Christmas Eve 2019
Luke 2:1-14(15-20)
The Rev. Dr. Kathy Kelly
When my oldest niece was baptized, it was a very special event for my family. She was the first grandchild and my brother and sister in-law and her family all grew up together in the same church. So, both sides of the extended family knew each other and the whole community joined in the joy of her birth and her baptism. We really took seriously that morning the vow for all of the community to raise this child in the faith.
The moment of that event that I remember as most special was an impromptu moment at an in-between time. We had come really early to rehearse and then had to wait almost and hour until the service because the pastor had other groups to tend to and so we were standing around in the large narthex of that church. There were maybe a dozen family members in this circle and we were passing that baby around. She was about 9 months old and dressed in the christening gown that every female child of that generation would eventually wear for their baptism. (I still have it because my child was the youngest.)
As we passed Jessica around that day we each cooed and kissed and tickled and enjoyed her wide eyed gaze, her yawns and stretches, even her crying when it was time to feed her. I felt a bit sad when her mother took her away from this circle to feed and fluff her, with hopes she would sleep in heavenly peace later while we sprinkled her with the water of salvation.
Tonight is the night that changes the world. This is the night when we celebrate the coming of God into the world as a human. This is the Feast of the Incarnation and so here we are again, overcome with awe in our awkward struggle to understand this unfathomable event. The Christ event. That night when Jesus was born and nothing on earth was ever the same again.
Tonight we celebrate the greatest miracle of all time. And we focus our hearts for a moment on that image of an infant God being lulled to “sleep in heavenly peace” by all of us singing, as we each hold our little light with hopes that the “Christ child will enter in” to our hearts once again.
A couple of years ago, I was serving a small church and I was exasperated with the children’s pageant. Well before Advent I had suggested a plan for rehearsals, costumes, casting and music – keep it simple and include all children who are interested. As most efforts go, there were the usual problems. I was frustrated and couldn’t keep up with the schedule changes. We could never find a time to rehearse with everyone there. I felt unappreciated, overwhelmed and greatly disappointed in the final outcome at dress rehearsal. I was so convinced this production could be so much better if only people would cooperate!
But it was precious when the children lined up in cute costumes in front of families with candles and greenery and we all sang Silent Night together. It was lovely, and I relaxed and enjoyed the moment - until I noticed a huge faux pas.
After the children got everybody feeling warm and fuzzy and they filed out of the chancel, where I was still sitting, I saw that in the chaos these little, inexperienced actors had left the baby Jesus behind. A worn baby doll, wrapped in some outgrown blankie laying in a poorly painted shoe box, they left it, just laying there on the steps of the chancel, discarded! My thoughts swirled. Why didn’t we remind one of the children to bring all the props off stage! Someone would trip over it on the way to communion! Could someone please grab that doll?! Could someone sneak over there unnoticed and shoved it up under the Christmas tree before it is seen?
I tried to make some meaning later of this image of the Christ child left behind. The abandoned Christ who stays anyway. The Christ who invites us to grow with him in our faith. But I was also left wondering if we somehow missed the point. I still wonder if we don’t risk missing the message of the Peace of Christmas.
The problem with this gift of Peace given us by the Prince of Peace is not that we take if for granted. The problem we still face is not our abandonment of the Christ child. The problem is that we think of this Peace, which comes from God, as something to be owned. We think that “the Peace of God which passes all understanding” is meant for each individual. And we think we can keep it for ourselves.
Most of us want world peace, and every person on earth wants peace for themself. We want peace of mind. We want that Peace of God to reassure us that our lives are meaningful that we are needed and useful. We want the Peace of God to bring us prosperity and health and happiness to our selves and our families. We want the Peace of God which was born in the manger on Christmas to fix our worries, ease our troubled minds and sometimes spite our enemies.
It’s O.K. That’s been our part of the story ever since that first Christmas. The disciples who first followed Jesus made the same mistake. They wanted a warrior king to free them from their oppression. They wanted reassurance of their survival and reassurance that their way of life, their culture, their traditions, their laws. They wanted all that to survive too. Like us, they misinterpreted the gift of Peace given by the Prince of Peace. They tried to own it.
But we know better too. We know that you have to share it to bring that peace to it’s fullness. You have to give it away in order for this Peace to change hearts. The Peace of God will change the world but only if we share it.
The Peace of Christmas is a miracle. But it is not one that we can own. We have to take it into the world.
The closest I can come to describing this miracle is to tell of another Christmas Eve miracle that happened 105 years ago this night, the Christmas Truce of 1914.
WWI was one of the deadliest conflicts of all time though also one of the shortest at just over 4 years. The death toll of that war was around a hundred million people. (If you include the 1918 world wide flu epidemic which came out of that war.)
John McCutcheon, a folk musician who many of you will remember as a Virginian, tells best the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 in his song called “Christmas in the Trenches.” Here are a couple of verses:
It was Christmas in the trenches where the frost so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were still, no Christmas song was sung
Our families back in England were toasting us that day
Their brave and glorious lads so far away
I was lyin' with my mess-mates on the cold and rocky ground
When across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound
Says I "Now listen up me boys,” each soldier strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear
As soon as they were finished a reverent pause was spent
'God rest ye merry, gentlemen' struck up some lads from Kent
The next they sang was 'Stille Nacht.’ "Tis 'Silent Night'" says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky
The song goes on to tell the true story of a spontaneous truce among the troops in at least five different battlefields along both Eastern and Western Fronts on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 1914. It is amazing this happened, considering the lack of communication they had. These German and French and English soldiers really did sing together and share what meager luxuries they had like chocolates and pictures from home. Some really did play soccer. Some helped bury each other’s dead and prisoners really were exchanged.
The higher ups were not pleased with this lack of discipline and the following year “the brass” sent out clear orders against any truces.
But for that one day the Great War ended on those frozen fields along the fronts of WWI.
Or as McCutcheaon wraps it up:
It was Christmas in the trenches where the frost so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung
For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone for ever more
The Peace of Christmas is a miracle. But it is not one that we can own.
We are commanded to give it away, to pass it on. The Peace of Christ is more about hope in an ailing world, love in a divided world and motivation to heal the world than it is about feeling better about my life, my circle of friends, my family. This Peace is not ours to own. The Peace of God can only be experienced if it is shared. Moreover, we are commanded to share it with “the least of these.” That means we are merely messengers of this Peace.
We are stewards of this Peace.
We do not own it. It is only owned by the workings of the Prince of Peace.
So tonight, come to this table and receive the greatest gift of all time, the Peace of Christ which passes all understanding. Let your light shine as we sing “sleep in heavenly peace” to this infant king who will grow in our hearts to be our Lord. But don’t leave the baby behind when you leave this place tonight.
Take the Peace of the Christ child with you.
And share it.
And let Him grow within you, and among you and rejoice in His Peace.
Amen.