Becoming Human
Series: Christmas
Speaker: The Rev'd Jim Quigley
Good evening! On behalf of the people of St. Alban’s Church and in the name of God we thank you for being here with us on this Holy Night, this night with a Godly cause: that we may see the light of God shining on the earth, that we might see Jesus, Emmanuel – God With Us – and that each of us leaving here might shine in this world with a new light in our hearts… that like Luke’s shepherds we might leave this place glorifying and praising God for all that we have heard and seen, as it has been told us.
What we have been told tonight is that in “those days” a decree went out from the Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. That Joseph went from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem. That Joseph was with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. That while they were there the time came for her to deliver the child. And that Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and that they wrapped the child in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
We’ve been told that there were shepherds in the fields in that region, keeping watch over their flocks by night. That the shepherds were terrified by the presence of an angel and the glory of the Lord shining around them but that were told to take heart because in the midst of their fear God was bringing good news for all the people, and that to them that day was born in the city of David a savior – the messiah. That if they looked, they’d find their salvation and they’d know their savior because he’d be wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. And so they went in search of their salvation, and found their savior just as had been promised. When they found that salvation they rejoiced, and they made known what they had seen. We’re told that amongst that rejoicing Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.
Before we rejoice this Christmas, with Mary let’s treasure these words and ponder them in our hearts. Not with our heads, mind you, but with our hearts. If we ponder the Christmas story with our heads rather than our hearts we’ll just end up scratching them. But if we ponder the Christmas story of the Gospels with our hearts then a world of possibility opens itself to us. That world of possibility is what the church proclaims to us tonight… that tonight unto this world a savior is born, and that this birth brings with it the possibility and promise of our salvation.
At heart, the Christmas story proclaims one very simple message. The heart of the Christmas story is that when the Virgin Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus, God became human. That’s really it… nothing more, and nothing less. In becoming Jesus, God became human. As a matter of the heart, and in order to save us... God became human. In order to heal us… God became human. In order to grant us eternal life… God became human. In order to love us… God became human. The Shepherds rejoiced because… God became human. On this most holy night we rejoice because… God became human. That’s what’s been told to us tonight. That’s the Christmas story.
It’s funny that sometimes when we fall short as people we say, “Forgive me, I’m only human.” But falling short isn’t being human it’s being inhuman. As defined, someone who is inhuman lacks qualities of compassion and mercy. In the fourth century a theologian named Athanasius wrote that: “God became human so that human beings could become more like God.” In the light of our Christmas story we might rather say that God became human not so we could become more like God but so that we might become a little more human. In that light we’d say, “Forgive us, we’re still becoming human!” More compassionate, more loving, more giving, more forgiving... more human.
There’s a story that on Christmas Eve in 1914 Allied soldiers and German soldiers wandered out into “No Man’s Land” for an impromptu ceasefire, singing “Stille Nacht/Silent Night” together. The next day the fighting resumed but on that holy night they became human, a glimpse of what each of us in Christ and on Christmas are called to become, and to do. To break ranks with the economic, social, political or religious allegiances that divide us. Christmas is a reminder of the possibility of that kind of human transformation. In becoming human God has shown us the light and the pathway to our salvation and for that matter the salvation of this world – being fully connected to God and being fully connected to one another… being fully human.
The Shepherds left the manger in “those days” praising and glorifying God for all that they had heard and seen. At St. Alban’s Church we hope to praise and glorify God not just at Christmas but each and every week of the year. We praise and glorify God when we offer lunches and educational programs for our poor, lonely and elderly neighbors every weekday with Iona services. We praise and glorify God when we prepare casseroles So (that) Others Might Eat. We praise and glorify God by feeding the hungry on the Grate Patrol. We praise and glorify God when we use the income from our Opportunity Shop to help “the least of these” in our midst. We praise and glorify God when within this body of Christ we forgive one another for… being inhuman as we sometimes are. We will praise and glorify God again tomorrow when we welcome our neighbors for whom there is no room in the inn on Christmas day and serve them a delicious Christmas dinner in love. On this holy night we invite you as the Church to join us in striving to become more human.
Howard Thurman wrote “When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flock, the work of Christmas begins: To find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bing peace among people, to make music in the heart.” May each of us treasure the Christmas story as it has been told to us, and ponder its Truth our hearts. Open your heart to the story of Christmas, a story that invites each of us to become more human. And let the invitation to become more human, in the light of the Gospel, be for each of us an invitation to know our savior and realize where our salvation lays.
Amen, and Merry Christmas!