The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)

Lectionary: 15

When the kindness and generous love 
of God our savior appeared,
not because of any righteous deeds we had done
but because of his mercy,
He saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our savior,
so that we might be justified by his grace
and become heirs in hope of eternal life.

The prophet Hosea once complained about the cynicism of people who take God and their religion for granted. He recorded their knowing remarks as they encouraged one another to perform religious acts: 

“Come, let us return to the LORD,

For it is he who has torn, but he will heal us;
he has struck down, but he will bind our wounds.
He will revive us after two days;
on the third day he will raise us up,
to live in his presence.
Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD;
as certain as the dawn is his coming.
He will come to us like the rain,
like spring rain that waters the earth.”

They seem to have God and his ways figured out: "We sin; he gets upset; we repent; he comes around; we're saved as if nothing happened; and then we get back to business as usual. It's really no big deal."   

But the Prophet heard the Lord's response,  

What can I do with you, Ephraim?

What can I do with you, Judah?
Your loyalty is like morning mist,
like the dew that disappears early.

During this past Advent I was struck by the pity which the Lord shows to his people. We hear the word frequently in the scriptures, but we don't like it. We don't like to be pitiful, or the object of anyone's pity. We occasionally show pity, but we're more often reluctant to do so. Everyone has a story about showing kindness and suffering for it. There's a saying for that: "No good deed will go unpunished." 

As I hear growing anxiety about the climate crisis, the migrations of billions of people, the wars that are even now being generated by those mass movements, and the increasing use of murderous weapons on unarmed people, I also hear highly speculative remedies for the ever-worsening crises. They promise guaranteed solutions "as certain as the dawn is coming." We may have to make sacrifices for two days perhaps, but on the third day, the crisis will be passed! 

These schemes summarized: "Do it my way. Make me the energy czar of the earth. Do whatever I tell you; and I'll save you." 

But eight billion people cannot agree on anything. There is no technological, economic, political, or social solution to the problems we've created. If there is a spiritual one, it belongs to God, who made us from the mud of this dynamic and dangerous planet. 

In 1964, Stanley Kubrick, with Peter Sellers, George C Scott and others, gave us the satiric comedy, "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." I think of that title today as I stop worrying about Donald Trump, Ukraine, climate change, and mass shootings. Humor and faith are closely related, and Christmas invites the entire world to take a break from worrying to believe in God and laugh at our worries. 

Christmas invites us to welcome our Savior, but that requires three things from us: 

1. We must face the fact that we cannot save ourselves. That should be obvious by now. 
2. And we need God to send a Savior; 
3. And the man born of a virgin, who died on a cross, and was revealed as the Son of God on Easter, is that Savior.  

Will all nations worship the Father of Jesus in the foreseeable future? I doubt it. But some  will be led to do the right thing by a divine, generous, and courageous spirit; others will be stricken like the doomed pharaoh of Exodus. Their selfish, inept policies will fall precisely in line with God's plan of salvation. 

As Saint Paul said, all creation eagerly awaits that day. It cannot come too soon. And we wait with them -- with the orcas and jellyfish and imperiled trees, with the rising seas and the disappearing jungles -- for the revelation of God's Son. 

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,

with the mountains quaking before you... Is 63:19