| To contact us: Calvary Episcopal Church 667 Mount Road Aston, PA 19014 610-459-2013 OFFICE mail@calvaryepiscopalrockdale.org |
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| SERMON Christmas Eve December 24, 2008 The Rev. Kristine Hill |
| 667 Mount Road, Aston, PA 19014 610-459-2013 |
| Small Parish - Big Heart The little church you've been looking for! All are welcome! |
| Our Mission: To worship the Lord To serve the community To grow the church |
Luke 2:1-20 |
| The Rev. Kristine Hill, Interim Rector |
The world is a wicked place. Most of us have lived long enough not to be
surprised by what we hear on the news, by things people do to one
another, but every now and then one story or another will get to us and
impress upon us anew that there is great wickedness in the world. What is
a Ponzi scheme, or pyramid scheme? Well, no need to give a definition here
and now, suffice to say it is a clever, sophisticated way to … rip-off your
neighbors, and rip ‘em off big. Which is what Bernard Madoff is accused of
doing for the last two decades on Wall Street: inducing people – usually
wealthy people – to give him large amounts of money to invest in the Stock
Market, promising them consistent, better-than-average returns on what they
invest.
For many years it appeared to be working -- his reports indicated that his
client’s stocks were increasing steadily at a very good rate. Then recently
quite a few of his clients wanted to withdraw large amounts of money and
that turned out to be a problem. It seemed the money was not at hand. It
was discovered that Mr. Madoff had been repaying his clients this way - if
investor A wanted her money, Maydoff had to find another investor, person
B, to give him a bunch of money to invest. He would then take that money
and from it pay investor A. Person B’s money – at least the full amount –
would never get invested at all. That’s a problem. That’s illegal. For two
decades this went undetected by government agencies, or at least,
unchallenged by government agencies. Some very wealthy people lost a lot
of money. So did businesses that had invested with Madoff retirement funds
for their employees, and elderly couples - excited to be connected to
someone as well-known as Madoff - who had invested their life-savings. A
number of charities had trusted Madoff to manage their money. All of it is
gone now. Indeed, the world is a wicked place.
We need not feel superior to Mr. Madoff. Perhaps we would not have done
what he did, but then we’ll never know because -- most likely -- none of us
will ever be in a comparable position or be tested with that sort of power,
with that much money. The story of Mr. Madoff reminds us once more that
the world is not, of its own accord, a benevolent place. The end does not
work out fine for everybody if we just let things follow their own course.
Human nature does not always act in a manner that is in the best interest
of the common good. There is true wickedness and evil in this world. We
can fight against it; in fact - we are called upon as Christians and as
human beings to fight against it, but by ourselves we cannot fully overcome
it. We need the strong arm of God alongside us.
It’s funny, the things you discover in scripture after having read it and heard
it your whole life long. Take, for example, this very familiar story from Luke.
There is no mention in it of Mary riding a donkey to Bethlehem -- we all
know probably that by now. She and Joseph might have had a donkey, but
scripture does not mention it. There is also no actual mention of a stable. I
know because I looked for it. What is named is the manger. The baby
Jesus was laid in a manger. The stable has been deduced from the manger
-- since a manger is a thing that cows eat their hay from, the birth must
have taken place in a stable.
So… this is where God is born when God enters our world, when God joins
the human race – in a stable; the newborn child is placed to rest in the cow’
s feedbox. Martin Luther starts to muse on the wickedness of the world
when he gets to this point of the nativity story -- the place where Mary and
Joseph are forced to make their bed in the stable because there is no room
for them in the inn. He reflects upon all the other people in Bethlehem that
night who had comfortable lodging. Even if they did not know what child it
was that Mary bore, how callous that no one would give up a room for a
pregnant woman and her husband, especially a woman whose time was so
obviously near. Luther speculates that the rest of the people in Bethlehem
were at their ease -- maybe resting in the hostel; or eating and drinking,
laughing and carousing at the public room of the inn. They were all too
busy, he says, to notice what God was doing right there in their midst. (Of
course, this is often true – that we are too busy to see what God is doing in
our life, in our ordinary world.)
And yet, I wonder… I wonder about the way this story starts, Mary and
Joseph so far from their home, staying in the stable, giving birth to their
first child and laying him down in a feeding trough... What an unusual way
to begin a life -- and this is the life of God, come to earth! What do we see
happening here? What is this telling us?
We see something very different from how human beings usually behave.
We are all are so competitive, even if we don’t especially want to be, it
seems somehow to be required of us, – this expectation that we “keep up
with the Joneses” – at least to some extent. In our society we do it, even if
we would rather resist. If your brother-in-law gets a new car with greater
power and more torque, you have to get one too. Or when you’re my age –
if a life-long friend loses weight, gets a great haircut, some new clothes and
looks terrific -- believe me, you want to do the same thing. You find out that
a co-worker with a job at the same level as you, has a salary one-third
higher than yours - you want a raise or a darn good explanation. We see
other folks setting aside some hefty nest-eggs for retirement and we’d like to
have that, too. Go to a party and find that everyone is dressed in fancier,
more expensive clothes than you are, that they all work at more “high
powered” jobs than you do, and you might feel a little intimidated. It’s the
way of the world. It’s the frame of mind that allows Ponzi schemes to
work.
It didn’t have to begin this way. God could have been born in Rome, the
seat of the empire -- Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, any way. God has
“connections,” strings could have been pulled, things might have gone
differently… The birth place of our Lord could have been a palace; if not,
then a nice brick Colonial, or at least a modest ranch… Mary could have
had a whole company of angels attend her while she gave birth, or a top
doctor and some skilled nurses, but she had no one. Joseph didn’t know
what to do. Was there even any clean water in that stable? Probably not.
Jesus was born in miserable surroundings -- in a stable, kept company by
cows and sheep -- other than his parents, welcomed by some messy hay
and straw.
And the result is that we are not overpowered by his arrival. We are not
terrified by the stark fact that God has come to check us out and live
among us. We do not have to put up our guard or keep our distance for
fear of not measuring up to a fine and kingly God. Instead we come to a
stable, a crude barn where oxen are munching hay, where Mary has bits of
straw in her hair, where the light is dim and no one is dressed too properly.
We’re all just trying to keep warm, to keep body and soul together. But
here, in the middle of the scene is this baby, this child – as ordinary as can
be except that he has come as God’s Son, to save us. In these most
humble surroundings, no one feels out of place or unwanted. At his crib-
side -- looking at him, marveling at his soft skin, wanting to touch him -- no
one is beyond his circle of light and love. He is right here for us all.
Everything starts over tonight. Everything. Our redemption begins in the
birth of a baby, a birth that takes place in a stable when no one in town is
paying any attention. The child who is born is Lord of the Universe, King of
kings, mighty God. His mother wraps him in strips of cloths – they had no
baby clothes with them. She lays him in the manger because there had not
been any room at the inn. There in the stable she and her husband,
Joseph, fret and fuss over their firstborn son, God’s own son. The only
ones who come to worship the child are lowly shepherds and smelly sheep.
Not very noble visitors, but just right for this King. For this is Emmanuel –
God entering our world in human flesh – making a quiet, humble entrance
into our lives, coming gently so as not to frighten us, coming among the
poor so all can approach him without fear.
Everything starts over tonight. Jesus comes as a helpless baby born to a
vulnerable family. Hearing about his birth, our hearts go out to him. How
could we not love him? – so small and sweet on his mother’s lap, in his
father’s arms? As a baby he wins our trust and our hearts. Seeing the Lord
of the Universe in this baby we remember that the world does not belong to
the wicked, however much noise they might make, however much trouble
they might stir up. The world belongs to this one, to our Lord God - who
doesn’t mind being born in a stable to insignificant parents, without
attendants, spending his first night in the feedbox of the cows. He is
content -- content to give up power, content to let go of divinity so that he
can be with us, for loves’ sake. Let us, then, receive him with love.
amen.
surprised by what we hear on the news, by things people do to one
another, but every now and then one story or another will get to us and
impress upon us anew that there is great wickedness in the world. What is
a Ponzi scheme, or pyramid scheme? Well, no need to give a definition here
and now, suffice to say it is a clever, sophisticated way to … rip-off your
neighbors, and rip ‘em off big. Which is what Bernard Madoff is accused of
doing for the last two decades on Wall Street: inducing people – usually
wealthy people – to give him large amounts of money to invest in the Stock
Market, promising them consistent, better-than-average returns on what they
invest.
For many years it appeared to be working -- his reports indicated that his
client’s stocks were increasing steadily at a very good rate. Then recently
quite a few of his clients wanted to withdraw large amounts of money and
that turned out to be a problem. It seemed the money was not at hand. It
was discovered that Mr. Madoff had been repaying his clients this way - if
investor A wanted her money, Maydoff had to find another investor, person
B, to give him a bunch of money to invest. He would then take that money
and from it pay investor A. Person B’s money – at least the full amount –
would never get invested at all. That’s a problem. That’s illegal. For two
decades this went undetected by government agencies, or at least,
unchallenged by government agencies. Some very wealthy people lost a lot
of money. So did businesses that had invested with Madoff retirement funds
for their employees, and elderly couples - excited to be connected to
someone as well-known as Madoff - who had invested their life-savings. A
number of charities had trusted Madoff to manage their money. All of it is
gone now. Indeed, the world is a wicked place.
We need not feel superior to Mr. Madoff. Perhaps we would not have done
what he did, but then we’ll never know because -- most likely -- none of us
will ever be in a comparable position or be tested with that sort of power,
with that much money. The story of Mr. Madoff reminds us once more that
the world is not, of its own accord, a benevolent place. The end does not
work out fine for everybody if we just let things follow their own course.
Human nature does not always act in a manner that is in the best interest
of the common good. There is true wickedness and evil in this world. We
can fight against it; in fact - we are called upon as Christians and as
human beings to fight against it, but by ourselves we cannot fully overcome
it. We need the strong arm of God alongside us.
It’s funny, the things you discover in scripture after having read it and heard
it your whole life long. Take, for example, this very familiar story from Luke.
There is no mention in it of Mary riding a donkey to Bethlehem -- we all
know probably that by now. She and Joseph might have had a donkey, but
scripture does not mention it. There is also no actual mention of a stable. I
know because I looked for it. What is named is the manger. The baby
Jesus was laid in a manger. The stable has been deduced from the manger
-- since a manger is a thing that cows eat their hay from, the birth must
have taken place in a stable.
So… this is where God is born when God enters our world, when God joins
the human race – in a stable; the newborn child is placed to rest in the cow’
s feedbox. Martin Luther starts to muse on the wickedness of the world
when he gets to this point of the nativity story -- the place where Mary and
Joseph are forced to make their bed in the stable because there is no room
for them in the inn. He reflects upon all the other people in Bethlehem that
night who had comfortable lodging. Even if they did not know what child it
was that Mary bore, how callous that no one would give up a room for a
pregnant woman and her husband, especially a woman whose time was so
obviously near. Luther speculates that the rest of the people in Bethlehem
were at their ease -- maybe resting in the hostel; or eating and drinking,
laughing and carousing at the public room of the inn. They were all too
busy, he says, to notice what God was doing right there in their midst. (Of
course, this is often true – that we are too busy to see what God is doing in
our life, in our ordinary world.)
And yet, I wonder… I wonder about the way this story starts, Mary and
Joseph so far from their home, staying in the stable, giving birth to their
first child and laying him down in a feeding trough... What an unusual way
to begin a life -- and this is the life of God, come to earth! What do we see
happening here? What is this telling us?
We see something very different from how human beings usually behave.
We are all are so competitive, even if we don’t especially want to be, it
seems somehow to be required of us, – this expectation that we “keep up
with the Joneses” – at least to some extent. In our society we do it, even if
we would rather resist. If your brother-in-law gets a new car with greater
power and more torque, you have to get one too. Or when you’re my age –
if a life-long friend loses weight, gets a great haircut, some new clothes and
looks terrific -- believe me, you want to do the same thing. You find out that
a co-worker with a job at the same level as you, has a salary one-third
higher than yours - you want a raise or a darn good explanation. We see
other folks setting aside some hefty nest-eggs for retirement and we’d like to
have that, too. Go to a party and find that everyone is dressed in fancier,
more expensive clothes than you are, that they all work at more “high
powered” jobs than you do, and you might feel a little intimidated. It’s the
way of the world. It’s the frame of mind that allows Ponzi schemes to
work.
It didn’t have to begin this way. God could have been born in Rome, the
seat of the empire -- Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, any way. God has
“connections,” strings could have been pulled, things might have gone
differently… The birth place of our Lord could have been a palace; if not,
then a nice brick Colonial, or at least a modest ranch… Mary could have
had a whole company of angels attend her while she gave birth, or a top
doctor and some skilled nurses, but she had no one. Joseph didn’t know
what to do. Was there even any clean water in that stable? Probably not.
Jesus was born in miserable surroundings -- in a stable, kept company by
cows and sheep -- other than his parents, welcomed by some messy hay
and straw.
And the result is that we are not overpowered by his arrival. We are not
terrified by the stark fact that God has come to check us out and live
among us. We do not have to put up our guard or keep our distance for
fear of not measuring up to a fine and kingly God. Instead we come to a
stable, a crude barn where oxen are munching hay, where Mary has bits of
straw in her hair, where the light is dim and no one is dressed too properly.
We’re all just trying to keep warm, to keep body and soul together. But
here, in the middle of the scene is this baby, this child – as ordinary as can
be except that he has come as God’s Son, to save us. In these most
humble surroundings, no one feels out of place or unwanted. At his crib-
side -- looking at him, marveling at his soft skin, wanting to touch him -- no
one is beyond his circle of light and love. He is right here for us all.
Everything starts over tonight. Everything. Our redemption begins in the
birth of a baby, a birth that takes place in a stable when no one in town is
paying any attention. The child who is born is Lord of the Universe, King of
kings, mighty God. His mother wraps him in strips of cloths – they had no
baby clothes with them. She lays him in the manger because there had not
been any room at the inn. There in the stable she and her husband,
Joseph, fret and fuss over their firstborn son, God’s own son. The only
ones who come to worship the child are lowly shepherds and smelly sheep.
Not very noble visitors, but just right for this King. For this is Emmanuel –
God entering our world in human flesh – making a quiet, humble entrance
into our lives, coming gently so as not to frighten us, coming among the
poor so all can approach him without fear.
Everything starts over tonight. Jesus comes as a helpless baby born to a
vulnerable family. Hearing about his birth, our hearts go out to him. How
could we not love him? – so small and sweet on his mother’s lap, in his
father’s arms? As a baby he wins our trust and our hearts. Seeing the Lord
of the Universe in this baby we remember that the world does not belong to
the wicked, however much noise they might make, however much trouble
they might stir up. The world belongs to this one, to our Lord God - who
doesn’t mind being born in a stable to insignificant parents, without
attendants, spending his first night in the feedbox of the cows. He is
content -- content to give up power, content to let go of divinity so that he
can be with us, for loves’ sake. Let us, then, receive him with love.
amen.