Christmas Greeting

Rev. Rali M. Weaver

First Church and Parish in Dedham

I know the order of service says this is supposed to be a Christmas greeting. And for many years the Ministers of First Church have stood where I stand right now and wished you merry as a part of worship on Christmas Eve.

I have tried long and hard to find those words.

Unfortunately what has come to me is only the reminder that this is not yet Christmas. Even though we did have our Christmas Pageant yesterday and we sang cheery greetings and said words that implied Christmas is here-- Christmas actually isn’t here yet because tonight is Christmas Eve.

Tonight is the final night of advent-- the final night of waiting before we rush headlong into the merriment of Christmas Day. This is why we mark this service in silence and darkness. This is why we hear the stories in only the glimmer of light and why we blow out the candles before we leave and exit the meetinghouse in silence.

We are acknowledging the darkness in this very moment while we sit at that final budding edge of nothingness before Christmas happens.

Presents with unknown contents are sitting all wrapped.

Stockings are empty.

The manger is bare.

Not all of the guests have arrived yet.

.

I am reminded of a quote by CS Lewis (the author of the Chronicles of Narnia as well as many other books) “The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to find the place where all the beauty comes from.”

Isn’t it this that we mark with our rituals? With our Christmas Eve services and even with our baptisms and with weddings. We use ceremony to mark the times of longing and not knowing before something new begins. We mark the moments in ceremony when it is not yet decided, when the jury is still out and when anything can happen.

This must have been how Mary and Joseph felt. Of course they knew this baby born to them on this night was special. How could they not know? An angel had visited Mary and told her so and even back then visits from Angles were unusual.

Plus Mary and Joseph had to travel so far from home and having delivered the child themselves-- in a barn -- they were probably pretty relieved that they had all survived.

They knew this baby was unique, that he was resilient, but how could they have known what he was going to do, how could they have known how his specialness would manifest?

And the Shepherds- they must have been stunned by the angel of the Lord.

10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:10-14 King James Version)

Those words were enough to make the Shepherds go to Bethlehem to see for themselves. Leaving the manger and proclaiming the news of what they saw.

But how could anyone seeing a baby in a manger be certain that this was the one that would bring peace on earth at last?

What the shepherds saw was a baby-- and all the angels in the world couldn’t tell the whole tale of what was to come. So what the shepherds were proclaiming was the possibility of a new future, without the certainty of fact.

And the Wise men --they were astrologers. They knew how to read the stars. And yet the stars couldn’t have always been right. There must have been times when their predictions had set them on the wrong course. So when those kings arrived in the manger they were laying their gifts before the possibility that the child presented-- but they could not have been certain that the baby they saw would change the world.

The precious gift of possibility is what they were acknowledging and what we acknowledge tonight.

The longing “to find the place where beauty comes from” is what I hope we will foster in our hearts. It is that gift that can only come from not knowing for sure, from not having all the answers, from the possibility of the unknown --which we come here to celebrate tonight.

There is darkness in not knowing and often an ache of what is missing. But this too is what we celebrate. As Unitarian Universalists we know there are many roads and many questions. We acknowledge that our hearts are longing but or spirits appreciate the questions and not knowing.

Christmas Eve is about not knowing what your greatest gift will be this year and

acknowledging that you don’t exactly know how the story will end.

These are the precious gifts we mark tonight in worship.

And this is the Christmas EVE greeting I leave you with-

Just as Mary may the difficulties never frighten you and may you know that all your dark moments will be followed by light.

Just as Joseph may your heart’s longing steady your quest.

Just as the Shepherds may you find comfort in the possibility that comes from new birth.

Just as the wise men may you put your treasure where your heart is.

And may the questions that come at the start of something new always bring you great joy.

May your Christmas be merry but may your Christmas Eve fill you with the wonder of the season.

Amen