Isaiah 52
7-10 and Colossians 3: 12-17
Good evening and grace and peace, in the Name of the One who was born as
gracious gift and as Prince of Peace. The
door swings open this night--open to Christmas and to a new world.
Like the Isaac Watts hymn, Joy to the World,
which draws the great themes of Advent and Christmas together, singing with
exuberant gladness about the Coming of Christ at the Last Day and the renewal
and restoration of all things under his authority and power. But all that shadowed forth and anticipated
in this hour, this holy night. He rules the world with truth and grace, and
makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his
love.
Or as in the psalm appointed
for this night: O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvelous
things. With his own right hand, and
with his holy arm, hath he gotten himself the victory.
In our imaginations we see them moving quietly through the shadows
across a dark landscape. A week’s
journey or perhaps a bit more on foot from Nazareth in the Galilee to
Bethlehem. In the far distance,
shepherds on the hillside. The sky
glowing softly with first light--angel light.
A new world dawning. On its way
and already here. Coming to life wherever
he is. Seated in glory on his heavenly
throne. Or lying quietly in his manger
bed.
The convergence of all history. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was made flesh and came to be
with us.
Hundreds of years before that night, the Prophet Isaiah: in
anticipation. Seeing far, seeing deep
with prophetic vision. The reading
tonight from the 52nd Chapter.
God’s word in that particular moment to those in far exile, in the
distant lands, the refugee camps and ghettos of Egypt and Persia, Syria and
Babylon, whose last memory of holy
Jerusalem was of ruin and disaster, the archetypal Biblical image for the
consequences of sin. The royal palace
and sacred temple pillaged and burned in the utter misery of collapse and
defeat. All in ruin. But then in that silent night of loss, a word. Word of God’s peace. Scattering the darkness. Generous grace. Forgiveness.
Transforming the silence with hymns of joy.
The prophet proclaims: good news, salvation. His voice echoes across the centuries. How beautiful the feet of the messenger who
announces peace. The music of
those words, to fill and heal empty and broken hearts. Over the realities of violence and war. Death and disaster. The poetic and prophetic vision, that the one
God who because of their unfaithfulness had departed from his temple, would
soon return. Was now returning. Was on
his way. The return of the Lord to Zion. To dwell in the midst of his people as they
are to be gathered by him and brought home.
Every liturgical procession down the center aisle is to remind us of
this. Make straight in the desert a
highway for our God!
To come in power,
to bring comfort, strength, salvation. And
not for old Israel only, but for a new Israel.
Of every tribe and people. Reformed
and transformed and born again in him. He
bares his arm and shows his strength before the eyes of all nations. And all the ends of the earth shall see the
salvation of our God.
Here in Isaiah 52,
hundreds of years before that Holy Night in Bethlehem, but it’s all about Christmas. In a way everything in the Bible and the
whole story of the world and the universe, all leading to this.
All about Jesus. All about Christmas.
In Scituate, Massachusetts, the town where my wife Susy’s mother’s
family has lived for generations and centuries, there was a wonderful little
department store called the Welch Company right down on the harbor. It actually
was descended from a lumber and shipping supply business started by Susy’s
great-grandfather back in the later 19th century—so a fun family
connection. And when we would visit
grandma and grandpa and the family home on summer vacation each year our kids
loved to go into the Welch Company because in the back there was a room
dedicated all year ‘round to Christmas furnishings and decorations. Just fun on a 100-degree late July afternoon
to step into a space that was all twinkling lights and snowflakes and Santa.
An image perhaps for us this evening.
To understand Christmas not simply as an ancient story from Bible times
or as one day in the year for special worship services and family gatherings
and festive meals, or even as a season on the church calendar, but as a new and
continuing state of being for all the world and all creation. A new state of being. A new way of thinking. A new way to live our lives.
The cry of the mother giving birth in the dark
night, and the pivot point of all time, all history.
In the C.S. Lewis story “The Lion, the Witch,
and the Wardrobe” the children step into the land of Narnia, which is a fallen
world, a reflection of our fallen world, where it is “always winter, but never
Christmas.” But then things begin to
change, and we hear tonight the new news.
That it is and will be always Christmas.
I mean, the trees and greens will be out the door in a week or two for
most of us—perhaps some of us trying to hold out as best we can until
Candlemas, February 2. Decorations back
in their boxes and back down to the basement for another year. Life goes on, and into the New Year.
But to be always Christmas not in outward
expression, but in our hearts and minds, in our conduct of life, our
relationships with one another.
Christmas as a new way of living, which is what I would just pause over
for all of us tonight. Because that is what I believe this night calls us
to. Not simply an interlude, a special
day or week or time of year. But a new
life. A new obedience, if that's not too scary a word for us. In a night that out beyond the
walls of this church seems perhaps something other than silent and holy. In a season of political and social
polarization, selfishness and isolation-- in a world which knows too well the
horrors of violence and crime, terrorism and war. A fallen world, as we know it first in the shadows deep in our own hearts.
And I would conclude on this holy evening to share just a word from
scripture, of what that might mean, what this might look like. At least to begin to picture it. Christmas as a new
way of living. A foundation of a new
constitution for God’s people, a Rule of Life.
I would turn to a short passage from St. Paul, in the 3rd chapter of his
Letter to the Colossians, beginning at the 12th verse. Not ordinarily a Christmas reading--but as I said before, it's all about Christmas. A passage we might want to look up later, to hear, read, mark,
learn, and inwardly digest.
Write it on
a slip of paper to carry in a pocket or to tape over the bathroom mirror for
daily reading. To recall when we sit
down for church meetings or family dinners.
To let it sink in and work on us.
Anyway: Paul writes this pastoral letter during a time of his imprisonment. He can’t come to visit in person, but he has
heard a report of distress in the congregation at Colossae. Division and dispute—and also of a kind of
drifting off the path spiritually. He has heard reports of hurt and anger and
dissension. The fresh spirit of their conversion to Christian life as perhaps
begun to fade. Paul’s pastoral word in this letter is complex, rich, sometimes
giving doctrinal instruction, sometimes advising about conduct and holiness of
life. But there is a pastor’s love that
is communicated throughout.
And it is a
word for Christmas and about Christmas—and about what it would mean to live
when we know that every day is Christmas Day.
So from Colossians 3, two thousand years ago, for them, and for us,
Christmas as a way of living:
“As God’s chosen ones,” Paul says, “as God’s chosen ones, holy and
beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and
patience.” (Sometimes people say they
don’t like Christianity because it is all about following rules. I think those might be some good Biblical
rules to pay attention to, actually: compassion,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. We spend time choosing wonderful Christmas sweaters and caps and dresses and shoes. Here is more about a Christmas wardrobe.)
Paul continues: “Bear with one another and,
if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord
has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
(There again, another very good rule! Something to wear at Christmas!) And finally, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which
binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” “Let the peace of
Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one
body.” (Which is what it means that we
have been called to be a part of this Body, his Body the Church. Called into his peace.) “And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly;
teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts
sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.”
What we do at midnight Christmas Eve, but
always singing, from now on. “And
whatever you do”—whatever you do—“in word or deed, do everything in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Blessings in this Christmas, tonight, in the season ahead, in the new
year, and always. To live in
Christmas. To dress for Christmas. To be all about him: 24/7/365. “No ear may hear his coming, but in this
world of sin, where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters
in.”
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