Because of the freezing rain last night, I could not make it to my own church for Christmas Eve, so Katrin and I attended the Eucharist at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Appleton, near to where we are staying.
Fr. Patrick Twomey spoke of the Son of God coming into the world and finding "no place" that was open to him. That vulnerability from the time of his birth grew into a ministry in which Jesus pursued those who also had no place -- the blind, the outcast, the adulterous, the possessed -- in order to draw them into the love of God.
That "outer Christmas" happened once 2,000 years ago, Fr. Twomey continued, but the inner Christmas happens every day, as we open ourselves to Christ, making in our hearts "a mansion prepared for himself" (BCP 212). It also happens as we reach out, following Christ's example, to the lonely, the unemployed, the mentally ill, the depressed -- all those who feel they "have no place" amidst the holiday cheer.
Bishop Jeffrey Rowthorn, chaplain to Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, offered a new hymn for Christmas this year (sung to hymn 124, the tune Puer nobis). The fourth verse begins with the angels' praise:
Their worldwide song is clearly heard
where hearts by human need are stirred;
the holy Child, his crib outgrown,
would make our lives his earthly home.
May our Lord Jesus find a place in you as you reach out in love to those around you.
Amen! Merry Christmas!
12.25.2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
very nice. I'm grateful for the early service--little kids at an 11:00 service is a recipe for disaster--and I miss giving and hearing good Christmas sermons for grownups ;) I think I'm going to link this post to facebook. Thanks!
this is lovely. i am going to send this post to my friend Jeff, who is discerning the Diaconate. Happy Feast of Stephen!
Post a Comment