St. Paul’s United
Christmas Eve 10:30 Communion
Crowded Around the Manger – Rev. David Mundy
Luke 2:1-20
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Yesterday – could it only be yesterday?–
our back hall was the scene of the nativity. There were many nativities
actually, because congregation members had responded to a request to bring
their creches or nativity scenes to church so
everyone would have the opportunity to see
It was a lovely gathering with many stories of where they had
come from and how they are a part of family traditions. Some of them were plain
and others a little bedraggled. It didn’t matter. This wasn’t a contest after
all.
The invitation to do this made me think of a young mother
named Carol from one of my congregations years ago.
She was one of those women who always managed to look calm and collected. There
was never a hair out of place and she dressed with style and precision. In fact
her whole life seemed precise which was remarkable not only because she was the
mother of two active girls but because she ran a nursery school. She could have
been forgiven for looking frazzled all the time but she never did.
In some ways her demeanour extended
to her faith. She didn’t want things to be too far out of her comfort zone. One
Lenten season we had a life size figure of Christ at the front of the
sanctuary. Christ was on a cross of steel girders and covered in headlines of
suffering in the world. Carol didn’t like it and she told me so. It was
distressing.
One day after Christmas she stopped by to see me and I
wondered if I was going to hear about something else that wasn’t quite right
and I did, although it was from her home life rather than church.
She told me that she had put out the family nativity scene as
usual, and I could imagine it artfully displayed in her perfect house. One day
she came into the living room and found that all the figures had been pushed in
close to the manger, so she arranged them back the way they were supposed to
be. A couple of days later they were shoved back together which rattled her sense
of what was correct. This time she asked her girls who was responsible and one
of them confessed to the crime.
She was asked not to do it again with what I’m sure was Carol,s firmest nursery school
manner and she assumed the matter was settled. Nope. A third time she
discovered the angels and the shepherds and critters and wise men and Joseph
and Mary and Jesus all just scrunched up and out of order.
She was even more annoyed until she stopped to consider that
her little girl had gone to the effort of moving a chair to the mantelpiece each time
to bring the entire holy fam damily into what looked more
like a rugby scrum. This time she asked why rather than who and was informed by
her little one that they needed to be close together and so she
Carol came to see me because she wanted me to know that her
daughter had it right, although it took a while for her to realize that it was
so. She stood there looking as calm and collected as ever but I knew something
important, something wonderful had happened in her heart.
So the third time was a charm and Jesus remained crowded by
Each year we listen to one of the stories which inspire our
Nativity scenes, usually the one from from the gospel
of Luke which gives us the best “bang for our buck” with angels and shepherds
and the manger scene. In our minds we throw in some Matthew with the wonderful
addition of the magi, the mysterious travellers from
the East. The animals are the product of our own imaginations since they aren’t
mentioned in scripture but they have become an important part of our
nativities.
We conveniently forget that stables tend to be smelly places.
And we know that the stables in the Bethlehem area were often caves cut into
the soft stone, so there were would have been limited light. With additional
bodies pressed inside it would have been claustrophobic, to say the least. Yet
it is in to this scenario that God comes – Christ the savior comes – and our
world is not the same.
I think this is the service of any in the season for us to
ponder what it means to be jostled together to celebrate Christ’s birth. I
always find this the most blessedly calm moment and I must admit that as a
minister I see that the end to the busyness is in sight!
Tonight we can acknowledge that our celebration brings us into
one another’s company with all the joys and tensions which are a part of
finding room for everyone in the inn. There may be some idealistic Christmas
scenes set out just the way we want them but life is always changing whatever
we want to do to preserve it in some particular way.
We experience the good changes such as new children and
grandchildren welcomed into the family or a new person at the table who is
adopted into our household.
And there are the difficult realities which we all face
whether because of misunderstanding, or betrayal or death. Last week I received
a call from a total stranger who had been told by a friend that I ministered in the
city of Halifax before coming to Bowmanville. This
man explained that one of his four sons had impetuously left home and driven to
the Nova Scotia city through the terrible storm which swept across Eastern
Canada. The father was very practical, wondering if I knew where his son, who had
no money and no job, could find assistance
Once I had given him some suggestions his organized veneer
dissolved and he poured out the story of this child who was different from the
rest but was still very much loved by his parents. At one point he stopped
speaking in mid sentence and I wasn’t sure what was happening at the other end
of the line. I then realized he was collecting himself, afraid to speak.
Finally he was composed and admitted that he became quite emotional about it
all and was struggling with the notion that this child would be spending
Christmas in a place far away where he didn’t know anyone. For all the
difficulties in their family they loved their prodigal child and wanted him
close in this season.
Isn’t this often the way? We are realistic enough to know that
our families and other circles of relationship aren’t perfect. Yet our longing
is to come home again despite the challenges we face along the way.
Jesus is inviting us to scootch in a
little closer to one another, if not literally then in our spirits, so that we
can live the generosity and gracious love which Christ still brings to us if
are willing to receive the gift.
Whatever the actual smells of the manger scene two thousand
years ago there is the sweet fragrance of forgiveness and redeeming love which
begins in Bethlehem and finds its way to a cross and an empty tomb in Jerusalem
and now is present in this place. And from the cave of Bethlehem and the cave
of Jerusalem there emanates a light which is the Light of the World.
If this bigger story is at the heart of our Christian faith
perhaps we can ask ourselves tonight what reconciliation is possible in the
days ahead. Where is forgiveness necessary in our own relationships? What will
happen in the New Year where we can live out grace and generosity even though
it isn’t what we readily feel? Will we ask Christ to give us all this because
we know it is more than we have in our own strength?
Every year I find a place in one of our Christmas Eve services
for a reading which I have included ever since I was in ministry, which means
that this is the 28th year. The tradition actually began with my
father, also a minister, and someone who was not easy to get close to by any
stretch of the imagination. But he did have a sentimental side which emerged at
times and Christmas Eve was one of them. I would invite you to join hands with
those close to you, even though you may not know them from Adam or Eve because
we can do this tonight.
Ah friends, dear friends
as years grow on
and heads get grey
how fast the years do go.
Touch hands.
Touch hand with those that stay
Strong hands to weak
old hands to young
around the Christmas board.
Touch hands.
The false forget
the foe forgive.
For every guest will go
and every fire burn low
and empty cabin stand.
Forget!
Forgive.
For who may say that Christmas Day
may never come
to host or guest
again.
Touch hands.