Nativity

Christmas I – The Nativity of the Lord

Isaiah 9:1-6; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14

“…in two days we will celebrate Christmas. Maybe candlelit. Not because it’s more romantic, no, but because there will not be, there will be no electricity. Millions won’t have neither heating nor running water. We’ll celebrate Christmas. Celebrate Christmas and, even if there is no electricity, the light of our faith in ourselves will not be put out…”

I was at the front line in our Bakhmut. Every inch of that land is soaked in blood…”

Did you hear the words of the prophet Isaiah resonant across the millennia in the words of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy?

“we will celebrate Christmas. Maybe candlelit.”

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;

“even if there is no electricity, the light of our faith in ourselves will not be put out…”

upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.

“Every inch of that land is soaked in blood…”

For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames.

Whether it is an ancient long forgotten war between Assyria and Israel or a very present war between Russia and Ukraine, there is no sentiment here. These texts are not abstractions divorced from reality. They are ground in particular historical situations.

It is in the midst of the outcry and pain of empires and nations colliding that both an ancient Hebrew prophet and a contemporary world leader speak of victory and hope.

“You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing,

as people make merry when dividing spoils.

For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder,

and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed…”

“…on Christmas Eve, Ukrainians will still sit down at the holiday table and cheer up each other. And we don’t, don’t have to know everyone’s wish, as we know that all of us, millions of Ukrainians, wish the same: Victory. Only victory”.

But in either case victory does not necessarily mean peace. Victory, whether between nation states or in our personal lives, can too easily result in impasse, crushing restitution, or a cold war.

The victory of Emmanuel, God among us, the peace that the angels sing of and the risen Christ offers must take root in a change of heart. Thus the words of Titus take a turn that we are not used to at Christmas – most probably have avoided:

"The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age…"

Titus reminds us that the salvation that is announced and celebrated on this festival of God among us has direct and immediate moral implications for our lives. Peace is not found through violence but through our personal rejection of godless ways and worldly desires and passions, through self–control and living moral and truth filled lives.

Is there not a parallel then between the deep shadows of darkness that the Ukrainian people sit in tonight and the inner darkness of our lives filled with…with lost opportunities, betrayals great and small, of promises broken, failed love? All of that inner darkness revealed in our personal sorrows, grief and shame belong here tonight. It all belongs here. Our personal darkness must find a place amid the candlelight, the deep lowing of cattle, the crying of an infant, the shining of stars and the watching of shepherds. For tonight it is not ancient Israel or even present day Ukraine, but you and I that are called out from the darkness of the shadows of death into the light that smashes what burdens us.  

Tonight the victory of God appears in the unexpected presence of a child.

Tonight through the blood of birthing divinity is joined with humanity.

Tonight through the blood of Ukrainians and Russians, through the blood of our lives and that of Christ on the cross, the savior Jesus Christ, delivers us and cleanses for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.