A Sermon from Falmouth Congregational Church…

A Sermon offered by the Rev. Ian F. “Jack” Steeves in the public worship service of the Falmouth Congregational Church United Church of Christ in Falmouth, Maine on the First Sunday after Christmas, December 27, 2009. The scripture reading was Luke 2:39-52.

“The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;

and the favor of God was upon him” (2:40).

“The Divine Hoax”

Having sat down to write the sermon for this morning, I read the text in Luke’s gospel, and I was reminded of some words of the late Wallace Robbins, written years ago in a church newsletter:

            “…the child (Jesus) may grow into an obedient courier of God and deliver hard messages which remind even Kings that a greater than they rules the world; which remind beggars of the dignity which has beyond withdrawal, been conferred on them.”

Think about it and think about the child. He is a willing participant in and an initiator of a divine plot. Now, hear me out!

The Bible records that, over countless centuries, the Lord God (Yahweh) sought by various means and instruments to have and to maintain and enrich a relationship with human beings. Time after time, it did not work.

Most of us would avoid and, not without cause, run away from an encounter with an “immortal, invisible God….” Only a few of us, including Herod the Great, can resist the charms of a child. We will tax our limited brains and outstrip our adult vocabulary to converse with an invisible, all-knowing deity; but for a non-verbal infant, we will spontaneously break into song, invent a new language and make all kinds of funny noises and facial expressions to communicate, dare we say, with an infant. And yet, both God and child seem to understand us equally well.

I find all of this to be a great mystery and a greater wonder, and a still greater source of inspiration as “the year of our Lord 2010,” will soon open before us in less than a week’s time.

The truth is God has been here on this planet in person, in human form. The good cheer of Christmas is not the alcohol, not the cards, the carols, the foods or the gifts. The real and lasting cause for joy is that the Lord God became a person just like you and me, well almost you and me in our better moments.

I do not believe, it is overly sentimental to say that the adult Jesus loved “the little children.” They reminded him of his own childhood in Nazareth. He himself was once nothing more than a fresh imprint and a divine possibility in the midst of all creation. He was once a new pair of little hands and little eyes and little feet that, for a first time one night, touched and saw and moved on the Earth. He was once a brand new someone who came to drink in all of life and brought it forth again in his own spoken words, parables and commands. He believed, life was very good and that people were good, too, just as some children still do today. No amount of rejection or failure or pain ever changed his “child-like” attitude of wonder and outreach.

Someone has written that a vision of God is only for the eyes of the faithful. But then the eyes of faith see all good. A parent sees in a child you think to be quite ordinary, a goodness that is there in spire of your blindness. And holy men and criminals look alike to their executioners and to those who put themselves in the service of human power. That is why Jesus was executed between two convicted felons. The authorities of his day, both civil and religious, were unable or unwilling to tell the difference. The truth is this child, cooing in a manager, disturbs our moral sleep and keeps us awake; this child is more favored of God than us.

We are not inclined to mistake or confuse the Child Jesus with any of our own offspring. Still, it is true to say that each baby and all children should remind us of some childhood truths and that should remain and abide within us, and should characterize our adult, if not always mature relationships with God and one another.

What characteristics are we thinking about? Spontaneity is one that is often lost in adulthood. It is that open eyed, open faced look at life that says, early on, bring it all on. Give me life! What is sees, it sees. It has not learned to categorize, critique, compare and contrast. It refuses to coerce and distort the truth to its own image. It has no private or secret agenda or selfish design on the rest of creation. It seeks to enjoy and not control others. It just lets it be the way it comes fresh from God’s creative mind.

Dependency is another child-like characteristic. It is the that open handed approach to life that realizes without much thinking but some admission that it has no power, no status, no claim, and little ability to control life. It knows it can not survive unless someone else freely chooses to love her and cherish him. Strangely to us adults, children tend to accept this truth without guile or guilt. Every day is Christmas day. They smilingly take everything they can get, without embarrassment and sometime without gratitude. Children seem to sense some mystery that we can no longer discern or fathom or have so long forgotten, as if this is the way things are supposed to be, the way things were in Eden’s garden at the beginning. And, what if all that is true?

Surprise is a third, child-like trait missing in most of us. It is that wide-eyed stare at life that has no predetermined expectations, and so is not endangered by sudden changes. Change happens; it is part and parcel of life. Surprise never asks why birds fly, because why should they not? Surprise is followed by curiosity, because children have to know how fast and how high and how far birds do fly. And then comes creativity, because children wonder if they themselves can fly, too? And, some try.  And, a special few do fly high and wide.

It has been said that we never do the important things perfectly. We even seem to always love in an unfinished way. But today’s scripture reminds us that love truly works. It is a process we improve on, but never quite perfect. But, then, our God works with lifetimes, not just passing moments. Healthy, holy, and enduring relationships do not just happen; we have to work at them. And, despite our deepest attempts, our loving will always remain unfinished.

Every child who is born comes to us with a fresh and simple message that God has not yet despaired of us adults. God is ever willing to start over again, one more time. God loves all children, because they are God’s own. God gives each his or her name, duly called out in their baptism, invites each of us to a life-long relationship and helps each of us to write and live out his or her own story. God is so magnificent that even Jesus could say or do and be among us everything that God is.

Jesus is God’s first word, not God’s last, because God is still thinking, planning, creating, nurturing, and redeeming. And every new child is God’s latest thought for our happiness, our joy and our salvation. We may never totally understand the Christmas event, but the more we strive to know, the more we will see a larger portion of the total picture, and the more we will know God, and the more we will understand ourselves to be the much loved children of a totally loving God.

It is Christmas and we are the living flesh of the Word of God in our world this Christmas. God does not expect the impossible of us, does not expect us to be perfect, but it is terribly important for each of us to be and to remain faithful. May the upcoming year, indeed be a new year for you. It is the year of our Lord, 2010.

Prayer…

            Immortal, invisible God only wise, who by the birth of the holy Child has given us a great light to dawn on our darkness, grant that we may walk in the light to the end of our days. Bestow upon us that most excellent gift of love for all peoples, that the likeness of your Child may yet be formed in us and that we may have the ever brightening hope of eternal life, through the same Child. Amen.