Christmas
Eve
There’s
a saying that Christmas is for children, and I guess in many ways it is. I was
sitting in front of the Christmas tree while writing this homily, and I got to
looking at all the ornaments on the tree. Nancy and I only put ornaments up
that have some significance for us. No generic bulbs for us. Most of them are
handmade from early on in our marriage, when we couldn’t afford to buy
ornaments. Many of them have our children’s names on them, along with the year
they were acquired. You know, baby’s first Christmas, things like that. And as
I was looking at the ornaments I was remembering what my children were like at
those various stages of their lives, and it brought me closer to them and to
the spirit of Christmas.
There’s
something about children at Christmastime that makes it what it is. If we
adults were in charge it would lose a lot. To us old folks Christmastime is
often full of stress, with so many things to do and plan. We have parties to
host and attend, presents – and not just any presents, but just the right ones
– to buy, wrap and give. And we have so many responsibilities around Christmas
that we have to weave in and around the whirlwind of our everyday lives. Many
of us dread Christmas because of this. We have so many expectations of what the
perfect Christmas should be that we get all wound up in the stuff of Christmas
while forgetting what Christmas was for us when we were children.
For
children, especially little children, Christmas is so much simpler, so much
easier, so much more wonderful. Little children have not yet been spoiled with
the expectation of presents. For them it’s not about what they expect to
receive that is so wonderful. It is all the sights and sounds and smells,
especially around the baby Jesus. There’s something about a newborn baby that
captivates us all, but especially for the little children.
I
love to see parents each year bringing their little ones up to see the holy
family statues here. You see it at every creche. Moms and dads clutching little
hands, bringing them up close to see the manger scene, pointing out the baby
Jesus. Telling them the story of that first Christmas. When I was young my job
was to set up the creche in our home. I would carefully unwrap each porcelain
figurine and gently place it in its particular place in the creche.
After
everything was just right we would then as a family read the story from the
gospels of that Christmas night. Many of you have similar traditions, or I hope
you do. That is one of the first lessons
in faith many children receive from their parents, the reality of the baby
Jesus. Silent night, holy night. Calmness, heavenly peace, shepherds and angels
on high. Peace on earth, goodwill towards men. Isn’t that what Christmas is all
about? For one shining moment, the entire world is focused on one single event
in history, on one single person, on one single baby.
Children
understand what Christmas is really all about. That is, until we spoil it for
them. They understand the reality of what a baby truly is. A baby is hope. A
baby is the ultimate proof that God exists, with its perfect little fingers and
toes, in its wonderful complexity and simplicity. We don’t remember what we
were like as babies, we must see in our children what we once were.
Jesus
was once like that. Have you ever stopped to think about just how radical the
Christ child is? The very thought that this little baby, so vulnerable and
innocent and perilous, is God himself? The most radical and cataclysmic event
in all of human history, the incarnation, God becoming man, started out in such
a simple way? God chose to become one of us in the same way he chooses to have each
of us enter the world. And the result of that is peace on earth, goodwill
towards men, glory to God in the highest. In a newborn baby we see the goodness
of the world, the rightness of creation, even for a brief moment. That’s how we
all started and how we should all view ourselves, as goodness and right. As
persons of hope.
Jesus
said that unless we become like little children we cannot enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. Unless we become like the perfect child, Jesus Christ, we will not and
cannot be one with him forever in heaven. Because that child, who started out
so innocent and calm, shook the world to its core and set up a choice that has
divided the world for 2000 years.
You
see, the entrance of God into history as man demands a choice for every human
being. We have no choice in how and when and why we are born. But we are all
ultimately confronted with a choice. Will we follow that perfect child? Will we
model our lives after His? Will we submit to the will of the Father has he did,
and can we live with the consequences of that choice?
That
child grew up and lived an unconventional life, a radical life. He cured the
sick, raised the dead, admonished sinners, set the existing religious order
upside down, challenged the status quo in every individual heart, and had a
simple message. Come, follow me. He demanded of us no less than what he himself
did. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners, care
for the poor and the marginalized, go out and make disciples of all the nations,
spread the good news that God himself has become one of us so that we can
become one with Him.
Do
you see that man in the creche before you? Do you see the choice before you
tonight? Can you see that beyond all the sentimentality of the scene and the
season is the awesome reality that that child was born to die? His very reason
for living was to die…for you. The quiet and peace and innocence of the baby’s
nativity was to end in the horrible violence of the cross. Do you see that just
as we enter into the remembrance of his birth we must also enter into the
reality of his death and what that means for each of us? The hope that began
with Jesus’ birth continues in the hope of his resurrection and his promise of
eternal life.
It
is good that we become like little children at Christmas. It is good that we
enter into the sights and sounds of the season in order to reconnect ourselves
with the simplicity and innocence of the manger scene. It is good that we, for
one brief moment every year, look upon the baby Jesus and see ourselves, what
we can become, what we are called to become.
The
message of Christmas is one of renewal. Our children are our hope for the
future and each newborn baby is a sign that things will continue. Each newborn
baby is a regeneration, a renewal for our families and for our world. I think
that is one reason we are all drawn to them, wonder at them, and make such a
fuss about them. And I think that is why Christmas is for the children. Because
it is about the children. It’s about the children we once were, and about the
children we can become again.
It’s
all about the children. It’s all about
the child.