Christmas Day, Selection II, December 25, 2018
Isaiah 62:6-12; Psalm 97
Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:(1-7)8-20
St Thomas the Apostle
The Rev’d Leo Loyola
When I think of the Christmas story, I think of my preschool Christmas variety show.
My class recreated the Nativity scene, while singing “Silent Night”.
We had kids playing Joseph and Mary, huddling around a plastic baby Jesus.
Other kids played shepherds and wise men, sheep and donkeys and various barn animals.
I played Cow #1, a life-sized image of a cow painted on cardboard which I sat behind and held up.
My teacher had her back to us, stage left on the piano. She had on a baby blue mini-skirt and wore what could be best described as a hair helmet. Hair hardened into this basketball shape on her head, using a whole can of Aqua Net hair spray.
It was the fashion of the time.
As the class sang, my teacher would periodically check to make sure things were going smoothly.
She turned her head and noticed me hiding behind my cardboard cow.
Without missing a beat, she glared at me with these red eye beams coming out of her eyes, mouthing the words “Leo, get up!”, while playing the melody with one hand.
And I immediately popped up and the rest of the song went smoothly.
If only she asked me “why were you hiding behind your cow”, I would’ve easily explained.
I didn’t have stage fright.
I was simply immersed in my role as Cow #1. Just look at any Nativity scene. You’ll never find one with kids sitting alongside the animals.
I just wanted our Nativity scene to be as real as the story our scene was based upon.
As an adult, the story of Jesus’s birth remains real for me. But I can easily understand why people have a hard time believing in it.
The story can be a huge stretch of the imagination for people. For many, Christianity would be so much more palatable if we rid ourselves of these supernatural elements.
A skeptic could argue that what Joseph and Mary went through is something commonly experienced by parents who’ve just given birth. Nothing magical at all. Just the “miracle of birth”.
When a parent holds their newborn fragile child for the first time, they don’t go “Ugh, it’s a baby.”
No, what most go through is this instant wave of joy, hope, wonder and overflowing love. At this moment, one can’t help but ascribe words like “it’s a miracle” to their experience.
If that were the case with the true Christmas story, I could accept that. After all, what makes Jesus special to me was more about how he lived, not how he came to be.
But let me say again, I believe the miraculous story of Jesus’s birth to be true.
Not simply by what Mary and Joseph say they experienced. But by what outside witnesses have seen.
Take for example the shepherds from Luke 2.
An angel appears before them:
“Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”
And if this didn’t get their attention, a multitude of the heavenly host brightened the night sky, praising God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
Yes, this part also leans towards the unbelievable, but hear me out.
What we can say is true about the Christmas story is that these shepherds had no personal gain from corroborating with Joseph and Mary’s claims. They were perfect strangers!
They had no reason to lie or make something up about people they hadn’t met before.
Yet what happened to these shepherds had to have been so compelling that they would drop everything and abandon their sheep, just to look for a baby.
What we see in the story of the shepherds is our own story of faith.
As with the shepherds, something in our life compels us to find comfort in what many consider unbelievable. It might be some curiosity that won’t go away. It might be some supernatural event or a personal tragedy.
Whatever this so-called divine intervention might be, we are all compelled to be witnesses to something miraculous.
It is how the miracle of Jesus’s birth can be true. Even without empirical proof.
Yes, belief in Christ stretches us immensely. A few can buy into him effortlessly. But I’m sure many of us struggle with the details and yet we are here.
May we follow the example of the shepherds to seek what is real yet amazing. May we also return to our daily life, glorifying and praising God for all we have heard and seen.
