Gospel: Luke
2:1-20
1st Reading: Isiah 9:2-7
2nd Reading: Titus11-14
When people in church get asked what
is most distracting to them when they are trying to worship, they
mention cell phones, or vehicles going past, problems with the
microphone, and things like that. But more often than any of those,
they mention children. Children are distracting, and most
distracting for the parents and grandparents who are trying to hear
and worship. Our own kids and grandkids sound a hundred times louder
to us, don't they? I remember a couple of times my sister has
attended worship when I've been preaching and I've crafted a sermon
with her in mind, because I believe there is good news of great joy
for her. Of course, she didn't hear a word of it, because she was
tending to her kids. Now, I get to be the one interrupted. But
isn't that what I wanted when I decided to have a child?
The Christmas story is one of a child
interrupting our lives. Mary had plans. She was about to be
married. She was about to leave her family home. And an angel comes
to her with these words of interruption, “Greetings, favored one!
I bring you good news of great joy!” The amazing thing is, Mary
agrees to be interrupted, even though she could hardly anticipate the
other interruptions that would go along with bearing this child, the
Son of God.
The baby Jesus interrupts the life of
Joseph. He had other plans. He planned to be married and join his
life and Mary's. He certainly planned to continue his carpenter's
business. He planned participate in the life of their community. But
God interrupted his plans. Mary interrupts his tidy picture of
marriage with her announcement of her pregnancy. Then he is
interrupted by a dream, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your
wife, for she is with child from the Holy Spirit.”
Joseph and Mary are interrupted. This
baby came at an unexpected moment, before they were ready for him.
Because of him and his timing, tongues surely wagged, perhaps his
family members were ashamed. Because of him and his timing and the
fact that he was born to a poor family, there was no room for them to
give birth in a comfortable place, an acceptable place.
This newborn King was an interruption
to Herod, who thought he was secure in his power. Now he finds out a
baby is trying to take his place, to usurp his throne. Because of
Herod's threat, the Holy family fled to Egypt—another interruption
to their plans, to ensure the safety of their son.
This baby was an interruption to the
shepherds, watching their flocks by night. Only this was a welcome
interruption to those who had never received a birth announcement
before, let alone, one of this grandeur and magnitude. No one cared
what they thought. No one had the time for them. However, that's
who the angels sang to that blessed night. They were glad of the
interruption! And they didn't waste any time going to the side of
their king, who would become the Good Shepherd, tending his own flock
gently and lovingly, but also being one that everyone discounted.
Our lives can be thought of as a
series of interruptions. We make plans, but we are interrupted by
traffic, the phone, other people, mishaps, etc.
There are also many interruptions on a
larger scale. Lives for countless refugees are interrupted as they
flee from terror in Allepo and other places around the world.
Children's growth is interrupted by malnutrition. Their education is
interrupted by the bombing. The climate patterns we have grown
accustomed to are being interrupted, because of all the carbon we
burn. This change in climate interrupts the lives of plants and
animals in a chain reaction we may never recover from and which our
species might not survive.
For some of us this evening is an
interruption, albeit a smaller one. Christmas eve service can
sometimes feel like an interruption to family time, to gift-giving,
and even to getting needed rest before tomorrow. It took an
effort for most of us to be here tonight, an effort that interrupted
pajama time and more. But for some, I hope it is a welcome
interruption. We pause from all our preparations and stresses
to remember why we do all this--the reason for the season so to
speak. We interrupt our consumerism, our frenzy of activity, to
take a breath. God interrupts our stress to say, "I love you.
I am going to show up myself. Not in riches and honor and
might, not in AK-47s or wearing Versace and not elected by the
popular vote or electoral collage. I can't even lift my head
up, I'm such a weak and helpless creature. But I will teach you
how to love and where to find me and where to focus. It will
interrupt every assumption you ever had about what matters, but it
will lead you to new life."
For those of us who are comfortable,
an interruption is annoying and tiresome. But for the poor and
suffering, an interruption is exactly what needs to happen. A
ceasefire in Alleppo--a chance for people to flee, to get the sick
and injured out, to get food and supplies in--that is an
interruption that the powerless need to even survive. The
powerful could scarcely allow it to happen. At Interfaith
Advocacy Day in Salem in February, several of us will go to advocate
for an interruption to greed and call for an end to no cause
evictions in our state as well as a cap on how much rents can be
raised. For the good landlords, this is not an interruption.
They will go on as they have, with the interests of their tenants
balanced with their own interests of keeping up a home or apartments
in good repair and safety. But for greedy landlords, we hope
we can interrupt the system which is evicting the poor and the
vulnerable to live in their cars or couch surf.
We have a choice to interrupt our own
comfort to interrupt the cycle of destruction. Some are
wearing safety pins of solidarity with vulnerable people and find
themselves stepping up and intervening when a slur is hurled or an
ignorant statement is made. Some are biking or taking public
transportation, small interruptions in our lives of convenience and
comfort to begin to interrupt the burning of fossil fuels. A
colleague of mine interrupted his week a couple of months ago to
stand with the people of Standing Rock, to protest the oil pipeline
headed for sacred lands of indigenous people, and found himself in
the midst of a sacred worship action that lasted for months an
months in which nonviolent resistance and forgiveness were the
center.
If we are rich and powerful, an
interruption is something to be resisted, because things are like we
want them to be. But if we are poor and suffering, an
interruption is exactly what we need, to stop the powers of
destruction from continuing on this path. I suspect if you are
here, you have enough comfort to get yourself here. You are
comfortable enough to be literate and fed. However, your heart
breaks when you open your eyes to the pain of this world. You
let your comfortable lives be interrupted by the awareness that all
over the world people are suffering, even in our own neighborhoods
kids are hungry and cold, and won't wake up to gifts in the morning.
You know this world is not as it should be and could be, and you want
to be part of a great interruption. You are saying, “Take my
comforts, my car, my gifts, and instead bring the gift of peace on
earth, of every mouth being fed and every tear being dried.
None of my stuff means anything, in fact it is a burden. Interrupt
our comfortable lives, little child, shivering in the cold.
Interrupt our lives, God in the flesh on death row. Interrupt
our comforts so that we may be your hands and feet interrupting the
powers of death in this world, so that your Kingdom will come and
your reign of peace may truly begin.”
Jesus came to interrupt. He
interrupted the blind to give them sight. He interrupted the hungry
to feed them. He interrupted to the sinner to give them forgiveness.
He interrupted the sick to heal them. He still does all these
things today.
But he also interrupts those in with
riches and power to show them they put their faith in something that
doesn't last. He interrupts the religious leaders who like to show
off to tell them that God is watching. He interrupts systems of
oppression, to bring justice.
And when we couldn't handle his
interruptions and tried to interrupt his life by hanging him on a
tree, he interrupted our false notions of what life and death is, by
his resurrection. So he interrupts Mary in the Garden that Easter
morning with an appearance and the reminder again not to fear. Then
he interrupts death for all of us, by making us his brothers and
sisters, and giving us new life, eternal life.
The powers of darkness are real and
scary. However they will not stand against the powers of life and
goodness that God brings in Jesus Christ. A baby is interrupting us
one more time. But this time we will see we needed to be interrupted
with God's love and light.
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