And So This is Christmas

 And what have you done?

In times past, I would spend Christmas at the “family homestead” in Hamilton.  The photo here shows me some time in the 1980s, with a shot of the front hallway and the manger scene.  When I would walk into the house, I notice two important details.  First the creche.  Our traditional manger scene was always right above the main fireplace in the front hallway.  I look inside to see if they remembered to put in the baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas morning.  Next thing I notice was the dining room.  How did they set up the table.  Who’s coming home, how many chairs, who sat where.  And most especially where will I sit this year.  And what will they be serving?

What about your home?  Maybe the manger scene is in the front yard, and the Christmas meal is take-out in in front of the TV.  Or maybe your Christmas creche is in the living room, and the family meal is in the family room.  Just take time to notice the manger scene. 

Notice this creche.  The manger scene.  Jesus is in a manger?  What is a manger?  A place to be fed.  The word manger comes from the Latin manger to eat.  A manger is a place where food is found. Hungry animals come to the manger to be fed, and once fed, go forth as better animals.  Hungry people come to Jesus to be fed, and once fed, go forth as better people.

If you go to church at Christmas, notice the altar.  A kind of dinner table, it is an altar of sacrifice.  A different kind of food.  Not the kind where we stuff ourselves and then take a nap.

Jesus is the food that changes us inside and sends us outside to feed others.  I don’t look at the altar asking, “What will they be serving?”  Instead I ask, “Who will I be serving?”  What must I do next?

At Christmas, we are led to this stable.  Then we are led to this table.  Then we are led to be better.  Because you have encountered God in a baby, then God as bread, where then are you led?

See, it is very nice to go home for Christmas, but what really matters is where you go after Christmas.  What’s next?  What will be different?  Where will you go after Christmas?

This feast is a time for transformation.  The Divine transformed into the Human for us.  Can your humanity help transform the world to be more divine?  You may ask the question:  am I any different than I was last Christmas?  Has my faith changed me in any way in 2020? 

Ask yourself if it had been a change for the worse, or a change for the better.  One or the other.  Maybe in this area I have improved.  But in this area I am slipping.  So come to the stable.  Then come to this table.  May the coming of Jesus be the start of a new life inside you?

Mary’s life was different after the stable.  And it was no picnic.  She and her husband went through really hard times.  There was no pandemic like we have, but they became homeless and moved to Egypt.  Learning to trust God, they found a new home in Nazareth.  Those days changed people for the better.  The lowly shepherds were changed.  Their fear at night was turned into a vision of angels praising God.  Glory in the highest.  From low to high.

Crowds of people were transformed by Jesus.  People who walked in darkness, once, powerless, now filled with possibility.  I can be anything I want.  As John wrote: “The word became flesh.  “And to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.”  Certainly the power of a virus is not as great as the power of the Almighty.

Later at the feast of the Epiphany (January 3, 2021), we will hear how the wise men were changed by this baby.  The story says the magi came to Bethlehem “but they departed for their country by another way.”  You can do that too.  Let 2021 be a time to take a new road.   God in the Eucharist can change you from that way, to this way.  From your way to His way.

What change will your direction take after Christmas?  What will you let go of?   Where will you go, and where will you not go?  How will you act, and how will you not act?

 ∙ Maybe you will decide to pray more with Scripture to uncover the richness of Gospel story.
∙ You can serve the people in your own home/family by offering a simple “I’m sorry”
∙ Take time to write writing a sincere letter of thanks for a gift received
∙ Maybe you might spend more time with someone who needs you to feed them.
∙ Help someone clean the house
∙ Maybe you will quit searching and finally kneel like the wise men did.
∙ Maybe like Joseph you will finally live your dreams and accept God into your home.

 You have been led to this stable, and then to this table, Now where?  It is time, let the baby change you.  This time, let the bread make you rise.

    At the creche, we rejoice at his birth.
    At the altar, we are saved by his death.
    And tomorrow, we are changed by his life.

And so this is Christmas, and what have you done?
Where will you go next?  And whom will you serve?

 

Have a Merry Christmas and a transformative new year!