Love Makes God Known

IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY AND UNDIVIDED TRINITY ONE GOD – AMEN

Growing up, we always went to church on Christmas Eve. We would bundle up or put on raincoats depending on the weather…and we’d make the journey downtown to the big church that was so familiar. 

This impressive art deco building stood against the night sky, illuminated by the giant lights on the ground and the headlamps of cars making their way to the equally impressive parking lots surrounding the church. 

We avoided the crowds by cutting through the kitchen entrance. We walked up the stairs and into the Great Hall…joining the masses to make our way into the sanctuary. 

This sanctuary was a semi-circular auditorium, complete with a balcony overhead, pulpit front and center, and two huge choir lofts to each side. The chairs we sat in were plush, covered in a light pink fabric to go with the colors throughout the building. We rushed to our regular seats while one of us was tasked with getting bulletins and candles. 

The service began, with the choir and clergy processing in…readings and hymns…sharing in communion…and then the Great Christmas Hymn Medley. 

As our candles were lit, we sang silent night…moving from one familiar tune to the next until, as we all sang Joy to the World, we lifted our candles high causing the whole sanctuary to look like a starry sky. 

After the final benediction, there was a great push to leave…because the night wasn’t over. It was now after midnight and, per Kid Law, Christmas Day. 

We grabbed our coats and did what we could to rush from the sanctuary and make our way back to the Great Hall. We wanted to get the best position we could for what would happen next. 

As we found our spot on the balcony overhead or the stairs leading down…it started. The choir had assembled for all to see, and the accompanist began playing the beginning of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. 

It was a rushed celebration, with coats rustling and doors propped open as though we were all about to leave…but we stopped, just for a moment, to celebrate with the hundreds of people gathered…to be jolted awake for the celebration. 

No matter how tired we were after the LONG sermon or the communion service, we were all awake and ready. The whole of the night was made real for us and brought to us in that moment of imperfect rejoicing. 

The darkness of the night was nothing anymore…the late hour and exhaustion were taken away because something was made real again for us.

The Christ Child was born…we were to celebrate. The light of the world was kindled once again…but as the choir sang its final chord and we all clapped, it was time to go. 

It was bedtime, and we had to rest because the next day brought new adventures with extended family and friends. And so we left, energized and exhausted for what would come next. But the birth of the hope of the world was just beginning. 

The story of this tradition lives in my heart. It changes how I encounter the season…it has transformed how I experience music and liturgy and candlelight….friends, family, and strangers. Something so simple has made all the difference. 

There is something small and incredibly significant in our Gospel lesson as well. This is such a familiar lesson…the prologue and opening to the Gospel of John. 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” I heard this every Christmas Eve growing up at Church. We heard it on Christmas Day here at the Cathedral and all around the world. 

But we miss something. Language is a funny thing…with enough coffee, we kind of understand the words we speak in our native languages…but through translation, we miss something deeper. 

At the end of our lesson, the writer of John’s Gospel states that Jesus is the one who “makes God known.” Jesus teaches us about God. Great. This is simple…Jesus will explain the nature of God throughout his ministry…and so, preacher…please move on, we have things to do. 

But it’s never quite that simple. The word in Greek that we translate as “made known” is even more complex. It’s where we get the word “exegesis” or explanation and interpretation of a text. 

So Jesus came into the world to interpret God to the world…but what’s more…as the mystery of the incarnation means that God and Christ are one…then God interpreted the Word…the fullness of the incomprehensible and infinite love of God that has existed since before time and that has no end …the WORD became flesh and dwelt among us as Christ Jesus. 

The light of the world…the WORD of God…the infinite reality of unconditional love was interpreted by God in the small child, born to this faithful mother…in the unlikeliest place…for the sake of the world. 

This…more than memory and music…more than traditions that are simply peer pressure from past generations…more than anything our limited words can describe…this transforms us. The nostalgia of the season wanes, but the transformation of our hearts and lives will never end. 

If this infinite reality can be interpreted to live among us…then how are we to interpret this into our own lives? 

The light of the world came into the world to do more than invite us to spend time with family and friends once a year…

to do more than offer thoughts and prayers in the face of the reality of tragedy and suffering…

to do more when faced with the fear of the world as it unfolds and harms the hearts, minds, and bodies of the most vulnerable children of God. 

It is the coming of love at Christmas that breaks the chains of bondage and it is humans who clasp them back again…

it is the coming of hope at Christmas that offers solace and comfort in the face of fear and suffering, and it is humans who perpetuate harm through damaging theology and irresponsible use of scripture. 

It is the coming of joy at Christmas that offers abundance for what is needed, and it is humans who continue the cycle of scarcity. 

It is the love of God in Christ Jesus that we interpret in our hearts to change our lives and the lives of all children of God. We know the fear of the world…the ways that our neighbors are able to harm with word and deed..and the ways we hold pain in our hearts.  

There is no need for a reminder of the ways humans suffer and inflict suffering on other children of God. But there is a need…a desperate and insatiable need…for love…for healing…for presence…for comfort. 

There is a need for a moment of joy to offer strength to face the world. 

There is a need for peace in our hearts to offer healing to the world.

There is a need for hope to offer ourselves and the world as we drift dangerously from despair into apathy. 

There is a need to sing Hallelujah for the sake of the Christ Child.

There is a need for love. That’s it. Standing with the crowd in the Great Hall of the church where I grew up, with family and friends and strangers…that was love. 

Rushing through the kitchen door of the Church was love. Singing together was love. 

Being present here whether in person or online is love. 

Going into the world to offer kindness, mercy, and grace however we can…whenever we can…with all that we can…that is love. 

It will look different for each of us…because we are all unique interpretations of the love of God…and we have a chance to make that love known to the world. 

A love that goes beyond a moment at church or a season…a love freely offered for the sake of all creation for all time. 

A love that goes beyond words and becomes who we are…a love that breaks chains of bondage, that offers comfort, that brings joy and abundance. 

It is this love that is the light of the world. It is this love that makes us worthy to do the work of peace. It is this love that came down at Christmas. 

And there is nothing…no amount of fear or indifference, hatred or division, loneliness or despair…nothing at all in this world that can separate you or me or anyone from the love of God that has been made known to us in Jesus Christ and is made known in one another. 

Merry Christmas. 

AMEN.