Christmas Eve
A dialog sermon--Rev. Douglas L. Meyer and Rev. Christine N. Meyer
C I have two nephews who have been married now for a number of years. The first year they were each married, Doug and I decided to start giving them pieces of a really nice crèche, a nativity set. The plan was to give them a basic set the first Christmas and add pieces each year following. So it began with a couple, Mary and Joseph. The starter set was pretty simple as most marriages begin. A man and a woman and, in this case, the reason for the two of them being together, the unexpected pregnancy and ultimate birth of a baby.
D The Christmas story begins each advent with a baby. Not the one in the manger but the one born about 7 or 8 months before. By some traditions, he was believed to be Jesus' second cousin, John, later called the Baptist. He would become the voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. John tried to warn against all the things that could interfere with rightly seeing the true gift God was about to send to the earth. John was the voice of reality to the merchants and military, the politicos and the priests. Repent, he cried, or you will miss the messiah. Repent, he cried, turn away from your evil and keep the Christ in Christmas. So he established the Advent expectation that in the days before Christmas, attempts are made to right the wrongs, restore to wholeness that which was broken. This past Tuesday the news reported a very curious attempt at righting a wrong. The news reported that during late November and early December, thirty-two baby Jesus figures were taken from outdoor nativity scenes around the city. Then, on Tuesday all 32 figures turned up on a Chicago woman's lawn. The woman, a member of St. Symphorosa Catholic Church, not knowing what to do, turned the 32 infant figures over to Rev. Marcel Pasciak, who announced that the owners could come to the church and retrieve their property. "We're putting Christ back into Christmas literally and metaphorically," Father Pasciak said. The suspicion is that some teenagers were the likely culprits in the thefts. But one of them must have gotten the Advent word to repent. Chicago police spokesman Pat Camden said the department had contacted people who reported the theft of the baby Christ figures and notified them that they could go to the church and pick up a Jesus. One owner, Ron Pauls, said he was "thrilled" at the return of his Jesus. "It's a problem because you can't just buy a baby Jesus," he said, "You have to buy Mary and Joseph, too. It's buy the whole nativity or nothing." That's the Christmas story, Jesus comes with a family, a human family.
C Once you get the basic nativity starter set you have to make a decision each year about which pieces belong in the story next. Year two was a little tricky as we debated between angels and shepherds. In the original story it was the angels who really start the whole Christmas thing rolling. An angel comes to old Zachariah announcing the coming of John the Baptist. An angel tells Mary that she will bear God's son and an angel comes to Joseph assuring him that to stay with the unwed woman was the right thing to do. Ultimately it was angels who came to the shepherds announcing the birth of the baby in the manger and guiding them to Bethlehem. Angels are pretty important but not the stuff of the real world as much as shepherds. The hard working and weathered band of young men and women were part of an ancient community. The great King David had been a shepherd boy before he slew Goliath and moved into the Jerusalem palace. Centuries earlier it had been Moses, tending sheep who stumbled on the burning bush that would change his life and the course of history for ever. Shepherds were among the lowliest of folk and yet the source of God's miracles to call and lead people to faith. Angels, shepherds, ultimately we compromised and sent one of each. There needed to be those who worshipped the new born child both in heaven and on earth.
D Some crèche scenes are great pieces of art. Over the years my in-laws have received some truly beautiful nativity figures. They have a crystal glass set of nativity and another set that is Lladro porcelain. When our sons were born the beautiful pieces were moved to shelves well above the reach of children. But Chris and I have always believed that the Christmas story is for all ages and the experience of the story in the figures and forms of the crèche should also be available to all ages. There is a nativity scene in the narthex made of rather sturdy pewter purchased with a memorial gift several years ago. We have it intentionally set on a low table where its silver figures attract the eyes and hands of most younger children. On Tuesdays the young people waiting for their rides in the narthex regularly reposition the pieces.
The first real nativity set we had in our house was made of wood blocks cut in silhouette of the nativity figures. They were solid wood that they boys could play with each Christmas without any danger of anything breaking. I remember one Christmas when I happened to see them playing on the floor. First they positioned Mary and Joseph around the manger, then they paraded the shepherds and a small flock of sheep up to the stable they had build from Duplo blocks. That was followed by a procession of the wise men who were joined by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and what I assumed to be a flock of micro machines. All creation gathered for the birth of the Christ child including Raphael, Leonardo, Michaelangelo, and Donatello.
C The years have passed and we have continued to send my nephews additional crèche figures every year. Once we had all the players in the Christmas story according to the Gospel of Luke, namely Mary, Joseph, shepherds and angels, we moved on to additional figures from the Gospel of Matthew. This is the story of the epiphany with its star and the Magi or Wise Men. Because there were three gifts listed, the assumption is that there were three visitors from the East. Tradition has them being three ages and three different skin colors, namely black, yellow and white. The main thing is that there are three. No one buys just one Wiseman so the year of the three Wise men was a major year. That was followed by several years of camels. When you go to order camels for a nativity set there are lots of decisions to be made. There are sitting camels and standing camels, one hump and two hump, some loaded with gifts and supplies and some even have camel drivers attending them.
The scriptures actually do not mention camels. The Bible doesn't mention any animals attending the birth of Jesus. The oxen, donkey, doves and mice are all artistic creations. Historically speaking, the Wise Men who arriving at Bethlehem after stopping first in Jerusalem to see King Herod for directions would have probably ridden horses. The rocky mountainous trails leading up to Jerusalem from the Jordan River Valley were not a very pleasant walk for animals more familiar with the open flowing dessert dunes. But travelers from the mysterious East would have crossed the desserts and that was only possible with camels. So reality is not the issue. The eyes of faith see the gifts and gives form to three wise men walking toward the Christ child while their camels kneel to the ground in rest and homage. The nice thing is you can buy the camels one piece at a time.
D The Minnesota church I grew up in was a large gothic structure made of stone with stained glass windows and over 3,000 members. Each winter a stable was constructed of hay bales and rough wood framing to shelter the figures of a nativity scene that sat on the church front yard just off the edge of the parking lot. The figures were actually wood cutouts painted to look from the front like life size figures. The largest figure was what we assumed to be a life size camel standing off to one side near the parking lot. Then came the Christmas of the big snow. Actually there were a lot of Christmases with big snow in Minnesota, but this one was especially big. I remember the evening shortly before Christmas that a group of us teens came out of the church after a youth meeting and noticed that the snow plow clearing the church parking lot had pushed a major amount of snow into the nativity scene. The standing camel closest to the parking lot had been tipped a bit forward, his long neck and head looking almost over the stable and into the manger. A great pile of snow was packed all around him. We stood and looked at the scene for a few minutes and then one of the girls, I think it was Sue Killian, kind of waded into the snow pile and began to stack great chunks of snow all around the camel cut out. The temperature was snow man quality and the snow stuck where it was placed. Eventually I think there might have been 8 or ten of us piling and stacking the snow while Sue chopped and sculpted with her mittened hands. Ultimately the camel cutout was completely covered by a new snow sculpted creation, a great elephant with mighty trunk reaching over the stable to point to the Christ child in the manger. I would have loved to have seen the senior pastor's face when he came out of his office later that night to be confronted by the life size Christmas elephant pointing the way to the Christ child.
There is a phrase, "the elephant in the room" sometimes used to describe something that is impossible to ignore. I have come to realize that every Christmas has its elephant. That unexpected, unignorable fact, thing, person, or moment that seems to suddenly appear. Maybe it is someone with an urgent need that can be addressed, or a past hurt that can now be rectified. Maybe it is someone missing this year from the Christmas gathering or someone present for the first time. Maybe it is a moment of true grace, an instant of insight that allows for a new way of seeing or relating. In the rush of the Christmas season it is tempting to keep moving on, but there is this, this elephant moment and sometimes it even points to the real reason for Christmas.
C That's what I'm looking at for next year. Believe it or not, the nativity set we purchased for my nephews has the option of an elephant as one of the creatures that accompanied the Wise Men. Who wouldn't want an elephant for Christmas?
D Over the years I have seen crèche scenes carved from olive wood from Palestine, made of clay from Latin America, even bottle caps from Haiti. The number of figures vary widely. Shepherds, angels, sheep, various live stock, sometimes only a symbolic solitary Wiseman. Even Mary and Joseph may not both be present but the one constant is the Christ child. That is the point of the Christmas story repeated each year. The "elephant in the room" points to the manger and the one undeniable truth, that the manger was not empty.
Amen