Christmas Eve

Chreaster

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

Yes, it’s been a long day, but, No, I’m not confused. I do know that this is Christmas Eve, not Easter. The angels sweetly sing glory and alleluia on this holy night of Jesus’ birth. And all the earth joins in to sing refrains of joy and celebration. But the angels will come back—to the tomb to make another announcement. He is risen. The angels mark both Christmas and Easter with their proclamations.

We would not celebrate Christmas, of course, if it hadn’t been for Easter. The beginning of Jesus’ life would not be particularly noteworthy if we did not know how his life ends.

Tonight we are celebrating Christmas. The celebration of Christmas evokes feelings of hope and joy. Feelings that evidently even some staunch atheists are not immune from. Even as they say: I do not believe… I do not believe… The celebration of the Christmas season evokes feelings of hope and joy.

I do think God is in those feelings of hope and joy. Yet it is also possible that it is just the celebration itself that spreads good cheer. The seasonal festivities themselves may be the only source of good feeling.

I do think it’s possible, maybe easy, even for Christians to celebrate Christmas without ever really feeling God’s touch. And I’m not talking now of the rush of materialism and consumerism that tempt us all. I’m talking about celebrating the season without getting past the season to the presence of God. We all enjoy the season, its celebration, its symbols and its traditions… And the season itself evokes good feelings. It is easy to go no further than those feelings.

The celebration of the Christmas season is replete with powerful symbols…

We are surrounded by light shining in the darkness.

We celebrate a new baby and all of the new possibilities and new beginnings that come with new birth.

Families, usually at their best, gather to share time, gifts and love with one another.

Even among people of no faith this season brings a tradition of generosity.

These are good things. And they can point to God. If we look beyond the symbols…

Garrison Kiellor has written a parody of the angel’s Christmas Eve message. In his version the angel says: I’ve come with good news that should make you really happy, for there is born today a child who shall be a symbol of new beginnings and possibilities.

As Christians we do not celebrate Christmas because it is a symbol of anything, even a symbol new beginnings and possibilities. Christmas is much more than a collection of hopeful symbols that make us feel good. We celebrate Christmas because the story that begins in the manger ends in glory. We celebrate Christmas because of how this story ends.

The Christmas lights will come down (some as early as tomorrow!) Families will disperse. Decorations will be packed up. We’ll stop singing Christmas carols. The symbols of Christmas will go away.

And babies grow up. All babies grow up. Even that most significant of Christmas symbols is transient. And with regular human babies—not Jesus—no matter how much hope and promise we may feel at their birth, we cannot be confident of their future. Without Easter. Without Easter even the most hopeful of beginnings can end up anywhere.

Without Easter, the feelings evoked by Christmas symbols will fade as the trees grow brittle and the needles fall off. Without Easter, once the crèche is put away we are left with nothing except wistful memories.

So we need to celebrate Easter, too, tonight. And we do.

Listen carefully to Christmas carols, at least religious Christmas carols. A lot of them use phrases that sound pretty Easter-y. And remember, Handel’s Messiah is actually an Easter oratorio. Christmas and Easter are all wrapped up together. We need to celebrate them together.

So. Alleluia. Christ is risen.

Have you noticed that we always say that Easter acclamation in the present tense? And Jesus is born in the present tense, too.

The Christmas story and the Easter story are the same story. And they take place in the present tense. Our present tense.

What does all of this mean for us? There is a Christmas blessing that includes these words: “May Christ, who by his Incarnation gathered into one things earthly and heavenly, fill you with his joy and peace..."

The events of Jesus’ life gathered into one things heavenly and things earthly. Whether you think of things heavenly descending at Christmas. Or things earthly ascending at Easter. Earth and heaven are gathered into one. That’s God’s Christmas/Easter gift to us in Jesus. Our earth and God’s heaven are gathered into one.

In another blessing that we will use this evening, we say that Jesus joins earth to heaven and heaven to earth.

Alleluia. This baby Jesus is risen, tonight, his earthly flesh gathered into one with heavenly glory. This baby Jesus born in poverty in a dirty stable is risen.

And through Jesus, our babies, all of our babies, are risen. Now in the present tense. Whether born into poverty or privilege… whatever their earthly prospects may seem to be, in every human baby earth and heaven are joined. Each newborn shines with the glory of heaven.

All that Jesus experienced in his earthly life, he gathered heaven into those experiences. He wove together human experience and heavenly glory.

Jesus, who worked hard and walked far is risen to highest heaven at the same time his feet trudge the dust of earth.

Jesus, who was unjustly maligned and criticized on earth, brings the splendor in heaven into those human experiences.

Jesus, who shared feasts and fellowship with friends is risen. So he brings God’s angels to the feasts and songs of human fellowship.

Jesus, forsaken by friends and followers is risen, gathering into one earth’s profound despair and heaven’s unquenchable hope.

And we are a part of this. Now. In the present tense. Our earthly lives are raised with Christ. Our human experiences are made one with heaven. The weak and vulnerable, tired, dirty, forsaken, hopeful, confused, afraid, joyous are raised. All of our earthly experiences are joined with heaven. Our work, our journeys, our trials and our celebrations. Our lives shine with the glory of heaven even after the tree is down and the twinkling lights are dark.

Alleluia! We are risen.