© Eti Swinford

First Sunday after Christmas
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Lectionary A

Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
John 1:1-18
Psalm 147

The celebration  of Christ’s coming as a child has put something within us that longs for the coming of the Christ in us.

And if that is true, amidst all that we know and all that we live in, we can lean into Jesus in a way that allows us to find meaning, even in the chaos of these times. In fact, it seems to me that a particle of what our current chaos might mean is that those of us Christians who are used to trusting in institutions to somehow guide us into the future are now having to learn and lean upon the God who is Lord of heaven and earth in a whole new way.

Embracing Eternal Purpose

In other words, the meaning of my life is not where I did or did not go to school or what I might have in terms of inheritance or family or bank account. In the face of collapse and tragedy, that all becomes quite meaningless. The only thing, in fact, that provides a level of meaning that gives purpose, a richness to human relationships, the capacity to be able to give and serve, is the fact that the eternal Son of God is at work, whether or not I can see it, to see things right.

And that is the eternal purpose that I want to be about, even as things fall apart. Because you see, regardless of where I live and work and go, I have an obligation, if I call myself by the name of Jesus, to live with eternity in view, to live with the power of God in the present.  Otherwise, all I’m doing is serving the temporal and the chaotic in a way that will only eat me up and drag me down with it. 

Is that what I want in my life? Is that what you want in yours? Could it be that we are somehow being weaned away from any other place of trust, be it political or economic or social, so that all we have to call upon is the name of this great God and Savior, as he is called in the Scripture? And to find a level of trust, meaning and purpose in him, even as we see other things collapse? 

Who will stand up otherwise, as things continue to fall, except those who know that they walk with eternity wrapped around them as with a garment? This is not a place of arrogance – we’ve seen plenty of that – but rather, the kind of empowerment that gives us the capacity to serve and to give no matter how little we might have. Because we know we’re giving into men and women whom God profoundly values, even if they are of little value to the world. And that puts eternity in view, where, as we stand before Him in the judgment seat of Christ, we and all others will shine like the sun.

Recognizing God’s Invitation

Beloved, please do not allow the beauty of this hour to merely be an act of escape, a temporary distraction from all that will face you when you go home and turn the television back on. Instead, may it be for you, for me, a place to remind us of the eternal, of the powerful, of that which has come to set us free, of him who comes as a baby to rescue. 

And then no matter who we are, where we’ve been, or whatever we have done, we can find a place in the manger. Dorothy Day said, “I’m so glad that Jesus was born in a stable, because my soul is so much like a stable. It is poor, in unsatisfactory condition because of guilt and falsehoods, inadequacies, brokenness, sin. Yet I believe that if Jesus can be born in a stable, perhaps he can be born in me.”

Beloved, we are invited in. We are invited in, to poise, purpose, humility, repentance. And as the Wessex carol says, to mirth. 

Mirth is the laughter of relief. Mirth is the joy of seeing things turned out right in a way that you never might have expected. Mirth is when the door opens, and the beloved walks in, and you say, “Finally.” 

That’s glory to God in the highest. So come. Don’t settle for the oppression of darkness and the gloomy sadness that lures over so many. Ask God to take that heart of yours and of mine and bring it into the place of joy in the dusty, dirty stable of Bethlehem.  

“Heaven and earth in little space,” one carol describes Jesus – in us, that we might live with that same purpose and power. Amen.

How does your life celebrate Christ’s coming? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer. 

(This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s sermon on Dec. 24, 2018, at St. Luke’s Cathedral, Orlando, Florida.) 

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.