The Catastrophe of Christmas

You may remember a few years back when the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, was speaking of the war in Iraq and coined the phrase: catastrophic success. His point was that our Armed Forces overwhelmed Saddam Hussein’s forces quicker than we had even planned for. It was a “catastrophic success.”

I was reminded of these words from Rumsfeld as I was reading some of C. S. Lewis’ writings this week. Of course, C. S. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia which has been turned into a blockbuster movie in the theaters right now. But, he was more than a man who provided fodder for Hollywood, he was one of the greatest Christian theologians of the last century.

In writing about Jesus’ birth and coming into the world he said this: The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history.

Eucatastrophe.

I’ll save you the trouble of going home tonight and looking it up in your dictionary: it’s a word that he made up. “E-U” of course is a prefix added to words which means “good.” (Like “eu-logy” means a ‘good word’ about someone who died, a “eu-phemism” is a ‘good’ way to say something that isn’t all that good to begin with.)

He’s saying that the Incarnation – God becoming man in the person of Jesus Christ – is a good catastrophe. In other words it was a “catastrophic success.”

What’s so catastrophic about Christmas, even if it’s a ‘good’ catastrophe (whatever that means)?

It doesn’t much look like we’re recalling a catastrophe right now! No black armbands, no flag at half mast, no solemn faces. We have lights, wreaths, trees, Christmas specials on TV, all point to a warm fuzzy time of the year which helps us recall our own childhoods and the sugar plum fairies which still dance in our heads.

I really don’t mean this sermon to turn into a English or Greek lesson(!), but the English word “catastrophe” comes from the Greek word katastrephein which literally means “to ruin” or “to overturn.”

Again, what did the Christmas event ruin or overturn?

Well to put it simply, the birth of Jesus overturned everything. Nothing in all creation was left unturned. It changed everything under the sun. In short it ruined everything that needed ruining.

God – the Creator, the Sanctifier, the Almighty – became human. God had walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden; God had led the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness, and God had dwelt among His people in the Temple in Jerusalem. But, now God wasn’t just around us, or among us. Now, God was one of us.

And not just any one-of-us, but God – the Creator, the Sanctifier, the Almighty – became a baby. Helpless, wordless, vulnerable, weak, and because they were temporarily homeless he was lying in a borrowed barn.

The majesty and power of God had poured itself into an infant. The King of kings had no gold encrusted throne, but a simple manger. Humanity – weak, flawed, fragile – had been given the greatest compliment ever, with God willing to be one of us.

Everything was turned upside-down. Everything was now overturned, and things would never be the same again. In fact you could say that the old way – the old order had been ruined.

Never again would God not know what it was like to cry, laugh, mourn, stub his toe, hit his funny bone, or love another person with an embrace.

No longer would God be removed from us: We would no longer be separated by a curtain in a Temple, or by a million miles to Heaven. God was one of us.

No longer would we need complicated rituals to buy the forgiveness of our sins. Never again would we have to question God’s undying love for us. Never again would it be a secret that God was crazy for us, that God thought the world of us, that God wanted us to love Him more than anything.

In the birth of Jesus, Earth and Heaven mixed together – using biblical language, Earth and Heaven were wed.

The whole shebang was “overturned” upside-down, and everything was ruined for the better.

It wasn’t just a catastrophic success, and I’d even go a step further than C. S. Lewis saying that it was a ‘good’ catastrophe - it was the greatest catastrophe ever. A Holy Catastrophe. A beautiful catastrophe.

To look into the red screaming face of the Christ-child, lying in the manger is to look into the moment the world was forever changed, and humanity was wed with divinity.

The only possible terrible-catastrophe within the Christmas event is for us to be unchanged by it – to look into the crib of Our Lord and turn away uncaring and unmoved. The only catastrophic-failure that can be associated with the birth of Jesus is the failure of us not being overturned, and changed, and forever altered by it. It’s to allow the ‘stuff’ of Christmas (shopping, Rudolph, etc.) to overshadow the gift of God becoming one of us – living among us, and living for us.

This is a Holy Night – it’s a night to fall on our knees and hear the angel voices. It’s a night – a night Divine, when God changed everything – well, just about – he left only our hearts to be changed. And that’s up to us.

Let this night shine – but let it also tremble and thunder with the turning of our hearts towards Bethlehem, to the Holy Infant, and to the catastrophe which brought God to us, and paved the way for us to be brought to God.

Seeing the Big Picture

Life is busy. Yes? Anyone disagree with me?

It’s December 18th and I’m sweating over how much I have to do in the next week to make Christmas happen in my family, my home, and the two churches that I pastor! How in the world am I going to get it all done.

Of course, when December 26th comes it’s not like my life totally opens up or anything. It’s not like I won’t have anything to do. There will still be tons to do, and tons to worry about, and tons to run around like a chicken with my head cut off for.

And of course, this is all when Zoë is only a year and a half! What happens when I have to add soccer practice, basketball games, and girl scouts to the weekly routine. . . and what if we decide to have another child or two?!

I could hyperventilate just thinking about it!!

Life is busy, and it’s so very, very easy to get caught up in our own little world, that we forget that the rest of the world is out there. It’s easy to forget that other people have other issues, and schedules, and problems to worry about. It’s easy to forget that there are people out there who have issues and problems far greater, and far more life-or-death threatening.

It’s easy to forget the big picture. And it’s easy to forget how big the big picture really is.

In our Old Testament lesson this morning from the second chapter of Samuel David gets a message from God: Great things are going to happen. His throne will have his descendants on them forever and ever and ever. A kingdom will be established, and it will be God’s kingdom for David’s ancestors to reign over for all time.

That was the good news. Unfortunately for David it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

But the promise – the hope – the Plan echoed through the centuries.

In our Psalm this morning, written probably centuries after King David’s reign, we find: For your servant David's sake, do not turn away the face of your Anointed. The LORD has sworn an oath to David; in truth, he will not break it: "A son, the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne. If your children keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their children will sit upon your throne for evermore."

Almost 700 years after King David, the prophet Isaiah spoke of the Plan again. In chapter 7 of the book of Isaiah, he told about a virgin who would give birth to a child, whose name would be Emmanuel, meaning God with us. He would sit on the throne of David.

That was the good news. It’s just wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Then, almost 300 years later, another messenger of God came to a little girl, probably only 12 or 13 years old, and told her that she would bear a son, and this son would – drumroll please – sit on the throne of David!

But, she’d have to wait 9 months.

And then another 30 years until Jesus started his ministry.

And then another 3 until his triumphant death on the cross. And then another 3 days until the Resurrection. And then another 50 days until he ascended into heaven.

And then, the Kingdom would be established for ever and ever as soon as he got back.

2,000 years later here we are. It’s good news, it just isn’t happening anytime soon.

You see, it’s happening on God’s time. God’s Plan is happening just as it should, everything at just the right time, it’s just that for us it seems a little long.

The Plan that was first put into words 3,000 years ago is still very much the Plan. The story lives on – and the story isn’t finished yet!

This is the Big picture. It’s a little bigger than my Christmas to-do list. A little bigger than my honey-do list. Ever bigger than my future soccer-basketball-girl scouts-dance class schedule.

Looking at the world from God’s point of view, my problems, issues, and scheduling woes are of little significance.

And, such things pale in comparison with the fact that God’s Story is going on all around us, in us, through us, and beyond us. The story that began thousands of years ago is still playing out and we’ve been invited to be a part of it. We’ve been invited to join in.

And the way that we’ve been invited to join in, is very similar to how that little girl 2,000 years ago was invited to join in.

Mary is known in the Greek Christian Church as “Theotokos,” which means “God-Bearer.” She was asked by God to bear the Christ-child into the world, and even though it would cost her greatly, she said ‘yes.’

We too are asked to bear God into the world. We’re asked, as part of the great Plan, to allow Christ to live in us (as Christ lived in Mary’s womb), and we’re asked to share Christ with the whole world. We’re to let the whole world know that God established a throne for David, and that Jesus (David ancestor) will rule from that throne and rule over God’s kingdom for ever and ever. We asked to live in the kingdom, and follow the King, love the King even as the King loves us.

That’s the big picture.

Kinda makes the afternoon trip to Walmart seem a little insignificant, huh?

But, this big picture means that we’re very significant in God’s Plan, God’s Story, and God’s Good News.

The Beginning

The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God

I was about fifteen or sixteen years old when I had several years of classical voice training under my belt. I had been working on several of the solos from Handel’s Messiah in my voice class, and so someone thought it would be a good idea if I sang one
at the family service on Christmas Eve. And so there I was standing in the middle of the chancel in front of hundreds of proud parents, grandparents, and kids everywhere. Because it was the family service, some of the kids came as sheep, or cows, or angels
- you know the deal. And everyone was beaming as it was Christmas Eve!

I looked out into the congregation and there were red sweaters, red and green plaid ties,
women wearing bright jackets and blouses with Santa Clause pins tacked on them. Everyone was wearing a smile. The excitement was electric.

And there I was with everyone waiting for little Ricky Morley to kick the service off.
The organ began playing, I took a few deep breaths to kick off the nerves, and I opened my mouth, and out came: For Behold! Darkness shall cover the earth. And gross darkness the people.

The effect was instant. Smiles fell from faces, and excitement was converted to confusion and perplexity. People started flipping through their orders of service - “What in the world is he singing?”

And there I was standing there thinking to myself: “What in the world am I singing?”

I had sung the piece perhaps a hundred times in practice but it never hit me what it was that the words actually said!

And it didn’t matter that the song continues: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

No, it didn’t matter because the damage was done. And the tension was tangible - you could feel it – I could feel it.

Juxtaposed with the gigantic Christmas tree by the pulpit, the poinsettias around the altar,
the flocks of sheep and cattle, and the Santa Clause pins was this message of judgment - dark judgment.

The people had come that night hoping for comfort, and joy, and they were greeted with
something very, very different.

How similar to what John the Baptist probably experienced.

People from all over apparently flocked to him so that they could have a nice little ceremony: baptism. At least ‘a nice little ceremony’ was what they thought it was. John thought it was a little more significant than that.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all record the tale of the throngs of people coming to John for Baptism. The people who came to him were Jews who lived in and around Jerusalem. John set up shop at the Jordan river in the countryside just outside of Jerusalem proper.

These Jews would have known a lot about sins and how to gain forgiveness of them – because they had a Temple in the middle of their city, and they could just take a goat, or sheep, or pigeon to the Temple – have it ritually slaughtered by a priest – and ‘poof’ they were forgiven.

These Jews also knew a lot about being on God’s good side, because, well, they were Jews! Their parents were Jews, and their grandparents were Jews, and their great. . . you get the idea. They had Jewish blood flowing through them – and because they were God’s chosen people, they were set.

So these chosen people, who were forgiven at the drop of a pigeon, walked out so see this interesting fella in the countryside, to have him perform a cute little ceremony.

What they got was something completely different.

Also when I was a child – about the time I sang that ‘interesting’ song on Christmas Eve, I was introduced to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It wasn’t far away from my home, and it was just amazing to me (and still is!).

Can you guess which was my favorite part? You got it, the church part! I loved the Medieval European collection which was mostly filled with artifacts from churches from all over Europe. There was stonework and statues, stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, and gold gilded depictions of the saints. I loved looking at the saints with their beautiful flowing hair, their colorful wardrobes, their halos, and the symbolic representations of their lives, and usually their deaths, all around them.

And then there was this one saint who looked totally out of place. John the Baptist. No colorful clothing, no dashing looks, and no impressive symbology. He was a guy dressed in hairy rags with a simple wooden staff.

So, I picture these big city folk living in Jerusalem going out to the countryside for their little cute ceremony being absolutely stunned when they saw who this John was: a camel hair wearing, wild-eyed, locust eating crazy wilderness man.

And that was all before he opened his mouth.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record John describing the baptism he was offering as being a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

In the Gospel of Luke, we find an expanded form of what John said to the crowds: You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’ for I tell you God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

I’m sure that effect was instant. Smiles fell from faces, and excitement was converted to confusion and perplexity. People looking around, asking their neighbors if they knew what was going on – were they in the right place? What was this guy saying?

This was the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God

It was good news – but I bet John’s first audiences had a hard time hearing it as that. They were coming for some comfort, they were coming for something nice and cute, and what they got was completely different.

John was telling the Good News: the forgiveness of sins didn’t come from rituals, and a relationship with God didn’t happen because of who your parents were, or what air you were breathing.

The Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is about repentance – which, by the way, doesn’t mean to feel bad and guilty. Repentance means literally ‘to turn,’ and in this context means to turn to God, and to God’s Son.

This Good News that John the Baptist was proclaiming was the same as the song that I sang years ago on Christmas Eve: For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people. BUT the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be upon thee. Kings shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

There is hope, but the hope sometimes has to come in the midst of hopelessness. There is life, but sometimes death must come before it can be seen. There is light, but it is always shining through the darkness – still shining, always shining, but always darkness too.

There is forgiveness, but first repentance. There is new life with Christ, but only after taking up our cross and following him. There is grace, and mercy, and love; but there is also crucifixion, the rigors of discipleship, and the demands of apostleship.

It’s the “Good News” not the ‘cute news’ or ‘nice news.’ It’s the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In the weeks coming, we’ll be full into the Christmas swing. There will be trees, and lights, and garland, and parties, and eggnog, and presents, and the red swollen bellies of stuffed Santas, and sugar plum fairies dancing in our dreams. And, while we probably won’t have little John the Baptist figurines and locusts dangling from our Christmas trees, that tension between the Good News of Jesus and the GOOD NEWS of Jesus will always be there.

We can recall it if we take the time. And we can ignore it at our own peril. We can be serious Christmas Christians, or we can be cute Christmas revelers looking for a nice ceremony – and repentance – turning to God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is what separates the two.

And that’s the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.