Theme: Christmas
Photo by J.L Field
Reflection for Christmas Eve
The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
Angels appearing in the sky…shepherds setting aside their daily routine to go and see a newborn baby… a star that moves in the sky…and wise men who follow it and bring gifts to a child born in a manger…a young woman...a virgin accepting on faith the message of a visiting angel that she will bear a child and her bewildered partner going along with it all.
No gift placed under any tree or inside any stocking on Christmas, no matter how unexpected or hard won, could engender such a sense of magic and surprise… hope and wonder as the story of Jesus’ birth as imagined in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Perhaps this is why, each year, on this night we join with the seers, saints, and sinners of ages past, to retell the Christmas story… It is a story perhaps intentionally hard to believe but one that nonetheless reveals to us an undeniable truth and even miracle…that the birth of an infant, an infant who would grow into the Jesus remembered in the Gospels…or “Good News”, forever changed the world.
Perhaps even more unbelievable…yet no less a truth and miracle is that the same is true of our own birth…whether we’re speaking of our actual physical birth or the ways in which we are reborn throughout our lives…
Indeed, the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus speaks to this truth…of a need to prepare for and celebrate the birth of hope…to be willing to be reborn…to open oneself, to make oneself vulnerable to a change of heart and mind… trusting the promise that when we do so, the world will never be the same. It is a message too easily forgotten in the hyper activity of our commercialized celebrations and too easily dismissed in the face the brutality, suffering, and desperation so prevalent in the world and our own hearts.
And yet…we return as if by invitation, to hear…to imagine and relive…to celebrate… a story with angels, shepherds, and wisemen… and a young couple and the newborn baby. Christmas is indeed an invitation…an invitation to journey to that place within ourselves where the hope and promise of new life and a new way of living can be born again and again and again…that the work of Christmas can begin anew…to heal the wounds of generations…to bind up the broken…to embrace the forgotten, the poor, the sick, the lonely, the imprisoned, the marginalized, and the despised.
It is the promise spoken of by the prophet Isaiah...“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. For unto us a child is born.”
And so it is again this night…a great light shines once again and hope is born anew for us...for all people.
Birth, rebirth… miracles as messy and scary as they are joyous and hopeful…This is the reality…the magic…the truth that lives on in the Christmas story…
Amen and Merry Christmas
I wonder if the true meaning of Christmas is possible to internally receive when one has spent weeks shopping, wrapping, cleaning, decorating and traveling. How can one get by that superficial holiday to feel deep within the depth of Christmas feelings. For many years, I have preferred Thanksgiving because the focus is on family and hopefully feasting. We have removed the commercial from this joyous holiday from which I receive an inner peace with no obligations making it different from any other day of the year. I always read something that has meaning and depth. We make a special meal, take a walk in nature and listen to incredible music. That to me is Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. How one receives and/or celebrates Christmas and its meaning surely varies from person to person. As you've noted you seek its meaning and depth through reading, a special meal, walks, music, etc. Another might find shopping for gifts for others or hosting a gathering as their pathway to the spirit of the season. Admittedly, the consumerism that accompanies the season can be distracting and discouraging if we let it, but with a small shift in our focus, we can still find the meaning of Christmas over a glass of egg nog surrounded by friends and strangers alike as well as on a walk under the stars of the night sky. Peace.
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