Please note that these sermons were composed to be spoken out loud, and are typed in as such; so sometimes grammar and punctuation might be different than if they were originally written only to be read off a page.
December 2020 Sermons
Christmas Day 2020 The Rev. Dr. Barbara Elliott
Merry Christmas! What wonderful poetic readings we have this morning, all celebrating God’s love for creation and for us. We know this Christmas story so well—and John’s version is poetic and mystical. The words float, helping us imagine that God’s grace and truth come to the world with the birth of baby Jesus.
These are the darkest days of the year. The pandemic’s gloom settled in beginning last March, and we have all been living with lessening sunlight and more darkness since last June. Yes, dark days…with the vaccine and solstice, and now, Christmas, we are each anticipating the light.
Today’s Gospel reading from John about the Christmas story begins with reference to the creation story in Genesis, where the Word of God is God in action, busy creating. As John says, “The Word was with God, and the Word was God…” John actually summarizes the Christmas part of his story with only nine words: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This is John’s story of the birth of Jesus—and it conveys that Jesus was born as the human expression of the Word, that Jesus was born as God in the world.
This version of the Christmas story is so different from the stories in Luke and Matthew. Yesterday we read the Christmas story in Luke. He was a historian; he tells of Mary, the manger, the shepherds and the angels. Matthew also wrote the Christmas story. He was a Jewish scribe, and he describes how Jesus’ birth was exactly what had been predicted by the prophets. Matthew includes details about Joseph, his dreams, and the wise men. Each of these Christmas stories is a different account of the same experience—like when we gather with our extended families, and different relatives remember the same family story. Each of us remembers and emphasizes different parts of the events. From the Christmas stories that Matthew and Luke wrote, we know how and where the birth happened. John’s story tells us why Jesus was born.
It is interesting to see the story told with characters and events in the Matthew and Luke examples, and to also encounter the story as John tells it with sophisticated theology. John introduces us to the Christian understanding of the incarnation and the complexities of the Trinity. John reminds us that Jesus is in fact the Christ, well beyond the child in the manger.
There is one other part of the Christmas story that the three of them, Matthew, Luke and John, all share: they each talk about how important light was in their telling of the story. The three writers all say that with Christmas the light began to shine, suddenly, quietly—and differently. Matthew and Luke describe the light of the star that guided the wise men and shepherds to the stable and the light that shown all around those at the manger. For them, light came from God spotlighting the unique event. Again, John uses the light differently in his telling of the story: for him Jesus’ “…life was the light of all people…the true light, which enlightens everyone.” For John, Jesus’ light is God’s love.
Which brings us to today’s Christmas, this year. Our Advent preparation for today has been reflecting on how the Christ Child can help us move beyond the Wilderness, beyond the darkness and toward the light, with the hope, peace, joy and love represented as dimensions of our faith by our Advent candles. Throughout Advent, we have been waiting for light. We are so ready for the light. We need the light.
And here we are—encountering God’s love for us in Christ. At the first Christmas in the stable, the light shone, and it continues to shine—allowing us to see the world as Matthew and Luke describe. And by that light we begin to see who we are and who we are created to be as John relays. Jesus brings what it means to be human and have relationships. Jesus’ light brings the Way of Love.
Light is a wonderful metaphor for God’s love: Light radiates into the darkness. Light fills available spaces; it seeps in through cracks; it spills into spaces that have been dark, and it allows us to see a path forward into darkness. And so it is with Jesus’ light, the Way of Love.
We know it finds each of us, too, coming into our lives whether by invitation, or unexpectedly through the cracks in our lives. This light, this love, becomes part of us. This is the reason we can be hopeful about our future: today God blesses us with this gift which we then radiate while we re-build the world around us.
Thanks be to God! Merry Christmas. AMEN
December 20, 2020 The Rev. Dr. Barbara Elliott
Sermon: Fourth Sunday of Advent
The last candle on the Advent wreath is lit. Ready or not, we are celebrating Advent 4. Ready or not, Christmas is upon us; we will be back here Thursday evening to meet the Christ Child, when we also light the Christ candle in the center of the wreath. And for these next four days, we continue to prepare ourselves—so we are as ready as possible for what the Christ Child brings us.
Today’s fourth candle represents Love, complementing the resources the Advent candles name as parts of our faith, including Hope, Joy and Peace. We are called to be preparing for the arrival of the Christ Child. Both our Old Testament and Gospel readings today tell stories about what it takes to be prepared for times when God has plans for us that are very different from what we have been thinking would be our future. Kind of like where we are now: our thoughts about how our lives would unfold into the future were greatly changed beginning last March. God seems to have other plans for us going forward…and Advent is about being prepared for when God arrives. Here we are!
Today’s first story is about King David. David had plans to build a temple that would house the ark and glorify God. But God had other plans. God comes to Nathan, one of his prophets, asking that David not follow through with these plans. Instead, God describes that He wants David’s lineage to become the source of sacred events in the future, and God promises to protect David’s future generations. As it turned out, David did not get what he personally was planning—but David clearly became part of God’s plan for the future.
Today’s Gospel story is about an event 1000 years later. It describes how the angel Gabriel enlisted a young woman, Mary, in God’s plan about Jesus’ birth. Mary was engaged to a skilled craftsman, which implied she would live a future in the middle-class of Palestine. Gabriel unexpectedly appeared to Mary with a different plan, God’s plan, and changed everything. Through Mary, the dynasty that began with David, was reaching its fruition. Mary, like David, accepted God’s plan and became part of a much bigger story. Both David and Mary walked away from the futures they each had envisioned and toward the unknown future God offered. We can only imagine how hard that was; it is always very hard. Today it is very hard, too.
Here we are today. We each do have plans for ourselves, for our families, for St Paul’s and for our lives. As Advent ends this year, especially with the times of Wilderness we have been living, it is important to remember that like David and Mary, God has plans for us, too. Very often, it is times in our lives when things do not go as we have had them planned, that God is most present and most real. Is that what you are perceiving in these final days of Advent this year?
All of these thoughts are expressed in a prayer that I happened upon again this week. It is by Thomas Merton; let me share it with you: “You do not need to know precisely what is happening or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.”
Perhaps that is what Advent in this year, in these times, is about: being ready for the Christ Child’s coming—being open to a whole new perspective on life and God’s creation, recognizing that how we are to be in the world is not like we thought it would be. We need the courage to recognize and live into what our Advent ponderings are preparing for us. Are we ready to make our Christmas invitation to God this year one that truly allows God to become one with us? Do we have within us, the strength of Mary and David, to truly allow God to be born in us?
This year, we find ourselves anticipating Christmas and the joys that the birth of the Christ Child brings in the context of great grief. That needs to be acknowledged if we are to know the fullness of our times and how we can move forward from here. We need to ponder and celebrate the coming of Christ and what is right in our world and families—and we need to recognize the reality of our lost friends, family, relationships, and plans. There is loneliness. There is sadness. There is amazing potential for what is to come. We need God to take our hands and walk with us into that future.
And so, whether we are ready or not, Christmas is coming. Perhaps the hardest tasks we face in life this year is to be open to and to accept what God has in store for us. That is where Mary’s words come in: as the Beatles sang it so memorably: Let it be. Let it be.
What will Christmas be like for us this year, what will it mean? What will it look like for the Lord to be reborn within us?
We do not know, just as David didn’t know, and Mary didn’t know. We cannot plan for it—we can only open ourselves as we walk toward the birth of the Christ Child and the Way of Love.
God does have plans for us—for each and every one of us. As Merton reminds us, we just need “…to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” Let it be. Let it be. AMEN.
The last candle on the Advent wreath is lit. Ready or not, we are celebrating Advent 4. Ready or not, Christmas is upon us; we will be back here Thursday evening to meet the Christ Child, when we also light the Christ candle in the center of the wreath. And for these next four days, we continue to prepare ourselves—so we are as ready as possible for what the Christ Child brings us.
Today’s fourth candle represents Love, complementing the resources the Advent candles name as parts of our faith, including Hope, Joy and Peace. We are called to be preparing for the arrival of the Christ Child. Both our Old Testament and Gospel readings today tell stories about what it takes to be prepared for times when God has plans for us that are very different from what we have been thinking would be our future. Kind of like where we are now: our thoughts about how our lives would unfold into the future were greatly changed beginning last March. God seems to have other plans for us going forward…and Advent is about being prepared for when God arrives. Here we are!
Today’s first story is about King David. David had plans to build a temple that would house the ark and glorify God. But God had other plans. God comes to Nathan, one of his prophets, asking that David not follow through with these plans. Instead, God describes that He wants David’s lineage to become the source of sacred events in the future, and God promises to protect David’s future generations. As it turned out, David did not get what he personally was planning—but David clearly became part of God’s plan for the future.
Today’s Gospel story is about an event 1000 years later. It describes how the angel Gabriel enlisted a young woman, Mary, in God’s plan about Jesus’ birth. Mary was engaged to a skilled craftsman, which implied she would live a future in the middle-class of Palestine. Gabriel unexpectedly appeared to Mary with a different plan, God’s plan, and changed everything. Through Mary, the dynasty that began with David, was reaching its fruition. Mary, like David, accepted God’s plan and became part of a much bigger story. Both David and Mary walked away from the futures they each had envisioned and toward the unknown future God offered. We can only imagine how hard that was; it is always very hard. Today it is very hard, too.
Here we are today. We each do have plans for ourselves, for our families, for St Paul’s and for our lives. As Advent ends this year, especially with the times of Wilderness we have been living, it is important to remember that like David and Mary, God has plans for us, too. Very often, it is times in our lives when things do not go as we have had them planned, that God is most present and most real. Is that what you are perceiving in these final days of Advent this year?
All of these thoughts are expressed in a prayer that I happened upon again this week. It is by Thomas Merton; let me share it with you: “You do not need to know precisely what is happening or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.”
Perhaps that is what Advent in this year, in these times, is about: being ready for the Christ Child’s coming—being open to a whole new perspective on life and God’s creation, recognizing that how we are to be in the world is not like we thought it would be. We need the courage to recognize and live into what our Advent ponderings are preparing for us. Are we ready to make our Christmas invitation to God this year one that truly allows God to become one with us? Do we have within us, the strength of Mary and David, to truly allow God to be born in us?
This year, we find ourselves anticipating Christmas and the joys that the birth of the Christ Child brings in the context of great grief. That needs to be acknowledged if we are to know the fullness of our times and how we can move forward from here. We need to ponder and celebrate the coming of Christ and what is right in our world and families—and we need to recognize the reality of our lost friends, family, relationships, and plans. There is loneliness. There is sadness. There is amazing potential for what is to come. We need God to take our hands and walk with us into that future.
And so, whether we are ready or not, Christmas is coming. Perhaps the hardest tasks we face in life this year is to be open to and to accept what God has in store for us. That is where Mary’s words come in: as the Beatles sang it so memorably: Let it be. Let it be.
What will Christmas be like for us this year, what will it mean? What will it look like for the Lord to be reborn within us?
We do not know, just as David didn’t know, and Mary didn’t know. We cannot plan for it—we can only open ourselves as we walk toward the birth of the Christ Child and the Way of Love.
God does have plans for us—for each and every one of us. As Merton reminds us, we just need “…to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” Let it be. Let it be. AMEN.
