Christmas Eve Homily
December 24, 2022 Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson Angels singing, stars shining, awe and wonder all around! Christmas magic! I confess I am a sucker for magical stories, particularly at Christmas. I’m a sucker for Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings and more recent fantasy magic series such as Wheel of Time and the rise in popularity of magical realism in literature. I love wizards and supernatural creatures and movies like the one we watched the other night, “The Boy Called Christmas,” about the magical Nordic origins of jolly, old, St. Nick. I love all these things. But that’s not what I am thinking of when I say Christmas magic. I am also a sucker for the magical ordinary thing like the warm, fuzzy, magic feeling we get when we see the twinkling Christmas lights in Old Town Fort Collins or on our own tree, when we smell Christmas breads and cookies baking, when our family is gathered around the table and behaving well, when we light the candles and sing “Silent Night” as we will do in just a moment, when beloved memories of Christmases past come flooding into our minds and hearts. I love all those magical, wondrous things as well. But still, that’s not what I am thinking of when I say Christmas magic. What do I mean by magic? I definitely don’t mean trickery or chicanery. And I don’t just mean fantasy stories or warm, fuzzy feelings. When I speak of Christmas magic, I am seeking something deeper. Trying to put my finger on it, grasping to articulate what I something I feel deep within, a connection with the Holy. There is a 14th century definition that tells us that magic is the “art of …. producing marvels using hidden natural forces.”[i] Hidden natural forces …. I think of the hidden natural ways of the world such as the magic of human birth – the births of all earth’s creatures – the magic of seeds sprouting in the dark, rich, even cold, soil, the magic of photosynthesis, the magic of birds flocking in a murmuration, the magic of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly in a chrysalis. Yes, we know these marvels through science that explains the wondrous mechanics of the world. Scientists can tell us about the origin and movement of stars. We have phenomenal photos of stars from the Hubble and Webb telescopes. And it is scientifically true that there are elements in the cells of the human body are the elements of stardust, most likely made in the supernovas of stars. I love all these things and they are marvels of hidden natural forces…magic! However, Spirit draws me deeper still in my quest for Christmas magic. As I ponder these things, I realize with the help of theologians and mystics that, perhaps, Christmas magic is grace. Grace: unmerited favor, love, and help, particularly coming from God. Grace: to give thanks, to praise.[ii] Grace, not something physically tangible, until we experience it in action. In Luke’s story of all the events leading up Jesus’s birth and its joyous proclamation there are marvels of grace, hidden natural forces of God. Consider how Divine Love’s unmerited favor came upon an unwed mother and brought forth the gift of the Child Emmanuel, God-With-Us. How exactly? Pregnant by the Holy Spirit literally? Or blessed by God’s love in a state many a young woman has found herself in not necessarily through her own fault, pregnant and unwed? Does it matter how it happened? Every child is a gift of the Holy and holds the divine spark of God’s love. And think of the grace of Joseph as he takes Mary as his wife and raises the child, Jesus, as his own. Is this not a marvel and have we not seen this extension of grace in relationships in our own community? Its divine love! It’s a hidden natural force that can be found within the heart of all human beings if we each pay attention. It’s grace! It’s magic! It’s present and possible in each of us right now! And on the larger level of the story, did you hear the opening of Luke 2? “A decree went out from the emperor Augustus, that all the world should be registered.” All shall be registered so that all can be taxed so that the empire can grow in the power and might that oppresses the poor and lifts up the rich. All must go to their hometowns…. all, the sick, the lame, the pregnant woman on the verge of giving birth…to be registered. It’s a forced march in a dystopian world of those who have conquered, those who must obey or else. There is no grace here. This is not quite the romantic story we are expecting. The story of Jesus’ birth begins with great hardship under a brutal regime. And yet, God’s child slips in at an unknown address, “no room in the inn,” off the grid, an unregistered place and is born in stable, cradled in a manger, among the animals of God’s creation.[iii] God’s grace slips right through that net of the emperor’s control. A marvel from hidden natural forces made manifest in the kindness of God’s people and the nurture of God’s creation. Then there are the shepherds – more unregistered folks who have no address, who live in the hills caring for animals that produce wool and meat for the care of God’s people, not for the forces of empire – the shepherds are the ones who receive the divine good news which shall be to ALL people![iv] Grace for ALL people, not for control and subjugation of the world. God’s love and grace are active and present in the world the shepherds proclaim. And we shall know this grace and love in the face of a vulnerable, newborn baby in an obscure stable, off the grid of public recognition, surrounded by humble human and creatures. The shepherds hear and believe. They go and see. They trust what they see and they proclaim God’s good news. The lowliest on the empire scale of worth are the worthiest to bring the world the greatest news – God is with us – ever and always. Thus, down through the ages we will know God in the marvels of hidden natural forces, the birth of a baby; the baby who grows into a twelve-year-old boy with tenacious and precocious questions in the Temple learning from and with the rabbis; the baby who grows into the young man teaching, healing, telling stories, over-turning tables of greed, in the name of God’s unmerited grace and love for ALL people! This is the Christmas magic I have been searching for. How about you? God’s grace come in human form to bring good news to the poor and healing for the sick, liberation for the captive. This is the good news that God sets us free from the greed of the world, the power grabs of tyrants, the smallness of our own fearful hearts. As we embrace the magic of God’s grace, marvels of justice and love made manifest in hidden natural forces, we are empowered to BE, to embody, God’s grace in our hurting world. We are set on a magical quest to bring the realm of God into being here and now. It is Christmas Eve, my friends! Tonight, may we glimpse God’s transforming Christmas magic through sparkling tree lights, gingerbread smells, family and presents, and singing Silent Night lit only by candles. May we know that it is a deeper magic which carries us though every day of the year as we follow the ways of God made known in the Christ Child come to be with us in heart and mind, soul and heart. May we Be the magic of Christmas in the world all year long! Angels are singing, stars are shining, awe and wonder are all around! Merry Christmas! Amen. ©The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson, 2022 and beyond. May be reprinted only with permission. [i] https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=Magic [ii] https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=grace [iii] https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2019/12/23/rethinking-christmas-eve [iv] https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2019/12/23/rethinking-christmas-eve
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