The Word of God has a
way of making itself a part of the very fabric of your life, if you let
it. If the Word of God ever implants itself, even a little bit, in the
world, it can influence, shape, and form all of life. That’s the message
of Advent. The Word of God, Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem, one of
the little clans of Judah (as the Prophet Malachi called it), in a stable
to two poor parents in 1st Century Galilee. From that
insignificant beginning the world was saved. That’s what we celebrate at
Christmastime. That’s what we embrace again as we receive this great gift
of love.
The Word that created
life, empowered prophecy, imparted divine promises, brought forth
blessing, the Word of God has a way of doing all of that with you, right
now, if you let it. That’s what makes this story of two kinswomen who are
about to have babies so interesting and vital to us today. Why else would
the impending birth of two children in that insignificant part of the
world so long ago make any difference at all to us today? It is because
the Word of God made itself a part of the fabric of 1st century
life in this very small way that we now prepare to celebrate that same
gift to all the world at Christmastime.
This is a message of
Advent we often miss. The Word of God comes, implants itself in the midst
of life in an insignificant way in you, and through you the world is
blessed. That’s how God works. That makes the message of Advent so very
personal. Good news spreads far and fast, if you let it.
That’s what happened to
Mary’s older relative, Elizabeth who, at the angel’s announcement to Mary,
was already 6 months along in carrying her own child, John (to be called
the Baptist), her only child with whom she was blessed while she was well
on in years. When Mary arrived to visit her, there was no need for Mary
to announce she was with child also, for Elizabeth’s child leaped for joy
within her as Mary greeted them—Elizabeth already knew and she blesses her
young relative, the mother of her Lord. You see, the Word of God has a
way of making itself a part of the very fabric of your life, if you let
it. Good news spreads far and fast, if you let it.
And so Mary, so full of
the blessing and grace of God, offers spontaneous song and praise and
thanksgiving to God. The Magnificat, presented so magnificently by choir,
organ, and brass this morning, boldly declares that even as God has
blessed Mary, the lowliest of God’s people, so God will bless all people
through every generation, bringing down the strong and proud and lifting
up the lowly; filling the hungry and sending the rich away. Mary truly
believes that good news spreads far and fast, if you let it.
Now much has been said
about the origins of our Christmas holiday. It is no secret that the date
of Christmas was not set until the 4th century. It is no
secret that one of the main reasons for the setting of the date of
Christmas by the church as December 25 was to counter the popular pagan
holidays so prevalent at the time involving:
-
Special rituals and
celebrations in Europe to welcome back the sun as longer days
approached,
-
The Scandinavian
Yuletide feast to welcome the sun’s return, or
-
The Roman festival
“Saturnalia” celebrating their god Saturn with garlands of laurel and
green trees lit with candles.
You know what I say to
that? Good for the church! If the culture needed redeeming by the
displacement of immoral and misguided revelry by the moral influence of
the Christian Gospel then I am glad the church tried to make it right.
Bad news, you see, travels so far so fast almost all by itself. Human
culture and society is so easily infected by the improper, the immoral,
the short-sighted, and the penultimate. Unfortunately we are still living
with the inappropriate excesses of these earlier pagan festivals as we all
too easily indulge ourselves in the greediness and gluttony so prevalent
among us this time of year. It seems the church has not completely
succeeded in displacing holiday misguided revelry even today! But that’s
the way bad news is. That which is not so good for us so often infects us
so easily.
But the message of
Advent is that good news spreads far and fast, if you let it. You see,
people of God, Advent people, Christmas people are called by God and
blessed by God to spread good news, not bad. God knows that bad news
doesn’t need any special help to spread itself around. You and I know how
poisonous it is for any of us to spread around despair or disappointment
or anger or frustration among one another. We human beings so easily
catch hold of that bad news and soon it affects us all.
But Mary didn’t have to
say a thing. Elizabeth’s baby wiggled and kicked with joy within her as
soon as Mary came near. Mary had good news and Elizabeth knew it even
before she was told. Good news spreads far and fast, if you let it.
At Christmastime the
planet Jupiter is particularly visible in the sky. According to the
recent broadcast of the public radio program “Star Date,” if you look
right next to the moon at its rising you can just see it. Jupiter has
many moons. One of those moons is called Europa. The interesting thing
about Europa is that it is covered with ice and it may well have water
underneath its surface. To the extent that the conditions there match the
exact conditions of earth millennia ago, this makes Europa about as
similar to earth as any other heavenly body. All the conditions are
there, it is said, for the formation of life. One of the reasons we know
so much about Europa is because of the exploration of the Galileo
spacecraft. Launched from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Atlantis in
1989, it brought cameras and detection equipment to this part of our solar
system. But there is one more thing that Galileo brought to this part of
space—life. It is certain that some form of earthly life, bacteria
perhaps, survived the years of radiation bombardment, especially in the
internal portions of the craft. Here’s the thing. If even a little bit
of that bacteria, if even a little bit of that life, somehow made its way
to Jupiter’s moon Europa, the fear is that it could multiply and
contaminate that moon’s entire environment. There was a mathematically
small chance that, with the loss of its ability to maneuver upon the
depletion of its propellant, Galileo’s path might one day cross Europa’s
orbit. To avoid that risk, the spacecraft Galileo’s mission ended at
11:57 a.m. on Sept. 21 of this year when it was deliberately directed into
Jupiter’s shadow and disintegrated in its dense atmosphere.
It only takes a little
bit of life in the proper environment for it to spread everywhere. What
is the good news here? We don’t have to do very much at all as life’s
agents to bring life into our environment. It really does have a life of
its own if you let it do what life does.
How does the song go
this time of year? “Oh, we need a little Christmas, right this very
minute!” The real spirit of this season can be so contagious if we just
listen carefully enough and let it spark in us the love, compassion, and
justice in which God created us. That’s what happened to Elizabeth and
Mary, that’s what can happen to you, that’s what can happen to the church,
that can surely happen to the world. Yes, the greed and excess and
extravagance that are so prevalent among us this time of year can also
infect us, but good news spreads far and fast, if you let it.
It really is up to
you. Are you one who just can’t wait to spread the latest bad news you
hear or does your heart leap within you whenever you find yourself
anywhere near good news and just can’t wait to share that? Are you one of
life’s agents or are you an agent of death?
We celebrate the coming
of the Word of God, Jesus Christ, at Christmas. The Word of God has a way
of making itself a part of the very fabric of your life, if you let it.
Jesus Christ is born anew in our hearts this season. Even as God came
through Elizabeth and through Mary, so God comes through you and me every
day. The message of Advent, the promise of this time of year, and the
calling of Christmas is this: He Who comes, comes through you!
