Christmas Eve Homily ~

“ And is it true? And is it true,

This most tremendous tale of all.

Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,

A Baby in an ox’s stall?

The Maker of the stars and sea

Become a Child on earth for me?”

These words from Douglas Brooks Davies.

Sometimes we’re asked questions that make us think.  Is it true?  Is it true?  But some questions require no thought at all.  The answer comes bubbling up from deep inside and just spills out!  Such was the case last week when someone told me that a friend of hers asked ‘What is it that Unitarian Universalists celebrate on Christmas anyway?’ If they don’t believe in the ‘Christ’ story, what is it they celebrate?

I gushed --- oh, so much!  So much!

I told her that first of all that it was our celebration as Unitarians and as Universalists because we come from Christianity.  And that while most UU congregations moved to embrace humanism and transcendentalism some still identify as Christian. So, we have always celebrated Christmas.  As a cradle Unitarian it has always been part of my worshipping life.  But that’s not the point, I said, because it’s so much more than simply repeating a tradition or even affirming a story. You see, we don’t take a story and change it to make it okay with what we believe as our beliefs change and we do not pretend.  We, of many beliefs, take a story, step into it and find meaning- if meaning is to be found.  We enter stories, ours and those from all the world traditions and when we step out we hope to be changed in some way that improves us, and improves the world.  For if we are not willing to be changed, to seek improvement, the question is far larger than why Christmas, it’s why religion at all. 

Wondering now, in retrospect, if this poor young woman regretted asking what seemed a small question, I gushed on --- and with some enthusiasm! 

I told this young woman that here in our liberal religious home we say there are many truths and we need not claim one as certain or validate any.  Instead we ask ‘is there something in this story that can help us learn to be better than who we are today, in our relationships and as agents of peace and justice in the world?’  

And I smiled from head to toe and told her, this story, oh this story holds it all.  There is a truth this story embodies that deserves our full attention.   A child was born. An ordinary child and the whole world took notice.  The heavens, the animals, people working in the field and wise people who traveled from afar.  A child was born and the world took notice and said this is a special day. 

And now, on a roll, I said ‘And let’s not forget the larger context of the trek to be registered and pay taxes and the simple words ‘No room at the inn’ – even for a weary couple bearing child.  As I said this story has it all. ....

But I returned to the child, not because before me sat a young mother but because it is what grabs my soul each year.   A child was born and the world took notice.  A child was born and the world hoped.  A child was born, cradled in a manger, cradled in his mother’s arms.  With that birth, all the mystery and the power of the universe was made real once more.  There in that tiny baby, all the potential that a human life possesses, the spirit of life, the promise of possibilities, the innocence of love and human connection  --- in his eyes and little hands and little mouth. 

A child was born, and with him love, dreams and hope – for all of us.

Why do we celebrate Christmas?  Because this one time a year, this one time a year, we come here and we take notice too.  . 

We come here to speak and hear the words of Unitarian Sophia Lyon Fahs .... “Each night a child is born is a holy night.”  

We picture the babe, we remember the innocence and potential of new life, we are reconnected to what is truly important ~ seeing the divine in each person.  Rembering the babe within.  Within you and you and you and you and me.  The babe within every human being.

It isn’t always easy, is it?

But when we are at our best, here in this space, we make room in our hearts for change.  In the presence of this blessed story, we have a choice to commit ourselves anew to each child, including those yet to arrive.  We may commit ourselves to making sure each parent may hold their child in safety and that each child may live in safety.  May live out their dream of being exactly who they are meant to be and be loved.

And when we are at our very best, we commit ourselves anew to each adult, including those yet to arrive in our lives ---- but perhaps even more difficult ---- some of those already here.  We commit ourselves to making room in our hearts for each person, no matter how brief the interaction, no matter how polarized the views.  We make room for our least favorite relative and try to imagine what it is like to enter a family so different than your own.  We make room for the curmudgeon down the street who is all Bah Humbug and think how lonely he must be.  We make room for the Grinch in our lives and recall how that green creature’s heart grew and grew, courtesy of Little Cindy Lou Who, who was no more than two.  We make room for the aunt who always gifts us something that is soooo not us and we stretch and imagine her pleasure in wrapping the present thinking it will delight us....... and we make room for those who gift from a less holy place in their heart and we make room for those who covet at Yankee Gift Swaps and we make room for those who gift not,  remembering that the best gifts we give and the best gifts we receive are those of presence rather than presents.   We make room for those who speak not from a place of love but from a place of hatred.  Stopping their words and interrupting harm but not shutting our hearts.  It isn’t always easy.  Is it?

And in the weeks to come we keep making room. We make room for the harried service people when we go to return an item and imagine what it is like to bear the brunt of people’s dissatisfaction.  We make room for those who are their least best selves during the holiday season.  Those who choose to withdraw for their own peace of mind or those who choose to punish others by not participating.   It isn’t always easy.  Is it?

And when the holidays are far behind, we keep making room. 

Room for those who oppose our ideas, room for those who bully, room for the mean girls and the unfair bosses.  Room for the dishonest employees and the unfaithful friends.  Room in our hearts, not for their behaviors, but for them.  Not ever for their behaviors, but to imagine the wounds that led them from that place of innocence and hope – that cradle – to a place of harm.  We make room in our hearts even when our hearts are not a place someone seeks to be. 

It will not always be easy.  And we will be tested for sure.  Again and again and again.  As was the babe in our Christmas Story. 

And so friends, let us bring the Christmas story into hearts so fully that we welcome everyone not because they could be the messiah but because at one time, they were the babe ~ and so were we.

Do we have something to celebrate on Christmas here in this house of worship.  We sure do.  We sure do.