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The Rev. Laura Matarazzo
December 25, 2006 - Christmas Day
Our Presiding
Bishop has sent us a Christmas message this week. It is entitled, quite
simply, “God Among Us,” and it encourages us, at this feast of God’s
incarnation, to be open to the presence of God in all of life.
Now, I have spent
the season of Advent teaching the Rule of Benedict, a way of life
predicated upon the reality that God is with us in all things and so I
thought I knew all about “God Among Us,” and her words about the birth
of Christ really resonated with me.
She wrote this about God’s incarnation:
“The vulnerability of being born in
obscurity, to a peasant refugee couple, in an out of the way place, says
to us that God is with us in the smallest parts of life—perhaps a
reminder that we, too, may discover God in those humble and unexpected
places if we are willing to go in search.”
As I said, these words really resonated
in me. Only, then, she goes on to tell about overhearing a conversation
between a woman and a three-year-old boy on a bus. In the story, the
woman spoke to the child about Santa Claus and about what happens at
Christmas; she talked about waking up on Christmas day and finding
presents under the tree. She didn’t talk about St. Nicholas or his
feast day, or about Jesus and his birth, but, the Bishop writes:
“…she
did convey a sense of wonder and love connected to Christmas.”
And, for Bishop Katherine, this
presented an “opening” for those of us who claim to follow Jesus. She
writes,
“Even Santa Claus—far removed though
today’s version of the story may be from the holy faithfulness of St.
Nicholas—can be another kind of star leading others to the humble stable
where God comes among us.”
I couldn’t accept
this view the first time around—I who thought I knew all about “God
Among Us.” My head and heart were way over in the camp of “we’ve
commercialized Christmas way too much and Santa is just a pawn of the
retail marketplace today.” How could an old man in a red suit bringing
presents from K-Mart down the chimney possibly provide an opening for
the Christ Child? In fact, Santa gets in the way of Jesus’ message…the
quiet, humble birth is entirely lost in the glare of the Christmas
lights, and the song of the angels is drowned out by popular Christmas
music piped directly into our ears, right?
Maybe not. And
who am I to say? It took me some time and several re-readings to hear
what I believe our Bishop is trying to convey: that God can use anything
and anyone for God’s holy purpose. Bishop Katherine stands for a
non-judgmental openness to the world and to her fellow human beings and
a loving readiness to encourage and facilitate God’s graceful work
wherever we may find it.
And then it
occurred to me that we have called this woman to lead our church in a
world that far too often perceives difference as oppositional rather
than as a rich complexity created by a loving God. All over the globe,
grave divisions continue to harm and distort God’s good creation. We are
not able to see the potential for God to be working in those who are
different from us. We define people by the most vocal and most radical
elements of their national populace or their religious tradition or
political party—and we are blind to the infinite variety of souls in
every group. We become entrenched in our own particular beliefs,
opinions, and perspectives until we no longer consider the possibility
of living and working together for the common good. In our polarized,
bipartisan government and in our beloved Episcopal Church, we take sides
and large gulfs form between us.
Like Mary, the
mother of Jesus, Bishop Katherine believes in a God with whom all things
are possible. This, she writes, is the message of the incarnation…God
became human to show us the potential for this human flesh and blood and
intellect and heart to bear the image of God and to embody the justice
and mercy of God and, above all, to give life and action to the love of
God. Who says an old man in a red suit bringing toys from K-Mart down
the chimney cannot open hearts and minds to the wonder and love of God?
Not I.
Bishop Katherine
humbled me with her message. She exposed in me a lurking pride and a
propensity for closing myself off to God’s infinite possibility. Perhaps
you have areas in your life where you have closed yourself off;
convinced yourself of your rightness or dismissed someone as “hopeless,”
or “other.” Beware of such thinking. It denies the miracle of Christ’s
birth; it denies the endless variety of God’s creation and the eternal
love by which all of life comes into being.
As we celebrate
the birth of Christ in a humble manger, in a small village in a remote
corner of the Roman Empire, over 2000 years ago may we be reminded of
this: …that ALL things are possible with God and that God became human
for EVERYONE, not just for those of us who claim to be followers of
Christ….God created us all, loves us all, and calls us all to love one
another.
I heard the spirit
of this love and its creative potential in another message I received
this week. I share with you now the words of our Muslim brother, Levant
Koc, Director and Coordinator of the Interfaith Dialogue Center, in a
letter he wrote to us, his Christian friends, in this holy season:
Dear Friends,
I am glad to write to you on behalf of the Turkish American Muslims
of New Jersey as you prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We offer
you our warmest wishes and prayers. The true meaning of the message
of Jesus is in sharing and love, fellowship and togetherness. It is in spreading
the warmth in our hearts, trying to touch the lives of others with joy and
good cheer. We pray that your thoughts turn to the incredible miracle of peace
and love given to all mankind, that this season will bring you, your families,
and all your friends blessings from God and that you all earn the Love of God,
which we the Muslims believe to be the highest rank before Him. We, the
believers in God, pray that in collaboration we will make our world a
peaceful place and spread the awareness of God.
Levant speaks of the same possibilities our Bishop perceives as she ends her message with these words:
God continues to come among us in
humility. God continues to be birthed in fragile opportunities that will
need to be nourished and tended by others. That little boy on the bus
had his mind and heart opened to hear the bigger story about Christmas.
Now, who will tell the old, old story of God's love to those so ready
and eager to hear?
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