The Light Within

The Light Within

Sermon for MCC New Haven

December 24, 2012 (Christmas Eve)

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

In the words of St. Julie Andrews, “Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.” All of our readings tonight are about the beginning or the origin of our human reality. Most of us are familiar with the first and second chapters of the book of Genesis, the very first book in the Torah. The creation narrative is told, that YHWH creates the universe and calls it “good.” We are given the beautiful image of the Spirit or Breath of God moving over the waters. We know through the blessing of science that the earth did not form over seven rotations of the earth on its axis, but rather over billions of years. But our knowledge of facts does not make the truth of our faith untrue, it just saves us from the dangers of biblical literalism. Through our rich Scriptures (and also through the sacred texts not found between the pieces of leather that contain the Bible), we can receive wisdom.

So we can also read the lesson from Proverbs, and the lessons from the Prophet Isaiah, and the Gospel according to Luke that we will hear throughout this service, knowing that though they come from an ancient worldview, we can still find truth to live by today.

In the reading we just heard from the book of Proverbs, we see the author imagining what Wisdom would sound like if it were personified. The author of Proverbs makes Wisdom female and says that she has been with God since the very beginning, witnessing all the wonders of the Universe. She says, “I was beside God like a little child; I was God’s daily source of joy, always happy in God’s presence.” It’s a sweet image really, a little girl keeping God company from the very beginning. We get a wonderful sense that the author of Proverbs really valued the power of Wisdom in the human experience.

Jump with me now to the first chapter of the Gospel of John in the Christian Testament. We read, “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” What is translated as “Word” here is the Greek word “Logos,” which is a synonym for “wisdom.” We can see John’s inspiration from Proverbs here. We can also see the similarity in how both texts highlight the importance of this Wisdom.

Now what does all of this have to do with Christmas? Tonight, we will hear the story of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth from the perspective of Luke. These readings tell us of the importance of the birth of this Jewish peasant child, said to be the Child of YHWH. This Christmas, I am not going to talk about the scene that we usually see on the front of Christmas cards. You will be able to imagine all of that on your own in hearing the text read. Rather, the focus of my message tonight has to do with questioning. And our main questions tonight are, “Why did God send this Child into the world? What was this Jesus all about?”

The answer can be found in a couple passages to remember by heart. The first is from John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” The thief that Jesus speaks of here is not a personification of evil. Rather, that thief is oppression. That thief is injustice. That thief is fearful and hateful worldviews and actions. Jesus says here that in the face of these thieves, he came that humanity may have Life, and have it ABUNDANTLY.

The second verse to remember by heart comes from the Gospel of Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of God is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…” This verse says nothing about coming to separate the “saved” from the “unsaved” or about judging people for who they are. No, Luke tells us that Jesus came as an anointed prophet to bring Good News. Condemnation is never good news! And contrary to the ideology of the Religious Right, Jesus does not say that he has come to keep the rich rich and make the poor poorer. Quite the opposite, Jesus’ mission was with the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed.

This is the Good News of the Christmas story for us tonight. As a Queer people on the margins of society, the Christ Child is born to us today. And more importantly, Christ is born through us today. There is a song that says, “Love came down on Christmas.” That phrase reinforces an ancient worldview in which God literally lived above the clouds. Instead of “Love came down”, let’s profess tonight, “Love came out on Christmas.”

The theme of coming out is important to us in the LGBT community. Each of us comes to points in our lives when it is necessary to put out into the world a truth about ourselves that lies within. We often know from early childhood our sexual orientation and gender identity. Only later is it safe to identify publicly (and in many places around the world it is never safe to self-identify as LGBT publicly). In the same way, it wasn’t safe for Jesus to publicly identify with the message of God’s Unconditional Love that burned within him. The dangerous act of living with integrity led to his very public execution. But tonight, we focus on a miracle, that Divine Love was born in a baby, in a barn two thousand years ago. A truly Enlightened One was born.

A Course In Miracles teaches that “Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense, everything that comes from love is a miracle.” On that Spring night so long ago, this kind of miracle occurred. A child was born who had the potential to change the world forever. The Holy Wisdom that he embodied shined brightly from within to a people who had all but lost hope. He showed not only that he was the Christ, the one to save us from loneliness, despair, and degradation, but that the Christ presence lives within us. Jesus said, “The Real of God lives within you.” Folks, regardless of your beliefs or doubts about God, religion, and spirituality, that Divine Spark still lives within you. It is not something that you need to search for outside yourself. You are indeed, Mary, perpetually pregnant with and simultaneously birthing Christ. We are all Mothers of God. We may not be virgins, and I doubt that Mary was either, but we are anointed of God with the mission of birthing God into the world each day, letting our Inner Light shine.

In the words of spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson, “The significance and power of the light of Christmas is that it emerged into the midst of darkness. The birth of Christ two thousand years ago did not occur at a time when things were good, but at a time when things seemed hopeless — as to many they seem now. Suddenly, there was hope and its name was love. The star of Bethlehem led to our salvation in the tender scene of a mother having given birth…It bespoke the miracle of love…The birth of Jesus is more than a historical reality. It is a spiritual reality that occurs every moment when our hearts are open to love…Where there is love, God is…”

Especially after what happened in Newtown last week, we may find it easy to close up our hearts. We feel anger. We feel fear. We feel grief and loss. This is all a natural part of the human experience. But what we must refuse to do is close ourselves off to the power of Love. Because it is our only salvation, our only hope.

We open our hearts tonight to give and receive love at once, as the Scriptures assure us that “Perfect love casts out fear.” If you are missing loved ones tonight, let love cast out fear. If you are experiencing pain in body or mind, may you feel Love Divine wash over you. If you need spiritual nourishment tonight, may you find it at Mother God’s breast.

I close tonight with a selection from retired Episcopal Bishop Steven Charleston, “What a wonderful thing to be on the eve. On the threshold. On the night before. At the very dawn of something new. It is the linguistic sign of ultimate expectation. It is the spiritual sign of immanent contact with the divine. I pray this day be the eve of your life. May it fill you with the energy of knowing that something new and empowering is about to happen. This is the turning point. This is the hinge time, the moment when reality begins to change. Now is your eve, your countdown to a fresh beginning. What has happened has happened: now hope is at the door.” And so it is! Amen.