Entering the Christmas Story
The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
Homily “Blue” Holiday Vespers
Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
December 15, 2013
I begin tonight’s reflection with what some might call a confession. Although I am now 44 years old, I still like watching the old clay-mation Christmas shows from my childhood…Santa Claus is Coming to Town, the The Year Without a Santa Claus, and my all-time favorite, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Now Rudolph is an unlikely hero. He is by all accounts, a misfit. He’d like to fit in, but instead he stands out, or more accurately is pushed out by those around him who are unable or perhaps unwilling to recognize their kinship with him.
Christmas is just a few days away now and I wonder about those among us, who, like Rudolph, stand out or are feeling pushed out in the midst this most visible, and commercialized of Christian holidays, a time of year where joy and goodwill seem almost mandatory.
I wonder, for example, what this time of year is like for people of faiths other than Christianity…or no particular faith of all, or for folks estranged from family and friends…and I especially wonder about people for whom Christmas is not a joyous time of year, but a painful one, fraught with sadness, uncertainty, or even fear. Perhaps some of you here in our sanctuary tonight are feeling left out or pushed out because you don’t quite fit or feel the “Christmas spirit” handed down or marketed to us.
Christian or not, most of us don’t likely associate the Christmas story, that is, the story of Jesus’ birth with feelings of isolation, sadness, uncertainty, or fear. And yet it is all there.
“Do not be afraid” says the angel of the Lord to Joseph; “Fear not” says the angel Gabriel to Mary; “Fear not”, says the angel of the Lord to the shepherds abiding in the fields; and Herod…we’re told Herod was “troubled” or afraid we might say, upon hearing of the birth of Jesus.
While the story of Jesus’ birth as told in gospels of Matthew and Luke and conflated in church pageants and Hollywood alike into a single narrative can at times seem an impossibly fanciful tale, it is in fact, a profoundly human story… in which the vulnerability and resiliency of the human spirit are lifted up…It is a story with the potential to meet us wherever we are in our own lives.
I invite you now for a moment, as much as your able, to let go of any expectations you or others might have of yourself around Christmas and enter into the story with me…
Contemplating the familiar narrative with a spacious heart and mind… we can begin to see why the angels say to Joseph, Mary and the Shepherds, “Fear not!” or “Do not be afraid.” For in announcing the birth of Jesus, they are announcing an event that will change everything…for some the child’s birth has been long awaited or hoped for, and for others it is a confusing or even dreaded event. We know from our own experiences that change, welcome or not, is often scary. Even Herod, a king, is shaken by news of Jesus’ birth, for this little baby, the wisemen tell him, is said to be the “King of the Jews.”
Now, ask yourself, Who are you in the Christmas story?
Are you an angel, persistent, even forceful in your optimism, trying to ease the minds and warm the hearts of troubled family and friends, a messenger of hope perhaps for a loved one who is sick or hurting…in the hospital or nursing home. Are you Joseph, faced with a difficult, and let’s face it, confusing situation, not sure what to do, perhaps tempted to run, but feeling like this time something is calling you to let the situation unfold and trust in your ability handle it?
Perhaps you are Mary, bearing the burden of expectations… your own and that of others; carrying mixed feelings of joy and apprehension, or as if the weight of the world is on your shoulders as you attempt to meet the demands of being a parent, lover, caregiver or friend?
Maybe you are a shepherd or a wiseman, going about your business and suddenly finding your routine interrupted by something you didn’t ask for, something beyond your control, something that compels you get up and seek meaning in unfamiliar or humble places? Or maybe you feel most like Herod, troubled…perhaps saddened, frightened or angered by change that threatens your very identity and the order of your world, not unlike a separation or divorce…a new diagnosis, uncertain prognosis or even death?
Which, if any of these people from the Christmas story, are you at this moment? Do you recognize yourself or identify with some of the emotions present in this story?
We’re so used to being told how we should feel on Christmas…joyful, hopeful, grateful, that this story, steeped in the drama of the human experience, has been diluted in a bath of sentimentality.
But the reality is sometimes in this season of bright stars, warm candles and twinkling lights, we find ourselves standing in the shadows, dwelling in darkness...perhaps afraid, unsure, lonely, or sad. This is part of the human experience and the Christmas story as much as joy, gratitude and hope. Most, if not all, of us have walked landscapes in our lives where even the smallest of dreams struggle to take root in the arid soil of its unforgiving terrain. If you are such a place right now, it’s okay, you are not alone.
By entering the Christmas story as we are right now rather than how we think or have been told we should be in this season we make room for and honor our vulnerability as human beings and in so doing we may come to see our own life or situation reflected in the experience of Joseph or Mary, the shepherds, or wise men or Herod; we may come to recognize our own fears, uncertainty, and confusion in theirs and we just might also begin to discern hope in the most unexpected, fearsome, and humbling experiences of life, not unlike the birth, messy and miraculous, of a helpless little baby on a dark night long ago.
May it be so.
Amen and Blessed Be
The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
Homily “Blue” Holiday Vespers
Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
December 15, 2013
I begin tonight’s reflection with what some might call a confession. Although I am now 44 years old, I still like watching the old clay-mation Christmas shows from my childhood…Santa Claus is Coming to Town, the The Year Without a Santa Claus, and my all-time favorite, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Now Rudolph is an unlikely hero. He is by all accounts, a misfit. He’d like to fit in, but instead he stands out, or more accurately is pushed out by those around him who are unable or perhaps unwilling to recognize their kinship with him.
Christmas is just a few days away now and I wonder about those among us, who, like Rudolph, stand out or are feeling pushed out in the midst this most visible, and commercialized of Christian holidays, a time of year where joy and goodwill seem almost mandatory.
I wonder, for example, what this time of year is like for people of faiths other than Christianity…or no particular faith of all, or for folks estranged from family and friends…and I especially wonder about people for whom Christmas is not a joyous time of year, but a painful one, fraught with sadness, uncertainty, or even fear. Perhaps some of you here in our sanctuary tonight are feeling left out or pushed out because you don’t quite fit or feel the “Christmas spirit” handed down or marketed to us.
Christian or not, most of us don’t likely associate the Christmas story, that is, the story of Jesus’ birth with feelings of isolation, sadness, uncertainty, or fear. And yet it is all there.
“Do not be afraid” says the angel of the Lord to Joseph; “Fear not” says the angel Gabriel to Mary; “Fear not”, says the angel of the Lord to the shepherds abiding in the fields; and Herod…we’re told Herod was “troubled” or afraid we might say, upon hearing of the birth of Jesus.
While the story of Jesus’ birth as told in gospels of Matthew and Luke and conflated in church pageants and Hollywood alike into a single narrative can at times seem an impossibly fanciful tale, it is in fact, a profoundly human story… in which the vulnerability and resiliency of the human spirit are lifted up…It is a story with the potential to meet us wherever we are in our own lives.
I invite you now for a moment, as much as your able, to let go of any expectations you or others might have of yourself around Christmas and enter into the story with me…
Contemplating the familiar narrative with a spacious heart and mind… we can begin to see why the angels say to Joseph, Mary and the Shepherds, “Fear not!” or “Do not be afraid.” For in announcing the birth of Jesus, they are announcing an event that will change everything…for some the child’s birth has been long awaited or hoped for, and for others it is a confusing or even dreaded event. We know from our own experiences that change, welcome or not, is often scary. Even Herod, a king, is shaken by news of Jesus’ birth, for this little baby, the wisemen tell him, is said to be the “King of the Jews.”
Now, ask yourself, Who are you in the Christmas story?
Are you an angel, persistent, even forceful in your optimism, trying to ease the minds and warm the hearts of troubled family and friends, a messenger of hope perhaps for a loved one who is sick or hurting…in the hospital or nursing home. Are you Joseph, faced with a difficult, and let’s face it, confusing situation, not sure what to do, perhaps tempted to run, but feeling like this time something is calling you to let the situation unfold and trust in your ability handle it?
Perhaps you are Mary, bearing the burden of expectations… your own and that of others; carrying mixed feelings of joy and apprehension, or as if the weight of the world is on your shoulders as you attempt to meet the demands of being a parent, lover, caregiver or friend?
Maybe you are a shepherd or a wiseman, going about your business and suddenly finding your routine interrupted by something you didn’t ask for, something beyond your control, something that compels you get up and seek meaning in unfamiliar or humble places? Or maybe you feel most like Herod, troubled…perhaps saddened, frightened or angered by change that threatens your very identity and the order of your world, not unlike a separation or divorce…a new diagnosis, uncertain prognosis or even death?
Which, if any of these people from the Christmas story, are you at this moment? Do you recognize yourself or identify with some of the emotions present in this story?
We’re so used to being told how we should feel on Christmas…joyful, hopeful, grateful, that this story, steeped in the drama of the human experience, has been diluted in a bath of sentimentality.
But the reality is sometimes in this season of bright stars, warm candles and twinkling lights, we find ourselves standing in the shadows, dwelling in darkness...perhaps afraid, unsure, lonely, or sad. This is part of the human experience and the Christmas story as much as joy, gratitude and hope. Most, if not all, of us have walked landscapes in our lives where even the smallest of dreams struggle to take root in the arid soil of its unforgiving terrain. If you are such a place right now, it’s okay, you are not alone.
By entering the Christmas story as we are right now rather than how we think or have been told we should be in this season we make room for and honor our vulnerability as human beings and in so doing we may come to see our own life or situation reflected in the experience of Joseph or Mary, the shepherds, or wise men or Herod; we may come to recognize our own fears, uncertainty, and confusion in theirs and we just might also begin to discern hope in the most unexpected, fearsome, and humbling experiences of life, not unlike the birth, messy and miraculous, of a helpless little baby on a dark night long ago.
May it be so.
Amen and Blessed Be
Proudly powered by Weebly