, or regard.
But what happens when compassion and service get a hold of our fears?
They reshape our fears into hope.
Hope for a future God envisions.
For instance, you know those heroes and saints we admire, like Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela, and those from World War II whose stories inspire us?
They were people who contended with fear and hope, and allowed hope, compassion, and service to help them decide what to do next.
They incarnated the Incarnation.
They created a different future than the one fear promised.
We can too, with Jesus’s help.
What future do our fears promise?
Whatever it is, it’s pretty grim.
What alternate future does Jesus hope for us?
Whatever it is, I like that one better.
And Jesus’s future doesn’t depend on our current problems being resolved before hope can be realized: Jesus’s compassion and service are available to redeem our fears right now.
Merry Christmas.
It’s not too late to join us for
Start to Finish (S2F) Advent 4/Christmas Sermon Workshop
Monday, Dec. 14th, to Friday, Dec. 18th!
Finish all your holiday sermons by Friday in a fun and focused time of preparation:
Colleagues.
A mentor.
Fresh inspiration.
Feedback.
And 5 easy, reliable steps you can use over and over for better sermons in less time.
Available to members of The Collectives.
How to take advantage of this week’s workshop:
Head to “Events” and RSVP for each day’s session (choose from 3 times, including one especially for folks new to Backstory Preaching or The Collectives)
Finish all your sermons by Friday so you can relax heading into Christmas week!