CHRISTMAS SERMON 2003
Bishop Ackerman
One
of the more intriguing questions in our society is, do movies reflect the
culture or does our culture reflect the movies. For example based on what I have seen on television
lately we have moved from so called “Christmas Classics” such as The
Bishop’s Wife and It’s a Wonderful Life to Bad Santa and How the Grinch Stole
Christmas. On one hand, it
may all seem harmless enough in a whimsical sort of way, but the shift that
has taken place shows people who simply never go to church, do not seem to
pray, and make no mention of whose birthday this really is. Apart from any theological problems
this presents, the reality is that it gives us a Season where there is an
emphasis on feelings, so that if we did not receive the present we wanted,
then it wasn’t a good Christmas.
Or if we were sick and unable to go to someone’s house to open
presents, we didn’t really celebrate Christmas. In fact, it IS Christmas no matter how we may feel about
the day, because Jesus Christ has been born. If one were really strict about the definition, it would
be more accurate to say that those who do not celebrate the Birth of Christ
do not really celebrate Christmas.
This is not meant to be harsh, anymore than it would be to say that
those who did not light candles for the eight days of The Feast of
Lights did not celebrate Hanukah. In other words as the culture continues to change it is
reflected in movies, and movies have influenced the culture moving us into
a very new way to celebrate the Birth of the Christ Child.
That
is why when an extraordinary movie is produced that has more than just
entertainment value, it needs to be noted. In a recent television movie a talented teenage
Country-Western Singer left home to pursue her singing career, and in so
doing became estranged from her father, for she left in spite of his
protests. Even after she
became one of the most popular Country Western singers in the nation, there
was no relationship with her father.
Years passed, the father attempted to make contact and not knowing
how to call her, the father even had to send a letter to his daughter
telling her that her mother had died.
Suddenly
the father indicated that he wanted to see the daughter, and in a panic she
left a note on her dressing room door indicating that she did not want to
see him. Then as she rode on a
bus, she sat next to an old man, with a long beard, and a large hat. From
the dark glasses it was clear that he was blind. During a horrendous snow storm, the bus became lodged in
a snow bank, and there was no rescue in sight. The singer began to shake, and the old man asked her
what was wrong. She indicated
to him that she was a diabetic and that in her rush she had forgotten her
insulin. The man responded by
telling her that he was a diabetic, too, and that diabetes was the cause of
his blindness. He then told
her not to worry because he had insulin with him; in fact, he told her he
had enough for both of them.
Even against her protests he insisted that she use the
injection. They both fell
asleep on the bus, with her head on his shoulder as they awaited a rescue. When help finally came, it awakened
the singer, who was feeling much better, and she tried to awaken the old
man in order to help him off the bus.
She discovered that he was dead, and she saw his insulin case, and
observed that there had only been enough insulin for one person. The old man shared what he had to
the extent that it cost him his life.
With extreme sadness she left the bus feeling quite guilty that she
had left the body of her savior on the bus. Later the truth was discovered. The man who had saved her life and
had lost his life for her sake, was her very own father whom she simply had
not recognized.
This
man who had been estranged from his daughter all of these years, who had
tried to contact her at various points, whether she had known it or not, in
the end gave everything he had so that his daughter could be saved.
At
Creation God created a perfect order.
By our sin, disobedience, bad choices, and behavior we caused
dis-order. In spite of the
alienation that we caused He sent the Prophets to try to help us return
into the order He had planned for us.
When we ignored and rejected His Prophets, He came into the world
Himself in the most vulnerable conditions possible, as an infant, being born
of a young woman, in a stable in a manger in a strange town. God took on flesh to become fully
human and fully divine in order to reconcile us with Him.
In
the movie, if the father had totally rejected the daughter, she would have
died. He could have said, “It
serves her right. I wrote her,
I tried to visit her, I called her, and she chose to reject me. Now she has to live with the
consequences.” If God the
Father had totally rejected us because we have rejected Him and His plan
for us, because we had rejected His warnings through the Prophets, then we
would be dead this day. But He
sent His only begotten son, or as Eucharistic Prayer D says,
“When
our disobedience took us far from you, you did not abandon us to the power
of death. In your mercy you
came to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you. Again, and again you called us into
covenant with you, and through the prophets you taught us to hope for
salvation. Father, you loved
the world so much that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be
our Savior.”
You
see, beloved He was looking for us.
He took the first step when really since we were the ones who caused
the rupture in the relationship, He could have insisted that we take the
first step. In gratitude for
even being born, we should have taken the first step. But we did not. He did. This is why we pray – this is why we come to Church –
this is why we give thanks, because at the Incarnation God took on flesh
and dwelt among us. He came to
transform our nature. He came
to give us life that disease was rapidly taking away. He literally came to save us, and
He did so in a manner where we would need to discover Him. He did not come with trumpets
playing to announce His arrival.
He came in the most humble of circumstances, so that in discovering
Him we might be transformed.
And
so, how do we live transformed lives?
We do so by learning to forgive each other, forgiving even those who
have broken our hearts, for they have broken the heart of Jesus, too. We do so by reducing blame, for if
blame for bad behavior were the basis for cutting someone out of our lives,
God would have cut us out years ago.
We are transformed by praying first before responding to someone who
has offended us, for we have regularly offended God. We are transformed by looking for
Christ in this broken world, for it was into this broken world that Christ
was born.
Jesus
wants to transform our lives (tonight) (today). He wants to enter our lives as he enters a stable. We are called “temples of the Holy
Spirit”, but if truth be told, we are not the Hilton or the Holiday Inn, we
are more like run down stables, broken and battered.
When
God took on flesh and was born in a manger in a stable, no one noticed how
battered the building was. All
they saw was Jesus. The
Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph did not apologize for the shabbiness of
the place. All eyes were on
the One who was in the manger.
As Jesus Christ is
born in our hearts (tonight)(today), no matter how broken we are, no matter
how battered we are by pain, burdens, and disease, this same Jesus wants to
take up residence in us. The
world wants to see Jesus. And
in some small or large way, someone you know needs to see Jesus shining
through you. For the one who
wishes to reside in you is also the only one who can save your life.
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Updated
Dec. 24, 2003 Used by Permission
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