Christmas Eve Luke 2:1-7 Namaste
Max De Pree, a respected author of leadership books, has also written a book entitled, “Dear Zoe.” It is a book of letters written to his little granddaughter who was born 16 weeks prematurely. Zoe was only 11 inches long and weighed only 1 pound 7 ounces at birth. The doctors gave her a 5 - 10 % chance of living for three days. To complicate the things further, Max’s son-in-law exited the picture leaving Max to be the surrogate father as well as the grandfather. Zoe was so small that Max could slide his wedding ring over her fist and all the way up to her shoulder. The nurse told him that his job as substitute father was to speak tenderly to Zoe as he gently stroked her with one finger. That way she would be able to connect his voice and his touch and get to know him. Max came and visited her every day. He touched her and talked to her and let her know that she was deeply loved. Fortunately, little Zoe lived and she is a healthy, active adolescent today.
Now that is an upside down story of Christmas. Max was trying to show love and communicate who he was to this little baby. And at Christmas Jesus, came as a baby to show love to us and to communicate to us, revealing who God is.
I have often thought that the shepherds and wise men were lucky. We wish we could see Jesus like they were able to see Jesus. But the truth is, we are able to see Jesus. The Christ who was born at Christmas continues to be revealed to us today. He is Immanuel, which means “God with us.” God is alive and active in our world. The Holy Spirit is present in us and works through us. The Holy Spirit gives us the gift of faith so that we can see Jesus, not just in the baby born in Bethlehem, not just the one suffering and dying on the cross, not even just in the one whose resurrection broke the bonds of death. We can see Jesus in other people.
There is a new series on TV called Joan of Arcadia. It is about a teenager named Joan. Joan is a pretty typical teen in that she gets in trouble at school for talking and failing to do her homework. She has problems at home. The biggest problem being that her brother was in a car accident and is a paraplegic. What is unique about Joan is that God talks to her, sort of like God used to talk to Joan of Arc. The thing is, God appears to her as a different person all of the time. One time God shows up as a buff looking high school boy. Another time God appears as a middle-aged black lady serving food in the lunch line. God appears to her as a jogger, someone at the bus stop or the janitor. Sometimes it takes a minute to realize, “Oh, this person isn’t just the janitor, this is God!” I like the show. It like the premise of the show that God appears to us all the time in other people.
Jim Klobuchar, in his book, “Pursued by Grace”, tells of his encounter with a little boy in the Himalayan mountains. Jim was sitting along a trail just watching the sunlight play on the snow of the mountains when a Sherpa farmer and his wife came walking up the trail with their five year old boy. Jim waved at the little boy and he timidly waved back. When the family reached the bridge the little boy turned and waved again, this time more aggressively. When they reached the other side of the bridge he grew more excited and waved all the harder. At each turn of the trail’s switchbacks up the slope the little boy would thrash his arms and Jim would respond with big waves of his own. Finally, his mother noticed this going on and she spoke to him. The boy then turned to Jim, placed his fingertips together as in prayer, and brought them to his lips. Jim couldn’t hear of course, but he knew what he was saying and Jim returned the gesture. The word the boy spoke was “Namaste”. In Nepalese, it translates into, “I salute the God who lives within you.”
God lives within each one of us. We can see Jesus if we will look, really look at the people around us. We can hear God speak, if we will just listen to what people are saying. Christ was not just born at Christmas, he is reborn in each of us every day.
He dwells within us reassuring us of God’s love and grace.
He is present for us so we will know peace and joy, not just at Christmas, but every day.
He comes to us to give us the strength we need to live our lives for him.
But he is not just in us. Christ is also present in others. Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that whenever we do something to help or serve someone else we are really helping and serving him.
Think about that for a moment. Think about how you might treat people differently if you thought they were God. If you looked at others and saw “the God who lives within them” would you feel differently about them?
Would you treat the store clerk with a little more kindness?
Would you look with more compassion on the homeless man holding the, “Will work for food.” sign?
Would you be more understanding of the teen with tattoos and purple hair?
Every episode of Joan of Arcadia begins with a song by Joan Osborne. The chorus says,
“What if God was one of us,
Just a slob like one of us,
Just a stranger on a bus
Tryin’ to make his way home.”
What God is telling us with Christ’s birth is that he is one of us. He is among us. He lives in us and in others. And if we look for him in others it will make a difference in how we relate to them.
In the story, “Erik and the Old Man”, Erik’s mother, Nancy, tells of an encounter over lunch on Christmas Day. They had spent Christmas Eve with her husband’s family and now were on their way to spend Christmas Day with the her family. On the way they stopped for lunch in a diner. Nancy tells the story in these words, “I was thinking about the joy of spending Christmas with our families when I heard Erik, our one-year-old son, scream with glee in his high chair. "Hi there." Two words he thought were one. He pounded his fat baby hands - whack, whack - on the metal tray of the high chair. His face was alive with excitement, eyes wide, gums bared in a toothless grin. He wriggled and giggled, and then I saw the source of his merriment. A tattered rag of a coat; greasy, and worn. Baggy pants. Toes that poked out of would-be shoes. A shirt that had ring-around-the- collar all over and a face like none other. Gums as bare as Erik’s. Hair unwashed, uncombed, unbearable. Whiskers too short for a beard, but way beyond the shadow stage. And a nose so varicose that it looked like the map of New York. I was too far away to smell him, but I knew he smelled.
His hands were waving in the air, flapping about on loose wrists. "Hi there, baby; hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster." Erik continued to laugh and call, "Hi there." Every call was answered.
The waitresses’ eyebrows were rising. Several diners went "Ahem." This old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby! Now the bum was shouting from across the room, "Do ya know peek-a-boo? Hey look, he knows peek-a-boo."
The old guy was drunk. Nobody thought anything was cute. My husband was embarrassed. I was humiliated. Even our six-year-old wanted to know why that man was talking so loud. We ate hurriedly and in silence, all except Erik, who continued to run through his repertoire with the bum.”
Nancy goes on to say, “My husband rose to pay the check, telling me to meet him in the parking lot. I grabbed Erik and headed for the exit. The old man sat poised and waiting, his chair directly between me and the door. I prayed, "Lord, let me out of here before he speaks to me."
I tried to slip past, but Erik, with his eyes riveted on his new best friend, leaned far over my arm, reaching out with both arms in a baby’s pick-me-up gesture. I came eye-to-eye with the old man. His eyes were imploring. "Would you please let me hold your baby?" There was no need to answer. Erik propelled himself from my arms into the man’s and immediately laid his head on the man’s ragged shoulder. The man’s eyes closed and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands, full of grime and pain and hard labor, gently, ever so gently, cradled my baby’s bottom and stroked his back. The old man stroked and rocked Erik for a moment, then opened his eyes and looked squarely in mine.
He said in a firm, commanding voice, "You
take care of this baby."
I said, "I will."
He pried Erik from his chest, unwillingly, longingly, as though he were in pain. I held my arms open to receive my baby, and again the gentleman addressed me.
"God bless you, ma’am. You’ve given me my Christmas present."
I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik back in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband wondered why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly and why I was saying, "My God, forgive me, please forgive me."
I had just witnessed Christ’s love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgement;
a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes.
I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not.
I felt it was God asking - "Are you willing to share your son for a moment?", when he shared his for all eternity.
The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me that Christ dwells among us and lives in us and that when we care for one of the least of these, we care for Christ.”
The message of Christmas is that Christ is born among us. But he was not just born in a stable 2000 years ago. He is also born anew in each of us every day.
If we open our eyes we can see him in others.
If we open our ears we can hear him speak to us.
If we serve those in need we can know we are serving him.
“Namaste”. I salute the God who lives within you. My wish for you this Christmas is that you will not only salute, but serve the God that lives within each and every one of us. Amen.
Let us pray:
O God we give you thanks for sending Christ to us at Christmas. We are grateful that you loved us enough to become one of us so that we might know you. Open our eyes so that we might see you in others. Open our ears so that we might hear you speak to us. Open our hearts so that we might allow you to be born anew in us. Let your Holy Spirit inspire us and strengthen us so that we are empowered to serve you through serving others. Amen.
