Christmas Eve Sermon

Christmas Eve

Transcribed from a sermon

By Valerie Ann Hart

At St Barnabas Episcopal Church

December 24, 2011

It is really dark out tonight. When I arrived tonight it was very dark because there were no lights on in the parking lot. They are set to turn off automatically at 10:00 PM so several of us began scrambling trying to get lights to come back on. We are used to having lots of lights around us, even on a dark night.

Imagine how dark it must have been for the shepherds up on a hillside. Not near any towns or villages and of course no electricity. If it was a clear night, there might be the moon or the stars providing some light, but imagine that it as an overcast day of fog and darkness.

Have you ever been camping and wandered outside at night when everybody had gone to bed and all the campfires were out? If you turn your flashlight off just for a few moments, it’s so dark. Imagine what it was like for the shepherds in that darkness on that day so many, many years ago.

Their darkness was not just a darkness of the lack of physical light. There was a darkness laying over the whole land of Israel at that time. They were people who were occupied. There was an occupying arm from Rome all around. And there had been dark times for the people of Israel of a long time. They had been conquered by Babylon and taken into exile. Isaiah’s beautiful words in the first reading, where he talks about people that have been in darkness will see a great light, was the hope for those who were in exile­. They did get to come back home but they were never truly a free people after Babylon. They were ruled by the Assyrians and then the Greeks and then the Romans. The Romans were like any despot today. They ruled with a combination of bribery and cruelty. Those who were in with the romans lived quite well. Everybody else was on their own. There were arbitrary killings. If the Roman’s thought there was a town that was in rebellion they would nail a hundred people up on a wall to make a point.

It was a cruel time and a dark time, a time when people were looking for something, searching for, hoping for, the light. Some people might say that today is a dark time in the United States. The economy has been a mess for a long time, the politicians in Washington have been a mess for a long time, its confusing. There are a lot of people who are out of work or underemployed, people who have lost their homes or are afraid they will lose their homes.

There are a number of people in this parish who have lost someone to death during the last year. The first Christmas without them is a dark time. I know others who are suffering from illnesses that casts a gloom. We each have our own darkness.

I also know that there are some families who are having a wonderful year with joy of children and new life, but we all know what those dark times can be like.

It is like when you are in a cave or a tunnel and are feeling lost, then the batteries in your flashlight wear out. All is darkness around you. You don’t know what to do; you don’t know which way to go. The darkness is all you experience. But if there is even the tiniest little spark of light, if you see in the distance a weak flashlight, it is like a bright sign. If you see a match or a candle in that darkness it is so bright that it gives you the hope that there is a way through the darkness and back into the light.

It is like these little light bulbs that we have on the decorations. You might have noticed that during the day when the sun is out and it is really bright you can’t tell whether the lights are turned on or not. But when it gets really dark, even one of these little bulbs, one of these tiny bulbs, could make a huge difference, especially if you are lost in the darkness.

One of the news programs this past week was giving examples of extreme decorating of houses with lights. There was one road where there were so may Christmas lights on both sides of the road that you could read a book in the middle of the night from all the lights. One of those little tiny lights doesn’t do a whole lot, but you put a lot together and it can be really, really bright.

Those who walked in darkness have seen a great light - that is who Christ is. The Gospel of John begins not with the story of the nativity. It begins it differently. This is Gospel that we sometimes read on Christmas day and we almost always read on the First Sunday after Christmas. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” Christ is the light in the darkness and John tells us that the darkness can’t, can’t overwhelm it.

One of the ways that I have heard it translated is instead of "overwhelm it "is "apprehend it". Kind of the dual meaning. The darkness can’t understand it and also can’t trap it. There is a light that was born on Christmas, and that is what we celebrate. We celebrate the light that is the life of all people. The light of Christ who came into the world and whom on Christmas we invite to come within us - to come within us so that we can be the light in the world.

He was a great and bright light 2000 years ago. And he still is with us, though not in the body as he was. But he left the spark of light in all his people. We are like those little tiny light bulbs and when you get a whole group together it is pretty amazing how bright the light ca shine.

One of my favorite passages from Matthew is related to this. “You are the light of the world.  A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket but on the lampstand and it give light to the whole house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.”

We are Christ’s light in the world, each one of us has that light within us. When we are walking in darkness, when we search for the light, that is what we are searching for. We may not be able to find it in ourselves, but maybe we can find it is someone else.

Light is a wonderful image of going against the darkness, but what is that light? That light is the light of Christ, and Christ is of God and God is love. That is what the letter of first John says over and over again. God is love. That light of Christ, that light that we search for when we are in the darkness, is love. It is the love that will get us through, that will carry us through the darkness and give us hope, give us direction, give us meaning and give us purpose. We find that through Christ and through one another.

Christmas is a time when we put up lights, we fight the darkness. It is in the darkest time of the year when the day is the shortest. But we don’t give in to the fact that it is dark out. We put up lights even when electricity is expensive. We light lights, we put up candles, we fight the darkness. And we fight the darkness with our love. The light of our love that we show through our giving to one another.

The reason for the gifts, the essences of the gifts that we give at Christmas time, is an expression of that love - that light within us, the love within us. But the gift of that love doesn’t have to come in an expensive package. It can come in a phone call, or a hug, or some food or a smile. There are lots of ways to give at Christmas.

We do that because Christmas is the time when we celebrate the fact that the light has come into the world and the darkness has not, and will not, overcome it. So let your light shine before all people so they may see your love and good works, and glorify your father who is in heaven.

Advent 4 B

What is it about Mary that so grabs our imaginations?
She said "Yes."

4 Advent B

Given at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church

12/22/96

By Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

Luke 1:26-38

            What is it about Mary that so grabs our imaginations?  There is an article about her in this week’s TIME magazine that traces her ups and downs in popularity during the 2000 years since that fateful day when she said “yes” to God. What is there about this young woman? Why is her story so powerful, so moving?

            I think people are touched because her story is the story of self-surrender, which is the highest form of discipleship. She personifies the ones who have offered themselves, their egos, their separateness, to God. She embodies what Jesus referred to as the “least of the kingdom,” the ones who humbly offer themselves to God.

            She was nobody special, trying to live a good normal life, and an angel appeared announcing a miracle - she will give birth, even though she is a virgin. Now looking back on this we can call her blessed, but for her, what a difficult thing was being asked. She was betrothed to marry, if she got pregnant what would happen to that. Even worse, when the town’s people discovered that she conceived before marrying Joseph, she could be stoned. Surely she could expect to be excluded, looked down upon, whispered about. Who would want to go through that kind of experience? I certainly wouldn’t, would you?

Yet, when she hears what the angel has to say, she consents. She says “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” In today’s English, she might have said, “Okay, whatever you want.”

            To be able to say, “Okay God, whatever you want with my life,” is not an easy thing to do. How difficult it is for each of us. We all have plans, expectations, and images of ourselves. We don’t like it when God’s plans contradict our own. When we find we have lost a job for no fault of our own, do we get angry, get depressed, or can we say, “Okay God, whatever you want. Perhaps there is something else here for me to learn or do.” Are we able to trust that the God who sends us difficult tasks, will also be the God that sees to it that our real needs are taken care of?

            Buckminster Fuller, the genius best known for his geodesic dome buildings, struggled with the meaning of life when he was in his twenties. Faced with unremitting failure and the need to support a wife and newborn child, he walked to the shores of Lake Michigan, determined to either find the meaning and purpose of his life, or, failing that, to drown himself that very day.

            After some hours of intense meditation, the realization came to him that the universe is the product of a higher mind that is striving to create order out of disorder. If there were ever to be such a things as a “meaningful life” surely it would be found in trying to serve this higher mind in any available capacity. This is what he resolved to do. In other words, he surrendered his life to God.

            His second realization was just as critical as the first; he realized that as long as he was doing his best to serve this calling, then the higher power would naturally reciprocate by supporting him in his earthly existence in whatever way it deemed necessary. His livelihood, in other words, was no longer his problem. By becoming wholly dependent upon God, he had become God’s charge. Buckminster Fuller never again undertook a project with the aim of earning money. And although he went through many periods where money was in short supply, the basic needs of himself and his family were always taken care of.

            “Ok, God, whatever you want.” To trust that if we surrender to God’s loving will for us, God will also take care of our needs. To really surrender - to really trust God. That is what Mary did. That is why she is so special to us, because we all in some way want to be able to surrender, want to be able to trust God, but we all find that difficult. To have a symbol of such surrender, in Mary, is one of the gifts she has given to all of us. To read Mary’s story reminds us of the power of surrender.

            When we let go of our fear (remember the angel said to Mary “Do not be afraid.”), when we let go of our need to feel that we are in control of our lives, our destinies, when we let go of anger when things don’t go the way we think they should, when we let go of our need to plan our futures, when we empty ourselves of our ego needs, then we become fertile ground in which God can implant the light of Christ, so that we may become pregnant with God’s love and birth Christ’s love into the world.

            Surrender, letting go, and trusting God. That’s what discipleship is all about. Surrender, letting go, and trusting God, that is what giving birth is all about. Surrender, letting go, and trusting God IS how we prepare for the birth of Christ, in our hearts, in our lives and in the world.

2 Advent B

It is a dark and foggy night and you are driving along following the red tail lights of an unknown car in front of you. Suddenly a strangely dressed man appears on the road frantically waving a stop sign and saying, “Turn around, you are going the wrong way!”

2 Advent B

The Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church

Brentwood, CA

12/8/96

Mark 1:1-8

         Imagine that you’ve spent the evening at a friend’s house somewhere East of Byron. When you leave to come home you discover that it is a dark and foggy night. You get in your car and drive along, carefully following those little yellow dots that show where the middle of the highway is. You have been driving for quite a while. Your spouse, sitting next to you, is complaining that things don’t look right, shouldn’t there have been a turn back there, etc. You mutter back something about back seat drivers and continue on.

Now you are making a little better time because there is a car in front of you, at least there are those two red lights to follow. You know nothing of the person driving that car, or where they are headed, but at least there is someone to follow. Then, suddenly, you see a strangely dressed man standing in the road holding a stop sign, waving and jumping up and down to get your attention. With hesitation, you stop and role the window down just a little.

“Turn around! You are going the wrong way!” he says.

You look confused.

“Turn around! If you keep going this way you will hurt yourself or someone else,” he repeats.

“But I’m being careful” you respond.

“Turn around! The lights you are following belong to a drunk who could lead you off the road, who will lead you only to death!” he states with great drama.

“Who are you and why should I trust you?” you ask.

“Turn around” he keeps saying.

Finally, he brings out a bucket of water and pours it over your windshield. To your surprise, it is no longer foggy outside. What you had thought was fog, was really all the dirt on your own windshield. Now that you can see outside you realize that you are very far from home; you have no idea how many hours you were going the wrong direction. It dawns on you that you are totally lost.

You also notice that the car you were following is about to go off into a ditch. You turn to the man beside you to thank him and ask him how to get home.

“Follow that one over there,” he says as he points to a light in the distance.

As you pull away you ask your spouse “Who was that?”

“Oh, I think he was a workman preparing the road, making the highway in this desert straight.”

         John the baptizer proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Repentance, what is repentance? The word is a translation of metanoia, a Greek word that means to know again in a new way, be transformed, to turn around. When someone calls for repentance they are telling you to turn around, to turn around because you are going in the wrong direction, to turn around so that you can see things in a new way. Baptism of repentance would be a baptism that provides one an opportunity to see things in a new way.

         How much of our lives we spend as if we are wandering lost in the fog? We have no sense of where we are going, we don’t see the dangers ahead, and sometimes we follow something or someone without knowing where it will lead.

How many of us wake up one morning and begin to question what we are doing with our lives? We follow a path set before us, school, marriage, job, whatever, without thinking about whether it leads to where we really want to go. Perhaps we seek wealth, money for its own sake, without thinking about why we should be trying to get rich, and then we find, once we have some money, that we still feel empty inside. Perhaps it is power that you followed after. Perhaps it was the dream of your own home and that fantasy middle class life. Once you have achieved it, then what?

         Maybe you have a gone down a road of addiction to alcohol, or drugs and one day you woke up to realize that this road leads nowhere. Maybe you idealized someone and followed them until you found that you had lost your own sense of identity.

Any time we make anything more important than God, more important than loving God and our neighbors, we are going in the wrong direction and sooner or latter will find ourselves lost and at a dead end. 

When we discover we have gone the wrong way there is only one thing to do, turn around.  To repent, to turn around, means to acknowledge that we have been going the wrong way, to acknowledge that we have done things we shouldn’t have done and not done things we should have. 

To repent of our sins means to open our eyes and acknowledge the mistakes we have made, to see ourselves in a new way, to acknowledge that we are lost, to turn around and to follow the one for whom John was preparing, to follow the true light that can lead us home.

         Advent is a season with two themes. The first is the joyful anticipation of the birth of Christ, the incarnation of our Lord. The second is the preparing for the second coming of Christ. Both involve a sense of preparation, of self study, so that we are ready to receive the incredible grace that God bestowed upon the earth on the first Christmas. We need to prepare to be able to let in just how much God loves us. We need to be prepared to open our hearts and receive the gift of love that is the Christ child.

         How do we prepare? By opening our eyes and hearts, by washing away the dirt of our past that keeps us from seeing the truth, by repenting and letting ourselves be transformed, so that when we see the true light we are ready to follow Christ home.