God is Born!

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Christmas 2017
Gabe Triplett & Sr. Phyllis Jaszkowiak

Advent was about waiting for that “thing” as the shepherds called it.  We have waited, now we are here.  Here to celebrate.  But what do we celebrate?  Certainly, many around us are celebrating stuff, possessions, things that will be cool today and gone tomorrow. 
 
No, stuff is not what we have waited for and it is not what we celebrate. Tonight we  celebrate that which God has always been waiting for and is always celebrating.   That we recognize and then proclaim our own dignity as divine dwelling places, and commit ourselves, to give birth to, that which we recognize ourselves to be.  Dwelling places of God. 

Christ comes through and for Joseph.  Forced off the land of his Mothers, then forced to return, all because of the decrees of occupational forces.  
Who in our day is like Joseph?

• Immigrants forced off their land, who travel with children across deserts as they seek safety and a better life for their families.
• Workers who only get minimum wage or less, or work two or three jobs to support their families.

• Refugees who flee violence and death in their own country

GOD IS BORN TO THE POWERLESS AND THE POOR.
 
Christ comes through and for Mary.  Young, female, pregnant in a world that did not respect them.  A woman strong in her conviction against the injustice of inequality, power, and wealth.
Who in our day is like Mary?

• Unwed teenage mothers judged by the religious and righteous.
• Mothers who find courage to speak out against police violence that threatens their children.

• Women who speak up against powerful men who harm them.

GOD IS BORN TO THE VULNERABLE AND THE COURAGEOUS.
 
Christ comes through and for Governments agents, who are charged with carrying out the law.
Who in our day are like government agents?

• Agents who do their work with integrity and honesty.

• Agents who have an ear for people and help them find ways to get what they need.

GOD IS BORN TO BRING COMPASSION INTO THE LAW.
 
Christ comes through and for the Shepherds.  those waiting for a Messiah to lead them through might and power.    By the Grace of God, they can find the messiah in a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Who in our day are like these shepherds?

• Veterans for Peace.

• Native Peoples who stand up to stop the desecration of their ancestral lands.

GOD IS BORN TO THOSE WHO THIRST FOR JUSTICE WITH AN OPEN HEART.
 
Christ comes through and for the sheep.  Those who follow the Shepherd, who help the shepherd care for each other and for the earth.
Who in our day are like the sheep?

• Those who are abused who assume the law will protect tem and bring the abusers to justice.

• Children who assume their parents love them and will help them grow, and those who help other sheep and care for them in times of suffering and joy.

GOD IS BORN TO THOSE WHO TRUST IN OTHERS AND CARE FOR OTHERS.
 
Christ comes through and for Angels, who bring messages of hope, good will and love to our world.
Who in our day are like the angels?

• Those who parent children with love and joy.
• Those who work with youth to teach them what it means to be a real, adult, human person, and the youth who listen to and mentor each other.

• Those who take Communion to, and visit, the sick and homebound.

GOD IS BORN TO THOSE WHO JOYOUSLY PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS.
 
Christ comes through and for babies, newly born, helpless, depending on others for everything.
Who in our day are like the Child Jesus?

• People with imagination and playfulness who make us laugh and wake us up to newness.

• People who see God everywhere – Children.

GOD IS BORN TO THOSE WHO SIT JOYOUSLY IN A PLACE OF COMPLETE SURRENDER.
 
The “Good News of Great Joy” in Christmas, 2017, is that Christ will come again!  In fact Christ continues to come every day.  Waiting to be born to each of us, for each of us, in each of us.  Who here has not known what it is to be poor and powerless,  vulnerable and courageous, or has searched for justice only to find you had been looking in all the wrong places? Who here has been an angel of hope to another? 
 
We have all known struggle.  We have all known what it means to feel left out, to be the loser once again, and we have all been the good news and the great joy.
 
Today we sing, not a mountain of presents.  Today we sing from the mountain top, “God is ready to be born through us and to us.”  That is a miracle worth singing and celebrating!