Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas Eve Homily


Homily                      “An Unforgettable Story”        Linda Jo Peters, Pastor

By all rights it's a story that should not even have been noticed, let alone told again and again across the millennium. After all, countless young girls gave birth that night and we remember none of them. Interestingly, the "smallness" of Mary's story is set off by Luke's narrative setting: "In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus... while Quirinius was governor." Emperors and governors are apt subjects for dramatic narratives; unwed teenage mothers and their vulnerable babes are not. Yet Luke locates this simple story amid the powers and principalities of the age to make a claim: The child born to this young mother will change the course of history, and the fates of leaders and common folk alike hang in the balance of his destiny.[1]  Now that is an unforgettable story. 

How do you tell that story?  Simply read it to the children in your life.  Or follow Roberta and Michael Conotly’s example and plan to include Jesus’ story in your Christmas greetings.  Post his story on Facebook or Twitter.  Tomorrow morning make a new tradition of telling the story in a round with your family and friends or sing carols like we have tonight.  Or if you’re really creative write a poem or compose a song about Jesus.   "Cantique de Noël" is a well-known French Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Charles Adam.  It was written in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" (Midnight, Christians) by Placide Cappeau, who was a wine merchant and poet.  Cappeau had been asked by his parish priest to write a Christmas poem. A few years later Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight created a much loved song based on his translation of Cappeau's text. In both the French and in the English versions of the carol, the text reflects on the birth of Jesus and of mankind's redemption. In English it is called "O Holy Night."

I know we may seem incongruent to the importance of this great message. Yet it is our story.  The one we have been given to tell.  It is the story of God choosing unremarkable people to carry the most important message to the whole of creation.  The message that God does love us unconditionally and that Jesus came among us to provide hope, forgiveness and reconciliation with God and all of creation through his birth, life, death and resurrection.  Like Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, we have been given a vital role in God’s saving activity.  We are all bearers of the good news that was born that Holy Night.

Duet sung by Amie and Paul Ellison of  “O Holy Night”  followed this message.     



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