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Christmas Eve 2006One day when J.R. Tolkein was busy grading papers he came upon an empty sheet of paper in the stack. He scrawled on it this sentence “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.”
Names always generate a story in my mind,” Tolkien later wrote. “Eventually I thought I’d better find out what hobbits were like. But this is only the beginning.”
Christmas is about a name scrawled onto an unlikely place: in a manger, a feeding trough, in a small stable in a city called Bethlehem to a newly married couple of humble means. That name is Jesus. A name that means Savior. And it is our delight and joy as the faithful people of God to do just what J.R. Tolkein did with the name Hobbit, to find out what Jesus is like. For there is much more to this story. His humble birth at Bethlehem in a rude stable is only the beginning of the story. But it is a beautiful and mysterious beginning.
For to say that the birth of Jesus, the Holy One of God to Mary and Joseph is a great mystery is not to say that it is beyond our reason, beyond our intellect. To embrace the mystery of the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel – God with us is to begin to understand the bounlessness of reason. For in the Birth of Jesus the Nativity of Christ, we catch a glimpse of the mystery of God’s intention to redeem the world of his own making that he loves.
To kneel before the Mystery of Christ’s Nativity in wonder as the shepherds did is to say that the mystery of God can be best understood in praise and worship of God who made all things and was willing to do something so wild and so unthinkable as entering his world as a baby in order to restore and save the world he made and continues to love. To say that Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem is a mystery is not to to put it at arms length but rather to open ourselves up to the action of God in our lives and ask and pray that as we choose to journey more deeply into relationship with God, that we will discover little by little God’s purposes in the world and his intention to save and restore all that he has made.
I want to take a moment to contemplate the symbol at the center of the story of Jesus’ humble birth in a stable at Bethlehem. In a feeding trough perhaps made of wood but more likely of carved or hewn stone we are told that God delivered his Yes into the world. A Yes, not just for a select few but rather for all people. As the Angels declared to the shepherds, “We bring you good news of great joy for all the people.”
In a manger, a place of feeding, a humble peasant woman lays her first-born child. A child that will grow up to nourish and awaken the hopes and dreams of many who know that things are not supposed to be the way they are, that there is a more excellent way, a way this child born of Mary will call the Kingdom of God.
In a rough-hewn manger this child of God found refuge and safety, and grew up to remind us that God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.
In a manger, the meal place of beasts, God entered his own world making himself the nourishment of a world starved for his presence. In a few minutes we will gather around the manger of the church, the Lord’s Table to be fed and nourished by the presence of Christ, the Savior of the world. Nativity and Mystery, the coming of God to us as an innocent babe and the mystery of God’s saving work in the person of Jesus.
In some homes there is an Advent custom of preparing the manger for the coming of the baby Jesus at Christmas. This is done by placing pieces of straw in the manger for each act of kindness during the day toward classmates or siblings or parents or children, for good deeds done or decisions to share or give to those who have a need. In this way all of life is seen as open to the possibility of preparing for Christ’s coming.
In a real way this too is our task for God desires to come into the manger of our lives. To take up humble residence in the hearts and lives of those who will receive him in joy as their Savior. So this night, this Holy night prepare the manger of your heart for the mystery of God. Oh to be sure the manger of our hearts are not the nicest and cleanest of places. But God is willing to enter them just as he was willing to enter human flesh in a rude manger in a fallen world long ago. God can smuggle himself into our Mangers against all odds, whether they are hardened by disappointment, wounded by broken relationships, paralyzed by fears, weary with the stresses of life, grateful for blessings or awed by the wonders of the universe. All that is necessary is that you make a little room and open the door of your heart. So make ready your manger as we prepare for this holy meal. For the great mystery of Christmas is this that God is willing, more than willing come anew into the manger of your life and mine. And that will make for a very Merry Christmas indeed.
End Document — St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church