|
About Calvary
Education
Events
Fellowship
Links
Music
People
Sermons
Service
Worship
Home
|
The
Rev. Christopher Brdlik
December 24, 2006 - Christmas Eve, Midnight Service
Merry Christmas, everyone, and welcome to Calvary Episcopal Church on
this holy night celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
with prayers and anthems and carols. And with communion, too. I want
to make sure you know you are invited to share in communion at the altar
when that time comes in the service. This is God’s holy table, not our
own, and we believe God wants us to share fellowship at the table just
as God offered to everyone the special gift of his Son on that night in
Bethlehem.
Tonight marks the 110th year Christmas Eve has been
celebrated within these walls of Calvary Church. So we are joining in a
record of faithfulness here that exceeds a century. For centuries
longer, in so many places, Christian believers have marked this holy
night as a time to remember the great gifts of God to us.
Yet
I think it’s true for most of us that when it comes to memories of the
Christmas season, our recollections of events and customs are much
closer to home, memories of family history, things we did together with
people we love. When I was growing up one tradition my family shared
was gathering together to watch the annual telecast of The Wizard of
Oz. Television was very different in those days: no VCR or DVD, no
TIVO, no cable. When you missed something, pretty much it was gone.
Therefore, the December showing of Oz was a major family event,
and gathered every member of the household in front of the tube.
One
dramatic scene, however, recaptured my imagination year after year.
That’s when Dorothy’s house lands in the village of the Munchkins — and
all of a sudden the film shifts from grim shades of black and white to
wonderful glorious color. Boy, that must have gotten the ooh’s and
aah’s of the theatrical audience when the movie first played in 1939.
It always impressed me, even before my family had a color TV set.
Because at that point in the movie you knew something had
happened. When we finally could see it in color even more did we
understood the drama, the shift in focus, the in-breaking into the
action of a new form of reality, more colorful, more clear. We
understood how life could be different because the universe may be so
much more than we could have imagined. It was as if we were seeing with
different eyes and a whole new perception.
Nowadays on TV there’s
a commercial with a similar kind of trompe l’oeil — trick of the
eye — an ad for an allergy medicine in which a filter or screen is
lifted off from the actors so that they can see clearer, and we can see
them clearer, too. And another example: recently a number of people I
know or work with have had eye surgery, removing cataracts. They tell
me of the wonder of having their vision change, bringing into focus
details they didn’t realize were there. There’s so much more to see.
In an instant, right before our very eyes, perception changes as if a
grey veil has been lifted and the world is now more colorful, more
clear.
Something like this
must have happened that night in Bethlehem. Isaiah the prophet had
foretold it in Old Testament times: “The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light. Those who lived in a land of deep darkness —
on them light has shined.” Psalm 96 declared: “The Lord’s lightnings
light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.” John the Evangelist
wrote: “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the
light of the world. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
has not overcome it. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was
coming into the world.”
My friends, what
happened that night? We know the details: the baby, the parents, the
stable, the heavenly host. But how can our perception be changed by the
scene in Bethlehem? The truth is, spiritual vision is a matter of
faith. Think about how those shepherds heard and accepted the message.
The night began for them like any other ordinary evening. But hearing
and seeing for themselves that God’s Son had been born changed their
perception of life’s potential. If God could be born and live and grow
as a fellow human being — from a baby to Jesus our brother — then we
have suddenly acquired a divine companion, a God who understands our
problems, sympathizes with our feelings, and supports our best
interests. No one had ever thought of God that way before. And if we
know Jesus as the brother of all, then the family of God extends to
include the globe, world-wide siblings of one family. By faith,
we can seek and serve the Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as
ourselves. And when, by faith, we know God’s love extends to all the
human race, then peace on earth and good will to all persons have
finally become possible.
Look at the colorful
cover of this evening’s bulletin, a reproduction of a fifteenth century
painting (Adoration of the Magi, F. Lippi). The fine collection
of visitors gathered around the Christ-child represents every facet of
humanity: wise magi — the scientists and intellectuals of their day; men
and women of the village and the field — farmers and shopkeepers and
shepherds; even the face of a curious child in the background —
representing the future, the hope. The grey veil of ordinary life has
been lifted from this painting. It expresses to us the colorful variety
of human existence and the clarity of the value and worth of human life
in the ordering of God’s universe. Jesus, the light of the world,
shines on a clear, colorful scene that gives us joy and hope. But first
we have to recognize — by faith — that it is God’s son lying the
manger.
You know, the story of
Oz didn’t end for Dorothy in the Munchkin village — that was only the
beginning. And Bethlehem was only the start of the story of Jesus
Christ. He grew up to preach a special kind of love to others, an
active, serving love. He taught us to call God “Father,” thereby making
into one family the whole human race. He dedicated his life to
sacrificial ministry. We, by faith, believe him to be the Savior and
Redeemer of the world.
Tonight let yourself do
what’s necessary to open the eyes of your faith to a new perception of
reality. If you bear a grudge, give it up. If you harbor hard
feelings, let them go. If prejudice or stereotype cast a gray veil over
your opinion of others — other nations, races, or religions — let Christ
lift that veil, let Christ change your perceptions. And may the peace
of God which passeth understanding open every eye to the color and
clarity of God’s universe. The Son of God didn’t come as a wizard, but,
paradoxically, as a human baby. Perceiving that reality leads to a New
Year of new vision.
Merry Christmas,
everyone
© copyright 2006, Christopher Brdlik
Back to Sermons
|
