Have you ever noticed that when you get together with your family and start telling stories about when you were growing up or what happened years ago, the same events sound very different as different people tell the story? Depending on who\u2019s describing it, the guy who used to live across the street was a scrooge or a saint; or moving from one town to another was either a disaster, a wonderful escape or a thing indifferent, hardly noticed. Same event, different folks in the family, different points of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not unlike the wonderful poetry of the first 18 verses of John\u2019s gospel we just heard. This is the Christmas story, the third time the Bible tells it. It\u2019s the same story we heard on Christmas Eve, the story of the manger and the shepherds and the angels. And it\u2019s the same story Matthew tells in his gospel, with Joseph\u2019s dreams, the wise men and the flight to Egypt. But the point of view is different, and John\u2019s gospel sounds strange to ears more accustomed to crowded inns and angel choirs. That\u2019s because different folks in the family are telling the same story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You see, Luke, who wrote the familiar story we heard on Christmas Eve, was a bit of an historian. He was very concerned with getting the dates and rulers right, and with locating everything in time and space. He also may have been a gentile, and he was clearly very concerned about people who, like the gentiles, were considered outsiders. So, Luke is more interested in shepherds \u2013 who were social outcasts \u2013 than in kings. And Luke tells the story from the perspective of Mary \u2013 a radical move since women were even lower on the social ladder than shepherds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew is more traditional. He was certainly a Jew and may have been a scribe. He was very concerned with making it clear that Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies as the Messiah, the King of Jews. So, shepherds didn\u2019t interest him as much as the royal wise men from the East. The child is surrounded by his peers. And he paid a lot of attention to the flight to Egypt because of the parallel between the Exodus and Jesus\u2019 own return from Egypt to Israel. Also, the more conservative Matthew tells the story of Jesus\u2019 birth from Joseph\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there\u2019s John. John may have heard of the stories in Matthew and Luke, but he\u2019s not primarily an historian or a Jewish royalist. John is a theologian and a mystic. So he writes of the meaning of Jesus\u2019 birth, and he writes from his theology, and from the holy imagination of his prayers. But he\u2019s still telling the same story \u2013 all three are talking about the same birth \u2013 all three are saying the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John does begin the story earlier \u2013 he reminds us that Christmas really begins where Genesis begins, in the beginning, with God in creation. So, using language evocative of Genesis, John begins by talking about the Word of God. The Word here is God in action, God creating, God revealing himself, the one whom the church has named the second person of the Blessed Trinity. This Word was with God, and this Word was God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then John tells the Christmas story \u2013 in nine words. \u201cAnd the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.\u201d He who was with God in creation, the one who is God revealing himself to humanity, this one became a person, became flesh \u2013 as completely human as you and I. Not God in a people-suit; not a really good person who God rewarded and made special; not a super angel God created early and saved up for Bethlehem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a person, who was the Word \u2013 who was God\u2019s own self. Soaring words for the most down-to-earth thing that ever happened. But it\u2019s still the Christmas story, still the story Matthew and Luke tell \u2013 the story of the birth of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to telling the same story, Matthew, Luke and John also share one special way of telling it: There is one image, one symbol, and only one, that they all use to talk about the birth in Bethlehem. Can you think of what it is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They all talk about light \u2013 the light of the star, the light that shone around the shepherds, the true light that enlightens every man. These all echo Isaiah\u2019s vision of vindication shining out like the dawn, of salvation like a burning torch. Where Christ is, people, who understand talk about light. They have to \u2013 there\u2019s no better image of what\u2019s going on. The light shines in the darkness, John proclaims. And somehow we understand this, and we understand that this truth cannot be better expressed in any other words, with any other image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In large part, I suspect we understand this because we know about darkness ; we know what it\u2019s like to live in and with darkness. Remember what it\u2019s like to try to walk through an unfamiliar room that is completely dark, or to wake up confused in the middle of the night in someone else\u2019s house, trying to get somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We know what it\u2019s like when we don\u2019t know where things are, or what we\u2019ve just bumped into, or whether we\u2019re going where we want to go, or if our next step will be OK, or if we will break something and make a mess. We know how easy it is to go in circles in the dark, and to get turned around, and to stub a toe and get angry and hit whatever\u2019s handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we know what it is like to live like this in broad daylight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What John, and Luke and Matthew all say about Christmas is that a new light begins to shine. Gradually, quietly, but with absolute certainty, and by that light we can begin to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By that light we can begin to see who we are and who we are created to be. For it is in the person of Jesus that what it means to be a human being is finally made clear. In him we see that our lives are made whole only as we surrender in love and service; in him we see that really being alive means risking everything for \u2013 and because of \u2013 the love of God and the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In him we see that hope needs never be abandoned \u2013 never \u2013 and that we contain possibilities beyond our imagining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, by that light that has come into the world we begin to see God clearly for the first time. \u201cNo one has ever seen God,\u201d John reminds us. But God is made known to us in Jesus. This means that everything we ever thought about God, everything we had figured out, everything that we were sure we knew about God \u2013 all of this is put to the test in Jesus. Who God is, in relationship to us, is fully revealed in Jesus. Not in one saying or one parable, or one miracle, but in all of Jesus \u2013 in his life, his ministry, his teaching, his death and resurrection; in these all together we finally have the light we need to see God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The light of Christ, the Word made flesh, comes among us at Christmas, and we celebrate its coming into the world. God had revealed himself and his love to us in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That first Christmas, the light shone \u2013 and it continues to shine. By that light we have been given the power to become children of God and to take our places with the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. This is the Christmas story. This is our story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of those other lights \u2013 the ones on trees, shopping centers, houses and office building \u2013 these are, at best, a faint reminder of the light we celebrate during this holy season, the new light that shines from Bethlehem and from the very heart of God that is our gift, our legacy, our prize, and \u2013 always \u2013 our sacred calling to name and to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sermon was written by the Rev. James Liggett<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever noticed that when you get together with your family and start telling stories about when you were growing up or what happened years ago, the same events sound very different as different people tell the story? Depending on who\u2019s describing it, the guy who used to live across the street was a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16,43,52,3],"tags":[158],"class_list":["post-511983","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-christmas-1"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":16,"label":"Christmas"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":158,"label":"Christmas 1"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3477249,"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511983\/revisions\/3477249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}