Christ Comes to Christ’s Own
“Christ Comes to Christ’s Own”
Christmas Eve 5:30 PM, Year A, December 24, 2022
Isaiah 9:2-7 Psalm 96 Luke 2:1-20
First Presbyterian Church of Sandpoint, Idaho
Pastor Andy Kennaly
Well, here we are, another Christmas Eve. Great decorations, very Christmassy; candles lit, more candles to come; music sung with traditional nostalgia; and sentimental feelings among family and friends. Christmas Eve in a lovely church in the heart of a small town on a stormy winter night.
I am humbled to be standing here now, speaking with a voice of authority in hopes to inspire and guide. To me, in many ways I feel that to stand here and speak is a violation. What’s violated is Silence. It’s not a violent violation, not insulting to Silence; it’s more self-inflicted, like a gun backfiring. So, as I stand here and flap my jaw, it’s with what feels like an apology, that I’m interrupting something, intruding on an ancient story that goes beyond what words can do.
Silence is not a static notion. Silence is more than the opposite of sound. Silence is a living entity. That deep, dark void, in the beginning, the space that holds the creative, divine conversation as the Word is made flesh to dwell. As Thomas Keating, who was a priest and developer of Centering Prayer puts it, “Silence is God’s first language; everything else is a poor translation.”
If Saint Francis of Assisi in the 12th century was correct when he says, “Preach the gospel, if necessary, use words,” then I’m not a very good preacher because I am immersed in organized religion of the Presbyterian tradition that uses words incessantly while pew sitters stay lodged largely in their cognitive space. Words involve judging, and it’s our mind, our brain, that does that work of interpretation. Using words invites opposition as something is measured up and against what it is not. Silence gets us beyond those limitations, and, if we’re paying attention, opens our heart space to the depths of our soul, and this is sufficient. We can trust that in our heart there is an eternal conversation already at work, a relationship that is sacred, dynamic, and transformative.
But here we are using the English language which has its own limitations. But since it’s necessary to preach with words, let’s play on the theme of Christmas. Christmas, the incarnation of Christ, specifically in human form in Jesus. But Christmas, the incarnation, is more than Jesus.
Let’s tease out a couple more Thomas Keating quotes. He says, “God is manifesting in each moment as the human condition in each of us. ‘We are icons of God.’”
Do you know what an icon is? Many protestants don’t as icons are used more often in the Eastern branch of Christianity, Orthodox Christians in the other half of the Church that divided in 1054. Icons are a form of artistic conversation as someone “writes” an icon, which is to say they prayerfully create what to us looks like a work of art, or a portrait. Devout Christians approach icons as tools of prayer, with reverence, even bowing down, or kissing them.
Imagine that you were a parent to a newborn baby and that little love of your life, which is heart and soul a part of you, is behind a glass window. You can see the baby, you want to pick up and hold the baby, but the best you can do is reach out, lean in, and kiss the glass, touch it with holy tears, and long for a time where unmediated presence occurs. Icons are like windows; to touch or kiss them invites a spiritual connection, participation in heavenly realms that parallel our existence as spiritual beings created in matter, in flesh and blood on a physical plane.
When Keating says, “God is manifesting in each moment as the human condition in each of us. ‘We are icons of God.’ God experiences Godself in us and awakens God’s dispositions in us, especially humility, forgiveness, and compassion….” he’s on to something. It doesn’t mean we’re good at that, it takes practice, patience to develop humility, deep forgiveness, and authentic compassion; but what a Christmas message, that get’s even better!
Keating continues, saying “Christ lives in us means that Christ prays, acts, thinks, loves, suffers, and dies in us; and at the deepest level is our true Self….. Our precious days on Earth – the spiritual journey – are not primarily about us, or even about our transformation in Christ. They are about God taking over our lives in every detail. … Living daily life and the evolution of consciousness are…. about God…. the goal is not just union, or even unity with God, but God incarnating in our humanity with all its circumstances.”
(Thomas Keating, Reflections of the Unknowable, quoted by Contemplative Outreach December 2022 e-bulletin).
Luke’s gospel shares a story of the birth of Jesus. Mary gives birth to her firstborn son, wraps him in scraps of cloth, places him in an animal feeding trough, for there is no room in the inn. Cosmic ripples of eternal joy emanate from that particular point in the time-space continuum, and the birth of Christ is on-going.
The birth of Jesus is a very specific story that is quite unique. But in another sense, everything is unique as creation itself expresses the very Christ who makes it. Jesus is born into an already Christ-soaked world.
Christ does this, as John Duns Scotus says in the 14th century, not “to fix what was broken, …but to be with what was valuable.” (John Duns Scotus, 14th century priest, https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/blessed-john-duns-scotus/).
All things are invited to awaken and recognize inherent holiness grafted into creation, to celebrate Christ embodied from the very beginning. In tonight’s scriptures, we hear the call for all things to sing God’s praises. Isaiah talks about endless peace established and upheld with justice and righteousness forever; the Psalmist calls for all the Earth to sing a new song, sing the Lord, declare God’s glory and marvelous works among all the peoples. All the people, that’s why even “all the trees of the forest sing for joy.” English language has a hard time with that imagery, to us people are limited to humans. But this is the heavens glad and the Earth rejoicing; all that fills the sea and everything in the field exults and worships in holy splendor.
So here we are, together to share God’s light, the light of created beings in the image and likeness of God. As we celebrate the gift of God, we join with all creation that sings, for Christ comes to Christ’s own.
Maybe that’s the one best thing about Christmas; Christ comes to Christ’s own. You won’t find that in a Black Friday sale, and you will never get your mind wrapped around it. The mystery of Love is a gift, like peace beyond understanding.
Merry Christmas to you…, and may God be glorified, now, even as forever. Amen.