Reflection for Christmas Eve 2024 All Saints Episcopal, Southern Shores, N.C.
December 24, 2024 Thomas E Wilson, Guest Preacher
Isaiah 9:2-7 Titus 3:4-7 Luke 2: 1-14
All Saints Christmas Eve Gifts
This is Christmas Eve, this day we remember the Christ Gift being given. Madeleine L'Engle wrote about that gift;
Was there a moment, known only to God, when all the stars held their breath, when the galaxies paused in their dance for a fraction of a second, and the Word, who had called it all into being, went with all his love into the womb of a young girl, and the universe started to breathe again, and the ancient harmonies resumed their song, and the angels clapped their hands for joy?“
Today is a day we remember and cherish the gifts we have been given in our lives and look forward to tomorrow when we claim the gifts that are already in out hearts to give to others. It depends on if we can really receive the divine gifts in the manner in which they were given, or sing with the ancient harmonies and clap our hands for joy with the angels.
Thank you for having me here on Christmas Eve. I cannot think of Christmas without remembering what it was like when Pat and I were on Sabbatical studying at St. George's College in Jerusalem almost 30 years ago when there was more of a lull in the tension between Jews and Arabs, Hamas and Israel. One day the class we were in about 20+ clergy types and some assorted spouses took a trip to Bethlehem, and as we arrived in the evening there was a great light shining over the city. The light was for the Il Bambino Gift Shop sign where could buy thousands of souvenirs made in Manger Square of Bethlehem, or China, or the Philippines, or in Italy, or wherever, we could take home for souvenirs or help in deepening faith or as gifts to give to friends back home. Across from the square from the shop is the Church of the Nativity, where centuries after the birth of Christ, we visited an Undercroft of a church in Bethlehem where it was claimed was THE place where the Baby Jesus was born. In my western mindset, my first impression was that it was so cluttered and garish with centuries of devotion, that it was hard to see the lowly stable that it was meant to call to mind. But, off to one side. I saw a Palestinian father and his son, where this father was showing his very young son how to pray. Gently holding his son's hands together, the father was teaching his son the outward stance of prayer, and by example the inward attitude of prayer, and the lesson that we never pray alone in the sight of the Holy, as the words to say that had been passed on for centuries in the presence of that which is beyond words.
All over the world, at this moment, or in this day, there are people taking time to stop and pray, in different languages, in different styles of Prayer, all asking that Holy will stop to listen to what is behind the words, and inside the meditations of their hearts. There are people who will disagree with us in politics, in economics, in theologies, and religious practices; but the Holy listens to each and every one of them. As medieval theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa reminded us: “Whatever is received is received in the manner of the receiver.” Looking at that son and father, I realized that I had to change to be open to the Holy that was there in the space between this father and his son, and was also in the space between Pat and I as we had traveled half way around the earth to go deeper in faith.
On this Christmas Eve, I am reminded of the time, a couple decades ago, when Pat and I, in another pilgrimage, moved 600 some miles from a church in Georgia to this church in Southern Shores. Pat was carrying some wounds which she had received being the wife of a particular Pastor in a particular place and she was coming here for healing. And, this is the place where she found a community that cared for her. And she blossomed here. Your gifts to her was a gift to my soul and the courage to take deeper steps into faith.
She got a gift from being in the choir. For years, when we visited other churches in different places around the world, where she had to sing next to me as I was droning on and she learned how to hold her own in order to sing somewhat on tune. Here, in this church, she loved how Steve worked with every member of the choir, lovingly, patiently, helping them to learn how to sing together.; many voices becoming one deeper, complex sound. For Steve it wasn't a matter of a Hobson's Choice, of take or leave it, but gentle invitations to work together for something greater than one's self. Thank you for that gift, of Steve and the choir. Thank you for your tolerance of my singing with gusto, if not by skill.
She got a gift from being on the Altar Guild, where careful preparing the place for worship, was part of a preparation of herself for her own worship in community with others. When I was in Seminary, I did a yearly Rota of being on the Altar Guild at the Seminary Chapel. I learned what needed to be done, and as some of my Professors who were celebrants at Seminary Communion services, I was aware that mistakes made by me, a mere student, would be noted as a sign that I wasn't taking worship seriously. Since graduation, in the decades of my being a Celebrant at altar many, I depended on the Altar Guild for never having to worry about things being where they were supposed to be. Thank you for that gift of an Altar Guild, and a congregation, I could always count on.
Soon after we got here, Mary Mason and Pat got together and cornered me that we do a Church Bazaar here. That idea just froze my soul. I had been a Rector of a church that did a yearly church Bazaar and how I dreaded it. I asked Pat, did she not remember those days? The competition between vendors who were fighting for the best spaces, or who got the better trash and treasures or who kept tasting the soup and adding more salt on the sly. I could think of nothing worse. At that church when we added a new addition, there was now more space to squabble over. Yet, there was something happening here that changed, the people had fun and no one more than Pat. Thank you for that gift of a church having fun together, instead of trying to be God's frozen chosen.
My greatest honor was in being able to be with people who were going through joys, changes and challenges in your lives. I did not always fix everything, but I was honored by that trust. Thank you for the gift of allowing me into your lives of faith.
You are in the process of opening your hearts to having Tommy as your a new Rector. I have known him for several years and am impressed with his heart as he was the associate at the church I was attending on a somewhat regular basis. I also have done some fill in work at churches where he used to minister with and to. They had nothing but joy to remember how helpful he had been to these small churches. I am happy that you have been given an opportunity to have a fresh start. My prayer is that you will treat him, and his partner, as a gift, and they will also see you as a gift from the loving God.
All Saints Christmas Eve Gifts
It'd be nice to live in the moment,
but what about times of the past,
when memories were first cast,
and bound into life's enrollment?
They do come for us to cherish,
honoring for making our hearts,
filled by gratitude for the parts,
that'll never be allowed to perish.
These times for us to give thanks,
grabbing the chances for moments,
risking forgiving of our opponents,
from afar and those on our Outer Banks.
God grant us all of the gifts to cherish,
we've received, or given, in this parish.
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