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O Holy Night
A sermon by Kathy Toivanen at EMUC, 12/24/2006
Hey, who’s out there? Are you looking for a place to spend the night? Welcome then, to my fire. Come a bit closer, warm your hands, let the firelight shine on your faces. Listen to the gentle breeze blowing down from the ridges. Rest your weary bodies; let the night blanket you with peace.
I like the night. I like to watch the dusk come creeping in as the colours in the sky turn from a light hazy blue, to deep indigo. I’ve looked at these heavens for so long that I know which stars will be the first to prick the velvet night. I know the land well too. Even in the dark I can make out the familiar contour of the hills. When night descends, the rough rocky outcroppings are softened as if a hand reached out to smooth and gentle the sharp edges. My entire life has been spent out here in these hills around Bethlehem.
I’m a just simple shepherd, watching over the flock that I’ve brought out here to pasture. Mostly it is a quiet, sometimes lonely life, but I like the solitude. Sometimes of course, a wild animal tries to grab one of the lambs and the peace is broken with its frightened bleating. But most nights, the sheep are quiet, the air is hushed, and I am left alone with my thoughts.
On nights like this I think of our ancestor King David. You know he was a shepherd too! I wonder what occupied his thoughts as he sat out on these very same hills.
Lately I’ve been thinking of a story that’s been circulating around this region. With the census, many travelers have come to Bethlehem to register. Whenever I go into town to get a few provisions, I hear the talk. Apparently there is a prophecy that the Messiah we have been waiting for will be born right here in Bethlehem. They say that this Messiah will be a descendent of King David and that he will bring in a new reign of peace, peace, not just for my people but for all the world.
I find that hard to imagine. We have lived without peace for so long. There can be no peace when so many live in such poverty and want. People are taxed beyond their means, many have lost their land. I see more and more people begging in the streets, and more and more refugees - folks constantly on the move from village to village desperately seeking work and shelter.
Do you think that this prophesied Messiah could help us to build a world where the basic dignity of a home, and food and meaningful work is available to all?
Sure, the Romans are here to try and keep the peace, but it’s a pretty tenuous peace. To my people they represent just one more regime trying to control our resources, our politics and our lives.
These hills provide great hiding places for rebel groups, and I’ve seen more than one skirmish with Roman soldiers end in injury and even death.
I wonder, how long will it go on? How many people of my country will die before we say enough? How many soldiers will never return home to their families before we say it’s got to stop? How many generations will come and go before we put an end to the violence and the conflicts in this world?
Do you think that this Messiah could teach us a new way of peace, a new way of resolving the conflicts that have plagued the land for centuries?
If you want my opinion, I think that such Messiah would have to be different from any leader we’ve ever had.
For what we need is a Messiah who refuses to live in an ivory tower. We need a Messiah who comes as one of us! A Messiah who breathes the same air we breathe, and whose feet touch the very ground that we walk upon.
We need a Messiah who knows our daily struggle to survive, who knows what it is like to be hungry, who feels the weight of the burdens we carry. We need a Messiah who won’t walk away from the terrors of our day or our night.
We need a Messiah who knows the human heart and dares to live as one of us, sharing our laughter and tears, listening to our hopes and dreams. We need a Messiah who will love us into the people we long to be.
If God can send us a Messiah like this to dwell among us, I think that there’s hope for you and me and our world. I think God’s ways of peace and justice, compassion and caring might just start to make sense to the human heart.
Wait a minute. Hush. I hear someone coming. Who’s there?
What? What’s that?
Look, you are not going to believe this. That was one of the shepherds from a flock further east of here. He’s just told me of the most incredible experience. I can hardly believe it myself. It seems that out there on the hills, the heavens just opened up and he and his companions were nearly blinded by the light. It was as if every star in the universe shone in one spot. And then they heard music such as they’d never heard before.
And somehow in the midst of the music they are sure they heard a voice telling them that the Messiah arrived here tonight. Born in Bethlehem, born to some poor peasants from Nazareth, and born of all places in a manger
- a feeding trough for animals!
Do you think it’s possible? Do you think that God has sent us the Messiah I’ve been hoping for, a Messiah who will live with us as one of us?
I must go to the manger and see for myself. Come, come with me. Let’s see this event for ourselves. Let’s greet this new born babe and pray with all our hearts that he is the Messiah, born to bring us peace; a peace that will forever change this night and forever change us.
Prayer
God, we rejoice that on this holy night,
you are a born among us anew.
Into our humble hearts, into unsuspecting communities,
into our rough and tumble world you are born.
In spite of our doubts and fears, you are born.
In spite of our preoccupations and distractions, you are born.
In spite of our defenses and objections, you are born.
God, be born in us tonight:
In hope that lightens our despair;
In peace that stills our turmoil;
In joy that heals our pain;
In creative justice that builds your world of shalom;
In love that draws us ever deeper into relationships of wholeness
with each other and your creation.
God, be born in us, that we might live abundantly. Amen.
Commissioning & Blessing
As you leave this place,
carry the light of Christ with you
let the light fill your homes and your lives
let the light brighten the darkness in our world
Share the light with others,
so that all peoples and creation may shine with hope.
And go with the blessing of God who creates us in love
Jesus Christ who is born to love us
and the Holy Spirit who bears the fruit of love in us all
this Christmas Eve and always.
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