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The Nativity of Our Lord Isaiah 9:2-4,6-7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Gospel according to Luke 2:1-20 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to 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 suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!’ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’d like to read you a story. It didn’t really happen (I made it up), so in one sense it’s not true. But I hope it will help us remember something that is true about Christmas. God’s advisors, the angels God turned to for advice, came in quietly and took their places at the large conference table. This was the "Situation Room," the place where they dealt with crises. One wall was a made up completely of a window with a magnificent view of the cosmos — stars and galaxies and formations of such grandeur color and scale that even the angels were a bit intimidated when they thought that all this came to be simply because God spoke. This was only the third time they had been in the Situation Room. The first time was just before the Great Flood. The second time was shortly after that, when it had become clear that whittling humanity down to just Noah and his family was not going to solve the problem. Each time they had given God what they thought was good advice, but each time, God had chosen God’s own path. The last time, when God did not wipe out all of humanity, the advisors had told God that the problem would not go away, and that someday they would be back in this same room dealing with it Now, here they were again. "Thank you for coming," God said. "I realize that the last time we were here, you told me that we would have to deal with this again, and you were right. I did not follow your advice at that time simply because I had different concerns. "Why don’t we start by reviewing the situation? Gabriel?" The Angel Gabriel pointed a remote control at the wall, and a screen descended. Gabriel tapped a few keys on a computer, and a timeline came up on the screen. (It was a Powerpoint presentation.) "Here, you see," said Gabriel, pointing to the timeline, "is the beginning of creation. This is the creation of land, and here is the creation of light . . . ." "Yes, yes," God said, "get on with it." "Well, skipping ahead," said Gabriel, "here is the source of the problem. This is when God spoke the word ‘Adam,’ and the first human being was fashioned out of the dust. As you recall, God then blew life into Adam with God’s own breath . . . ." "Yes, yes," God said, "get on with it." "Ahem," Gabriel said, clearing his throat with a hint of indignation. (He liked to talk.) "Well, as you recall, it was not long at all before Adam and Eve showed themselves to be both marvelous, because they were created in God’s image of course," (Gabriel nodded respectfully to God, who nodded back), "and they also showed themselves to be rebellious, resisting God’s will and trying to make themselves gods." Around the table, the other angels nodded with age old concern. "At that point," Gabriel continued, "you might recall that we considered a sanitizing operation designed to rid that planet of what we (well, at least we advisors) thought of as a contagion, an infection, a dangerous defect. But our recommendation to wipe them all out and start over was overruled, and a few, Noah and his family, were allowed to survive. "When it became clear that this handful was also defective, possessing a rebellious nature and trying to make themselves gods just like the others, we strongly recommended their extermination, but," here the angel spoke slowly, "our recommendation was overruled for what I’m sure were very good reasons which were not apparent to us at the time." God smiled without looking up. "So," Gabriel continued, "humanity reestablished itself with all the same problems it had before. Although they were marvelous in many ways (being made in the image of God)," (he nodded to God, who dutifully nodded back,) "they seem not to be able to help themselves from sinning. The can’t seem to get how really to love God or one another; they often abuse the creation, and they are frequently cruel to one another and even themselves. And even the ones who say they worship God often really worship wealth or power. They are still quite a . . . challenge. I believe Uriel will pick up the presentation from here." Gabriel sat down and the Angel Uriel stood. "God," he said, "has made many, many efforts to reach out to these peculiar beings. God delivered a group of them from oppression and adopted them as his special people. He gave them instruction and guidance about how to live their lives. He gave them land and made them a nation so that they might be a light to the world. When that didn’t work, God sent them prophets and prophets and prophets to teach them and bring them God’s word. Most of the time, the prophets were either largely ignored or cruelly mistreated. To this day these humans, even God’s chosen ones, continue to take advantage of the poor and weak, to wage war, to worship money and power, to hate enemies, to quarrel among themselves, and, generally, not to know much about how to love. And that, I’m sorry to say, is the sad state of affairs that has brought us back to this room." Uriel sat down. "Thank you," God said, nodding to Uriel and Gabriel. "I would like to open the floor for discussion." "It seems to me that there is hardly anything to discuss," said the Angel Michael. Michael was a warrior, and he had been holding his tongue during the presentations. "With all due respect, you should follow the advice we gave you before. Wipe ‘em out, and this time no Noah, no survivors." "I promised I wouldn’t," God said quietly. "I gave them the rainbow as my pledge." The Angel Raphael jumped in: "Yes, but they haven’t kept any of their promises to you; I don’t see why you should feel obligated to keep any of your promises to them." God looked at him without saying anything. Raphael looked down at the table. "They can’t seem to get how to be human the way you created them to be," said Michael. "You should put them out of their misery. To leave them in this state is cruel." "Yes," said Raphael. "They will never learn how to be truly human. Put them out of their misery." Gabriel, always more cautions than the others, said, "I don’t like the idea of you breaking a promise either. So I recommend a different course. I agree that they will never see what it means to be made in your image. They will never overcome their character flaw. But I recommend that you simply abandon them. It is less harsh, and it avoids you having to break your promise. I don’t like it, but it seems to me that you’ve tried everything, and nothing has worked. Their problem isn’t just one of behavior, it’s one of character. I’m afraid the situation is hopeless." Michael and Raphael had voted for destruction. Gabriel had voted for abandonment. They all turned to Uriel. "I agree; it’s hopeless," Uriel said. "Their world is full of pain and sorrow. It is a dangerous, violent place. Political fights lead to wars that kill millions. People live with huge burdens of sin and guilt. Disease is rampant. Some eat to excess, while others starve. They use one another to serve their own ends whenever they can; people are exploited everywhere. And even your holy name is used to justify killing innocent people. And then, invariably, your name is invoked again to justify seeking revenge. The cycle is endless. But I agree with Gabriel. Just leave them alone and be done with it once and for all." There was a pause. Then Michael said, "So, it’s a tie. Two for destroying them, two for abandoning them. What are your orders?" God did not answer, but instead looked out the window, out at all the things God had commanded to come into being, the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses. God looked and looked, zeroing in, and in, and in, until there was a small, insignificant, blue orb with white swirls. "This fragile earth, their island home," God thought. God looked at it for a long, long time. The angels waited respectfully. Finally Gabriel asked gently, "What will you do?" God turned and looked at them. On their faces were looks of anguish and pain caused by the unhappy recommendations they had made. They looked at God. On God’s face was a look of deep and profound love, a look of tenderness, a look of concern, a look of vulnerability. "What will you do?" asked Angel Gabriel quietly. "What will you do?" The Rev. James H. Pritchett, Jr. St. John’s Episcopal Church, College Park, GA
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