Christmas Beacons

On Christmas morning – some 2,000 years after the spectacular events we celebrate today, there is a rather too rational question we might ask ourselves. How do we know we’ve really been in the presence of the living God who came to be with us – forever – on that first Christmas? How do we grasp that?

Many years ago, my husband and I took our children to see the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. We’d heard what a spectacular production we were in for, and couldn’t wait to show our children what a real Christmas celebration looked like!

The stage alone at Radio City Music Hall is nearly a city block long, and – when the curtain lifted on the nativity scene, it truly was a wonder to behold! The three Magi wore regal red brocade capes, with ermine collars, and golden pendants. Their bejeweled crowns glittered in the stage lights, and they carried richly encrusted chests of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Virgin Mary’s delicate form was draped in yards of flowing Carolina Blue velvet. Joseph wore deep maroon satin, and held a heavy, gnarled staff at least 7’ tall. Even the shepherds were impressively dressed for the occasion (not the least bit soiled or smelly) as they posed on the stage, like graceful dancers about to take their bow. And… the animals! There were real sheep, and donkeys… and the two real camels, and (unbelievably) a real elephant – were each appropriately saddled in richly tooled leather, studded with yet more jewels. All this on the massive, ornate stage at Radio City Music Hall! It was a glorious still-life – with all the actor’s frozen on stage, in exactly the most artistic pose. Nothing moved, save the occasional flick of an animal’s tail.

And then – once the audience had had a pregnant moment to absorb the static grandeur – then - enormous spotlights exploded into light, and a full orchestra – with an 80-person choir - erupted into Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus! It was a spectacular sensory moment! And, the 1,600 men, women, and children in that sold out show, let out a collective, audible gasp… and erupted into spontaneous applause. I could get goose bumps again, just in the re-telling of it!
And isn’t that a bit of what we all aim to do at Christmas? Even in our churches – perhaps especially in our churches - at least sub-consciously - we would love to bring on the goose-bumps, in the re-telling of Jesus’ birth story.

That’s because His story IS the greatest story ever told! His is the ultimate goose-bump-worthy story! It deserves our awe and slack-jawed gratitude! On this day, we realize again that God Himself has come to be with us! On this day, we celebrate the wonder that the Creator of the Universe entered human life – for no other reason than that He loves us with a costly, self-offering Love that is beyond our describing – or imagining. Today, we see – in the crèche – God’s Love made Real and Alive in the humble child born …for the lone purpose of restoring our sinful souls to our God who loves us. It is too much to grasp.

So, we find that – goose-bump-worthy or not - we cannot really display - even within these worshipping walls - the holy wonder of God’s love; we cannot explain – in any sermon, or in our best choral expressions of praise and faith… we cannot capture the Glory of God’s act in Jesus Christ – even on Christmas Day, when we look so intently at the face of the tiny baby born to save us.

But, I learned something at Radio City Music Hall. While that show was designed for goose-bumps, it was completely static. No one moved on that stage; no one spoke; there was no action. It was like looking at a beautiful photograph: lovely, but two-dimensional. I learned that somehow - despite all the grandeur, and pomp, and flash expended in that secular show - the very act of trying to capture the wonder of the Nativity – somehow – had quenched the mystery of God’s Love made manifest in Christ’s birth.

The thing is that the greatest part of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ IS a mystery. What kind of God would allow Himself to be so humbled – for the likes of us? What sort of Creator of all Life – would decide to die on a cross – just so we can be with Him? It is a mystery – it is THE Mystery – of God’s Grace.

So this morning, we come to the crèche at the conclusion of all the festivities and grandeur of the last few hours of joyful worship, and we look in quiet wonder… knowing that, for all the reverent excitement of our Christmas celebrations… the goose-bumps are up to God.

It’s significant that Luke seems to understand this paradox that in attempting to capture God’s mystery, we risk quenching His Glory... and that the goose-bumps are up to God. Luke doesn’t even try to focus directly on the visual specifics of Jesus’ birth. He doesn’t tell us how brightly the Glory of God shone; he doesn’t tell us what the angels looked like, or how many where there, or what they were doing as they filled the cosmos with their song. He is silent about what this baby looked like, or what color His hair was. In fact, when we listen closely to Luke’s version of the Nativity story, we see that even he does not look too closely, or focus too directly on the image of the Christ Child Himself.

Instead, Luke intentionally seems to focus away from the child – and onto the reactions of those who have come into this Child-God’s presence. The shepherds were "sore afraid," but returned from Bethlehem "glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen." The people who heard their reports "wondered at what the shepherds had told them." Mary "kept all these things, pondering them in her heart." And as for the "glory of the Lord," Luke is restrained… but when it comes to those upon whom that Glory shone - he breaks his descriptive silence - and lavishes his fullest language to portray what happened in their lives and hearts.

Frederick Buechner tells of an old sailing adage that the best way to find light on the horizon in the middle of the ocean at night – is not to look directly at the horizon, but to focus slightly askance toward the horizon. Physically, I am told, that is because the light-receiving cells at the back of the eye – over time – sort of wear out and become less effective. With repeated use, they simply don’t absorb light as well or as clearly as they used to. Thus, the adage goes, it is often best – especially in darkness – to look slightly away from the point of focus… and one’s peripheral vision will then see what direct focus cannot reveal.

So it is with Luke, who tells us a good deal about the people and events that surround Jesus, but very little about the child himself. We learn of Christ’s significance through the reactions of the people – and the very cosmos – all around Him.
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As I approached the church last evening, just as dusk was setting into darkness, I saw something I’ve seen hundreds of times – as if for the first time. As I walked toward this building, I was startled by the glow emanating from the windows of Good Shepherd’s sanctuary. The church simply shimmered! From the inside, the red blaze of our Poinsettias, the warm radiance of hundreds of candles, and the soaring harmonies of our choir - all made our worship glorious to see and offer … but it was only from the outside that our church’s glow poured into the night around us. Our window beacons beckoned – and warmed – even as I walked along the street.

From the inside, none of us could see Good Shepherd’s glow. Only from outside can others see the effect and power of what is happening here on the inside of this worshipping sanctuary.

So, there, perhaps is a bit of the Mystery that Radio City Music Hall aimed at – but missed, that Luke aimed away from and saw, and that Buechner sensed and describes.

The goose-bump power of Jesus’ birth can only be caught – like a transfusion of life-blood into the soul. It cannot be captured – like a performance. The power and meaning – and mystery of Jesus – emanates from outside the perimeters of our best human designs. If it were any other way, we would likely take credit for the wonder ourselves! But, there it was – out on that street! The glory of God shone all around this holy place – as we offered ourselves in the most joyful worship and praise we could design on the inside of this sanctuary.

On this Christmas morning – now that the daylight has returned, and the candle beacons of Silent Night have faded from the air of last evening, and we have come to the calm of the crèche – we too can know that the child has been born to us anew. We too can “treasure all these words (of worship, and music, and praise which we now offer) and ponder them in our hearts” for unto us “is born this day… a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” We need not worry about goose-bumps on Christmas morning; the real way can know we have come into the presence of God is when we find that we are becoming glowing embers out in the darkness that surrounds this holy sanctuary… for it is really from out there – in the darkness – that we, who are saturated in His light, can best shed His light – and even, thanks be to God, find we too – mysteriously - glow in the darkness.
AMEN