Christmas Eve Homily
12/24/09
Emily Tanis-Likkel
To You!
Have any of you had the count-down at your house? Whether by advent calendar, links torn off a paper chain, or simply every day asking, how many days until Christmas now? We count the days. For kids, the excitement of gift-giving and receiving, spending time with cousins, time off from school, the stories, and the magic that surrounds Christmas is like nothing else. I remember making super long paper chains, starting months before. As an adult, I still sense the count-down, as peace, love and joy seem more and more palpable as Advent breaks forth into Christmas.
Those of us who are parents remember count-downs of another sort. I only have three months to go; I can hardly wait to see her! Ugh, three weeks left, she better come soon before I get any bigger. She'll be coming any time now, better re-check the overnight bag. And then there is the time spent waiting to adopt a child, counting down the days until the paperwork is approved, longing for the social worker to visit, the phone to ring. Or waiting to get pregnant, and that vague timeline can be incredibly frustrating and heart-breaking.
My babies tried coming too early, so every day I passed in my pregnancies felt like an achievement. It was more of an anticipatory counting up - I'm already at 32 weeks, his lungs are functioning! We're at 35 weeks; he's getting bigger every day. While waiting for a child, we parents are so concerned with the outfits and type of stroller and thank you notes. After we took our daughter Eva home, so small and fluffy she looked like a baby bird, our petty thoughts evaporated. Our capacity for love suddenly expanded. We thought we would be laid back parents, but ended up wishing we could douse all of Seattle in Purell. Everything changed. Everything.
We eventually survived the haze of sleep-deprivation, constant nursing, loss of being able to spontaneously catch a movie. We adjusted, and as soon as we began waking up we decided to have second child -- and it started all over again. When I ponder what an incredibly difficult a job it is to be a parent, which I do often, I can't help but think of all the families who have a child who is chronically ill; I think of single parents, some with no support network to help them; I think of parents who are scraping by or downright poverty-stricken. Everything changes when a child is born, and for some it is everything and then some. I think of a young pregnant mama long ago who was poor, unmarried, with no idea where she was going to give birth or who would help -- because they had to leave town. I think of Mary and Joseph in that stable, and the God-child who was meant to be born among the animals, amidst the stench and the scratchy hay because God had a point to make about who this Messiah was.
Everything changed for that family of three when Jesus was born, just as everything changes for anyone who becomes a parent. Yet for that birth, it was not the same. Because in that birth everything changed for everyone. Everything changed for those in that time, and in the past, and in the future. Everything changed and hope for the renewal of this planet, for peace in our world, that hope got up and danced! Everything changed because, as the angels announced, To You is born this day a Savior. To You, they told the shepherds. They told the shepherds first, those who were among the least of the people. The Good news of great joy is for all people. As a church in the United Church of Christ denomination, the "all are welcome" message of the Bible is a point we emphasize. Maya Angelou wrote in a poem: "When I say 'I am a Christian'/I'm not shouting 'I am saved.'/I'm whispering 'I get lost'/That is why I chose this way . . ." It is the way of grace. The good news of Christ's birth is that God's love is a gift, not something to be earned by being enough or believing enough or doing enough. Christmas changes everything for everyone.
In an episode of the new comedy, Modern Family, the two men who have adopted a baby named Lilly, bring her to the doctor after one of them accidently bumps her head when playfully holding her up to the ceiling. Suffice it to say, it was not a bump that would warrant a trip to the emergency room. But they were new parents, and they were worried. To point out how unnecessary it was for them to come in, the doctor asked the Dad who had committed the offense to bump his own head on the wall a couple of times to see if he was okay afterward. Which he did -- much harder than Lilly's had been bumped. Now I don't know that a doctor would actually do that, but it showed, in a comical way, that most parents are willing to do just about anything for their children. Leave in the middle of the night to bring a child to the emergency room? Of course. Swab the snot out of her nose? Okay. Have a wonderful meal boxed up because he just couldn't stay in the restaurant? Sigh. Well yes, that too. A child was born to all of us. What will we do for him? Will we show compassion to those who struggle? Yes. Will we share our food with those who need it? Of course. Will we give up something, will we surrender to God's guidance, even when it means doing what seems to be impossible? Hmmm. Well yes, that too.
Tonight we celebrate the babe's arrival. The anticipation of the Christ-child realized. It changes everything. God comes to us in Jesus to identify with us completely. We are fully known, graced, and forgiven. But as new parents quickly discover, it is merely the beginning. We have work to do. We have love to give and justice to establish, joined with God and God's vision for the world. God in flesh came to be a Savior to all of us. That can tell us something about how we are supposed to treat each other. It can tell us that our family extends way beyond the people we know. We get lost, but there are signs all around us of God's presence. Blessings abound, yet some get unnoticed like the forgotten packages in the unclaimed mail department. May this Christmas intensify our longing for God in our lives, energize us to share the Good News with others, and catch hold of God's vision for the world.
To you is born this day . . . to you, the young and the old, the happy and the cranky, to beggars, CEOs and everyone in between. To you . . whether faithful, agnostic, unbelieving . . . whoever you are -- you are known by the one called Emmanuel, God with us.