Christmas Eve

God's Gift to an Eccentric World

For no particular reason this year I took more interest in the winter solstice than usual. Even though I have a pretty strong science background, I have always found astronomy confusing and complicated. I was reminded of that as a rambled from link to link on the internet reading about the technical aspects of the solstice.

 Did you know that the day of the winter solstice was neither the latest sunrise nor the earliest sunset, but it was the shortest day of the year? Or that the four seasons of the year are not of equal length?

And to top it off, the earth’s orbit around the sun is eccentric!

Actually, I already knew that eccentricity is a technical term used in astronomy, although the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit is not something I ponder often. When astronomers say that the earth’s orbit is eccentric, they mean it is elliptical, not a perfect circle around the sun. Eccentricity describes deviation from perfection. At least in terms of orbits. Eccentric means not perfect.

When we describe people as eccentric we usually mean a bit off center, don’t we? Although I think it is usually said with endearment. Interestingly, the word was used in astronomy long before it was applied to odd uncles.

Putting aside unusual relatives, let’s stay with the technical definition of orbital eccentricity. Not perfect. The earth’s orbit is not perfect.

And when I think about something so basic, so fundamental to life on earth, being eccentric, or not perfect, it leads me to reflect that imperfection is unavoidable. It is inevitable. It’s fundamental, pervasive. The very planet we are riding through space traces an imperfect course.

Metaphorically speaking are there any perfect circles in our lives? I don’t think so. Eccentricity is everywhere. We live in a world off center, full of eccentricity, rampant with imperfection.

We live in a world where…
Our path around the sun is imperfect.
Our civic lives as nation and state are imperfect.
Our relationships are imperfect.
Our efforts to promote justice are imperfect.
Our attempts to create good are imperfect.
Our faith is imperfect.

In Jesus’ birth, God chose to be a part of this world. To join himself to it. God entered fully into this eccentric, imperfect world. Many babies are described as “perfect.” (I think every grandbaby is described as perfect!) But there was only one who truly was. A perfect baby born into a world where nothing is perfect.

That perfect child whom we welcome this night offers us many, many things in our imperfect lives, our eccentric world. I want to mention one. Although we describe God as perfect, the word perfect doesn’t occur terribly often in Scripture or the Prayer Book. It’s there, off and on, in a variety of contexts, usually referring to something God is or offers.

This passage is from Isaiah (26:3): As it is translated within a worship service from the Prayer Book: O God, you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on you. This is the King James translation: Thou wilt keep [them] in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Perfect peace. For those whose mind is stayed on God, perfect peace. Perfect. Peace.

One of God’s gift’s to us in the birth of this perfect child. The coming of Jesus doesn’t fix the imperfections of our lives or our world, but Jesus brings God’s own perfect peace into our world. So that we may know and experience and cling to peace, perfect peace, in the very midst of turmoil and discord, struggle and failure. Perfect peace. Thou wilt keep them in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Perfect peace is born for us this night.