Isaiah 9:2-7 Psalm 96
Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14
The expansive popularity of Christmas probably has to do with what can be called “baby magic.” The Christmas story is easier to tell to children than the Holy Week story. And if it is safe for children then it is safe for everyone. The Christmas story gets a PG rating for movie censors.
What is the baby magic? Babies are completely dependent upon us. Is that magic? Sleepless nights? Changing diapers?
So why do we like babies, other than their newness and their cuteness? It could be that we are drawn to baby magic when we like the very best part of ourselves. And what the very best part that we like about ourselves?
Being meaningful care givers to someone who really needs our help. In the church we call this “ministry.” Having the gift or the ability that is strategically useful to someone else.
Why do we feel different about ministry to a baby? Because a baby seems to have an innocent helplessness about her that is winsome. We have our doubts about the reasons for adult needs, because we hold an adult more accountable for their life situation, but we don’t do that with babies, because they cannot be held accountable for their life conditions.
At Christmas time, the nice thing, even in our over-commercialized season, is that people want to please other people by giving gifts. It is very satisfying to see a child excited about receiving a gift.
Most all Charities rely upon Christmastime largesse in giving to help in their ministry of giving throughout the entire year.
There is something right about our self-esteem, if we like ourselves better as people who can and do give to people who are benefited by our giving. And this is the goodness that the Christmas can draw from us.
Where does the baby magic get its power? A baby says to all of us, “You were once my age, and you’ll never consciously remember it. You can hold me, smile at me, smell me, but you can’t be where I am. I’m living what you can’t remember.”
The baby evokes from us the fact of our first birth which remains locked in our memory vaults and can only be experienced when we project our birth upon the baby. The baby allows the occasion for an experience of our original freshness. And we like that feeling.
It is not surprising that this feeling became a metaphor the mystical experience which happened to the followers of Jesus. People came to have these experiences of original freshness, and they called it a new birth. St. Paul called it the mystery of having Christ in us.
And when many people experience of the mystery of having Christ in them, they looked for ways to teach this mystery of the church in story form. And so we have the story of Mary who became the paradigm mystic of having Christ born within her physically and mystically. She became the model for all Christians who have known the reality of Christ being born in their lives through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.
Let us return within ourselves to the mystical awareness of the Christ-Nature rising within us and like Mary, say over and over again, “Let it be according to your word.”
And as we know within ourselves the awareness of the Christ-nature, let it also be known in our lives as the Spirit of generosity towards those who need what we have to offer in terms of them knowing the worth and dignity of their lives.
Tonight we can get through all of what has accrued to Christmas in our cultural celebrations, and we can return to the mystical fact of Christmas: Christ is born in us. Why? So we can know our original dignity in the image of God? Why? So we can recognize that dignity in others and work to live lives worthy of the full dignity which God in Christ has imparted to every human being.
Merry Christmas! Merry Birth of Christ in you. Amen.
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