Christmas Eve Sermon, St. Thomas Wharton, 2023

Sermon
Christmas Eve 2023
St. Thomas, Wharton
By C. Andrew Doyle


Lena

His wife called him
A mad scientist
Most people knew him
As Leo Auffman

One day
A whimsical notion
Came to Leo
An inventor
He would 

build a machine

He built
An 8ft square
Orange
Box

It was
A happiness machine

He and his machine
Were located in
Green Town
(Itself a place
Imagined by
The creative mind
Of author
Ray Bradbury)


Once inside
The machine
Sitting in a chair
Enclosed by
Its orangeness
Knobs and whistles
Thing ama-bobs
And buttons
The machine
Would show
You
Lovely things
Happy things
All the best things

Lena got in it

To see what it was all about


It showed her
Sunsets
Her in her youth
Her and Leo 

Dancing in Paris

(despite the fact they had not

been to Paris)

It showed her
Whatever
Happiness
she
Imagined


[pause]
We stand
Upon the eve
Of
boxes too

an eve
Of happiness
And hopes
The gift
That will make
Life just right
Boxes to be unwrapped
And opened

The only
Thing we
Really wanted

It all awaits us
Magically so

We look into
Boxes every day too

phones

computers
Boxes we carry
In our pocket
Sit on our lap

We can
work and play on them

they
show us
Endless streams
Of the things
That make us happy

They record
All our favourite
Things
Even
Fix our blemishes
For the perfect picture
To share

These boxes
Help us curate
Our lives
Displaying
To others
Everything
Neatly tied
with a bow
Festooned for
Public consumption

[Pause]

I have been
On several pilgrimages
To Israel
With some dear friends

Every time we go
We start one of our days
At a site near
The prophet Amos’
Hometown

There we
Climb
And scuttle
Down into a cave
And there
We see
It is actually an
Old manger
Where animals
Were kept
Over a
Thousand of
Years ago

We are told
About caves
And their use
Years ago

And
how
It is possible
That just such
A site
Is
Similar to the
Birthplace
Of Jesus

And
in that
Little cave
I remember
Standing there
With the walls
partly caved
In
Damp
dusty
And
Yet feeling
As though
Perhaps
I was experiencing
Something
Quite close
To holy

And there
Is a stone
manger

a Carved out
stone box
rough hewed

A manger
For feeding
The livestock

Something
Perhaps like
What Jesus
Might have
Been laid
Within

[Pause]

I imagine the
Hopes laid
Upon him
By parents

But others too

People
With whom
In that moment
The child
Had not met
And could not
Fathom

Yes
The hopes
And fears
Are met
In thee…we sing

I wonder
If you might
Ponder with
Me tonight
This very
Curious thing

Christmas
Isn’t about
The boxes we open
Or even
Our celebration

Christmas
Is not about a
New beginning
Another attempt
At the best-curated life
Or the most toys

It isn’t about something
That might happen

I hope you see with me
Christmas
Is about the
Child
That was laid
Within that
Stone box
That manger
Those many years ago

a present
Already opened
The gift already received

Consider what
The reformer
Martin Luther
Wrote:

I would not have you contemplate the deity of Christ, the majesty of Christ, but rather his flesh. Look upon the baby Jesus. Divinity may terrify a person. Inexpressible majesty could crush one. That is why Christ took on our humanity, save for our sin, that he should not terrify us by rather that with love and favor he should console and confirm us.

Tonight
Is about
Remembering
That gift
That birth

Yes,
We know the rest
Of the story

Our prayers
Hymns and carols
Will tip our hand
And seek to
Draw the end
Of the story
To the beginning
A reverse chronology
an inverted narrative
- And some folks love that

But tonight
Perhaps
Tonight
We let the
Beginning
Be

Well

The beginning

And we ponder
That this person
Jesus was
So close
So deeply connected
So filled with love
So godly
That
Those
Who gathered
Around him
Saw
Something…
Someone
They had been waiting for

[Pause]

Lena
(Leo Auffman
The inventor’s
Wife)
Arose
Out of the
Happiness box
That great
Orange thing
In their basement
In Greentown
And said

When
The box is opened
And we
Climb out
We must face
The fact that
We grow old
There is life,
Dirty dishes,
Children to be fed
…she says

She suggests
Happiness Machines
- That box of yours Leo –
Lies
And promises Things
it can’t deliver upon

perhaps
from Lena
we can learn something too

all the boxes
that promise
happiness
can’t deliver

and what we need
as people
as family
and friends
brothers, sisters, siblings
coworkers
and churchgoers
and all the rest

what we need
is actually
to marvel
at Jesus
Saviour
messiah
wonderful counsellor
prince of peace
Emmanuel – God with us

who was born
such a long time
ago
in a little town
called Bethlehem
and
who
was laid
in a stone box
open for the world
to receive

2012 Christmas Message

Linda Worthiemer (of NPR) shared her  mother's
recipe for Lemon fruitcake.

The carols…the lights…the greens…the stockings hung by the chimney with care…the 78 degree weather…it just feels like Christmas.  And, Christmas reminds me of fruitcake.

An “Ode to a Fruitcake” by Ryan Taylor:

Fruitcake! Fruitcake!

 Oh, what a glorious fruitcake!

 Nothing quite says, “Merry Christmas, Good Cheer!,”

 like a fruitcake.

 

With raisins, green pineapple, candied orange peel,

 an applesauce batter to make a good seal,

 the walnuts and hazelnuts, pecans and cherries,

 cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves mid dried berries!

 

Though many may dispute its reputation,

 the fruitcake is a holiday sensation!

 And, though the thought might fill a few with dread,

 I proudly declare that the fruitcake

 is the ultimate queen of quickbread!

 

Fruitcake! Fruitcake!

 Oh, what a marvelous, glorious, beauteous fruitcake!

 “Merry Christmas, Good Cheer!”[i]

 In ancient Egypt the fruitcake was considered an essential food in the afterlife.  The oldest fruitcake dates back to Roman times. In the Middle Ages they branched out and added honey, spices, nuts and preserved fruits.

By the 1700s, in Europe, a ceremonial type of fruitcake was baked at the end of the nut harvest. By the eighteenth century people got inventive and created the plum cake; they were so “sinfully rich” they were outlawed.  During the Crimean War soldiers carried them into battle.  In the end the fruitcake would find its home at tea. 

Queen Victoria is said to have waited a year to eat a fruitcake she received for her birthday because she felt it showed restraint, moderation and good taste.  So it is that, good citizens of her Majesty’s realm, and all Anglican Church men and women have become fine connoisseurs of fruitcake – it’s in the catechism. 

Today the average fruitcake has a 1:1 density ratio with mahogany.

The world's oldest known fruitcake was made on Nov. 27, 1878, by Fidelia Ford, of Berkeley, Ohio.  Today, Fidelia Ford's great-grandson Morgan, who is 92 years old, lives in Tecumseh and still possesses the 134 year old cake.

So you see…the fruitcake has been made, and its miraculous mysteries have been shared, passed down by generations, for over a millennia because it gives life, it nourishes and it sustains you no matter what the world may bring. [Pause]

No matter the darkness.  No matter the loneliness or heartache…God’s love, love, is the most sustaining message of Christmas.  Like an ancient recipe passed down to us tonight we hear the echoes of love in songs and readings.

The truth is we live lives of spiritual uncertainty.  Lives marked by faith and goodness can seem out of reach. The world longs for renewed hope, words of kindness and mercy.

As one philosopher put it, “We try to find cosmic satisfaction in a lifestyle, a career, a self-image, or a romantic relationship.  Some employ therapists to attain self-acceptance, forgiveness, and understanding."[ii]  Yet, that does not satisfy.

We gather to night, to rediscover a spirituality adequate for our times.  On this most holy of nights, we remember the story of love.

We remind ourselves of the sustaining angelic words, “Do not be afraid, love has come.  A light in a land of darkness…  Joy in the midst of sadness… Peace in the midst of war… Justice out of chaos… worthiness instead of relentless guilt…Fear not, God is with you, love is here.”

We put ourselves in the midst of the story of God’s in-breaking love; that it may wash over us and sustain us.

We allow ourselves to feel the love of God which swims within our heart to the deepest corner of our soul where it connects with our intimate quiet longing.

We acknowledge the love which unites heaven and earth.

We rehearse the truth that God’s love comes to the lowly, the weak, the powerless, and the forgotten. 

We recall this love and we name him Jesus.

Tonight we share our love abundantly with one another, with our neighbor, with our family members, and all those we meet; wishing them the very best of life.

We believe in a world where love triumphs over greed, poverty, oppression, malnutrition, abuse, illness, war, and all other dark powers we have created and have come to know.  And, for those who find their life yoked to this sacred story there is an inescapable desire to change the world one small act of love at a time.  The world is being recreated by love. 

Such miraculous mysteries passed down, for over a millennia.  Sustaining truth, that no matter what may come or what the world may bring.  God’s love, love, is the most sustaining message.

 In his letter to a friend, the great American preacher, Philips Brooks (Episcopalian, rector of Holy Trinity, Boston, and author of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”) wrote:

 God is seeking us and giving himself to us…that is love, not that we loved him but that he loved us…There is such a thing as putting ourselves in the way of God’s overflowing love and letting it break upon us till the response of love to him comes, not by struggle, not by deliberation, but by necessity, as the echo comes when the sound strikes the rock.[iv]

 

O holy Child of Bethlehem

Descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin, and enter in,

Be born in us to-day.

We hear the Christmas Angels

The great glad tidings tell:

O Come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Emmanuel.[v]

 

So take your children’s hands, embrace your beloved, welcome your family, hold your friends tight, and share the warmth of God’s overflowing love. 

 

 

---

[i] Ode to a Fruitcake by M Ryan Taylor, Copyright © 2008 M Ryan Taylor

[ii] Helminski, Knowing Heart, p 5.

[iii] Robert Bly, "A Christmas Poem", Morning Poems. © Harper Collins, 1998.

[iv] Alexander V. G. Allen, Life and Letters of Phillips Brooks, London, 870ff.

[v] Phillips Brooks, in English Hymnal, London, 1906, no 15.