Why is this night, of all nights, important to us?

It’s a good thing we begin a new year every year about this time, don’t you think?

If properly approached, the beginning of a new year can be beneficial to our psyche,
beneficial to our health, and beneficial to our soul.

However, as the years go by, Father Time becomes more of a caricature, and we pay less and less attention to the intention  of the season, don’t we?

Without the fol-de-rol of late night parties, New year’s Eve is of little importance to the on-going nature of our lives. 
We have no ceremony for this time of year, when a youngster may ask, “Why is this night, of all nights, important to us?” 

But, maybe we should. 
For this could be a teaching moment for all of us.

As I have noted before, most of us carry around way too much baggage.  We tend to tote pounds and pounds of grudges, animosity, resentment, and revenge, don’t we?
 
And, we know it’s unhealthy. 
Doctors tell us. 
Ministers tell us. 
Researchers tell us. 
Some friends tell us. 
Our blood pressure is affected. 
Our cholesterol is affected. 


Our heart rate is affected. 
Our mood is affected. 
Our relationships are affected. 
Our outlook is affected. 
Our immune system is affected. 
We become more prone to disease. 
We become more prone to mental disorder. 
We become more prone to grumpiness. 
And, our life is not what it could be. 
Our life is not what it should be. 
Our life is not what it is promised to be.

Dr. Bernie Siegel reminds us that there seems to be an innate desire in all humans to be reborn, to start again,
to make resolutions and changes we can live up to.

He notes that he sees evidence of this deep seeded desire
“every day in my role as a physician:
People learn they have a limited time to live, and they start their New Year behavior.
They move, change jobs, spend more time with those they love, stop worrying about what everyone else thinks of them, and start to celebrate their life. They are grateful for the time they have to enjoy life and they stop whining about what they wish had happened during the past year.”

So, he notes: we don’t need to wait for that one certain day of the year.

Dr. Siegel suggests that everyday can be the beginning of a new year.
When every evening is New Year’s Eve and every day you awaken is New Year’s Day, you are living life as it was intended.

For me, this is the message of the new year. 

As Paul reminds us in Colossians, it is time to put to death old attitudes and agendas.

Then, the new year has meaning.  
Then, the new life we are promised is closer to being fulfilled.

In this way, we nurture our soul. 
And, when our soul is tended, our health is better and our future is brighter.  
Then, and only then, can we truly welcome the new year and the days ahead. 
We know them to be the fulfillment of God’s time.

This is the day the Lord has made. 

When every evening is New Year’s Eve and every day you awaken is New Year’s Day, you are living life as it was intended

The Fifth Day of Christmas

So, this is the Fifth Day of Christmas. 
Christmastide  is the shortest season of the Church year – just 12 days from December 25 to January 6 – the day of Epiphany.
Once again, the church seems out of sync with the rest of the world.
While the prevailing culture around us - and yes, most of us, also - cleaned up the debris from exchanging gifts on “Christmas” day, the church says, “Hold on.”  
Christmas isn’t over on Christmas day. 
There are eleven more days of Christmas!
Eleven more days of Christmas?!!!

No one we know will be celebrating 12 Days of Christmas – much less anything called Epiphany. 
[I’ve never heard a store around here advertising Epiphany sales.] 

But, it is a fact that in many cultures and many countries in the world, Epiphany is a much larger celebration than Christmas day!

Christmas is at the very heart of our faith. 
The stories of our faith that have been passed down through the ages to us speak to the very essence what Christianity is – how we relate to the creator of the universe and how we relate to others around us.

In fact, we really do not know the actual day Jesus was born – apparently it was just not important to those early believers. 
Jesus never talked about it. 
The Disciples never sang happy birthday to Jesus.  
And no one ever shared pictures of the baby Jesus.  
It was not important to them. 

What was important was what they believed was his message and the authority he must have to be delivering the message so clearly and so forcefully.

And, so we need to know, that no matter how good hearing and singing and believing certain things makes us feel –
the real meaning of the season has nothing to do with gifts, or trinkets, or lights, or candles, or trees, or parties, or dinners, or children, or movies, or shopping, or cards, or Santa, or crosses for that matter.

Christmas is for adults.

The key to understanding Christmas is Emmanuel.
Emmanuel is this Hebrew word that means, “God Is With Us”.

It is significant that we recall and remember that at this time in history – during the heyday of the Roman Empire,
in this particular part of world – an out of the way, nondescript place of no significance to anybody –
the ultimate authority of the universe, the Creator of all that is,
broke through the barriers – the walls of the cosmic egg –
and came to live among, alongside, and with us mortal beings. 
God is no longer confined to the highest heavens, or to the other side of the wall,
or to behind the curtain of the holy of holies. 
No, this is about Emmanuel.

God is with us, we say. 
At Christmas we remember the message and we celebrate the exact point when it happened in history. 
But, the kicker is, the real message is, that it didn’t just happen once and that was it. 
God did not simply open the door and say here I am and then leave.
Emmanuel, we say. 
God is with us, we say.
That’s what we remember through the Christmas stories.
And, Emmanuel, we believe.
God is with us – still. 
Today. 
And tomorrow, and all of our tomorrows – 
Every second of every minute of every hour or every day. 

Emmanuel.

- Clyde E. Griffith

Oh the stories we hear . . .

“Why is this night any different from all other nights?”

We become who we are by the stories we hear.
The stories we hear and the stories we tell give us clues about who we are.

At Passover, as Jewish families gather at sundown for their annual ritual, the honor is given to the youngest person present at the table to ask the question:
“Why is this night any different from all other nights?”
For centuries, this question is asked in households all over the world, year after year.  
“Why is this night any different from all other nights?”
The question is asked so the story can be told – and heard –  again and again.
It is good for us to get together at this time of year to hear the stories and sing the songs again. 
For it is in the telling and the singing and the hearing that we understand more about ourselves, more about the world around us, and more about our relation to our God.

Do you have a story that has been passed down through your family for generations?
Many families have these kind of stories that the elders tell the children year after year, generation after generation. 
Passing down the same stories of their origin, their uniqueness,
their relation with the world around them, 
and their relation with the Creator of the universe.   
Children grow up hearing the stories over and over again –  and learn to tell the stories to their children and to their grandchildren.

Tonight we hear stories about our faith, and we are reminded of how rich we really are,
we are reminded of the rich heritage that is ours,
we are reminded of the rich tradition of which we are a part.

But, the stories we hear, and the stories we tell, have no meaning apart from our experience of them. 
If the stories ring true to our experience, then our experience is informed and shaped by the
stories we hear.

Tonight, we celebrate the birth of a baby – 
an event of major significance to our faith. 
Some of you know what it is to give birth to a baby. 
All of you know someone who has given birth to a baby. 
It’s a pretty big deal. 
There is a flush of excitement. 
There is a rush to tell the news. 
When you hold a new baby, your heart quivers. 
You feel the power of life itself. 
No matter how bad things may be,
the birth gives you a sense of future, of hope.

Well, it was a big deal when a baby was born in Roman times, too. 
The biggest deal of all in those days was the birth of a child to succeed the emperor.  Everyone celebrated the birth of a baby Caesar – 
poets celebrated the birth of a baby Caesar ,
philosophers celebrated the birth of a baby Caesar ,
state officials celebrated the birth of a baby Caesar ,
singers and dancers celebrated the birth of a baby Caesar . 
The coming of the new leader meant the continuity of the empire.

If we lived at the time Jesus was born,
we would know the name of Augustus very well. 
He was the emperor of all the world,
the supreme ruler of all that was,
the number one guy,
the main man,
the big cheese. 
We would know all that. 
And we would know it because of the stories that were told, and the songs that were sung in those days.
 We would know by heart the story that appears on stone inscriptions found all over the Roman empire. 
The story of the birth of Augustus that goes:
Providence, that orders everything in our lives, has displayed extraordinary concern
and compassion, and crowned our life with perfection itself. 
She has brought into the world Augustus,
and filled him with distinguished goodness for the benefit of humanity. 
In her benevolence she has granted us and those who will come after us [a savior] who has made war to cease and who shall order all things well. 
The [epiphany] of Caesar transcends the expectations [of all who anticipated the good news]. 
Not only has he outstripped all benefactors who have gone before him, but he will leave posterity no hope of surpassing him. 
The birth date of our god has signaled the beginning of good news for the world. 
 
The beginning of good news for the world?
A savior? 
The birth of our God? 
Bringer of peace and good will? 
This was the popular and political belief of the day.

So, it is no accident that Luke makes sure we know that Jesus was born while Augustus was Emperor and Quirinius was governor. 
Of course, Luke did not know then what we know now,
by the time this story was being told by Luke,  Augustus, the so-called savior and
harbinger of good news, was rotting in his grave somewhere. 

But that baby (?),
that baby wrapped in rags,
that baby who spent his first days and nights lying in a manger,
that baby for whom there was no room in the inn – 
when Luke told this story, that baby's people were totally dismantling the very world of Augustus and Quirinius stone by stone. 
Luke is saying that even when confronted with world's most august force,
nothing compares to this Jesus.

Luke wants us to know that Jesus is in contrast to the Caesar: 
Augustus Caesar with his glitz and glamour, promises much and delivers little. 
Jesus appears insignificant, but behind him is the power of the living God. 
We see the lame walk. 
The hungry eat. 
The community that emerges around him is free from Caesar-like power. 
Strangers to God become friends of God.

We become who we are by the stories we hear.
The stories we hear and the stories we tell give us clues about who we are.

Emmanuel! 
Tonight is the main event:
The story we remember tonight is one in which God acted decisively and conclusively –  entering our world to be with us wherever we go,
whatever we do,
for however long it takes. 
Friends, tonight we celebrate Emmanuel.  
May each of you know with certainty that the light that was in the world at the beginning
still shines to illumine the darkest corners of your life.
We become who we are by the stories we hear.
The stories we hear and the stories we tell give us clues about who we are.
Aren’t you glad you came?

Friends, it's Christmas! 
Emmanuel! 
Our God is with us. 
Hallelujah! 
Amen!

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, experienced this sermon by the Reverend Clyde E. Griffith  Christmas Eve, 2009.

Our Own Story of Christmas

Isaiah 52:7-10
John 1:1-14

So, it's almost Christmas.  For us in the church, this is the Fourth Sunday of Advent – a time for us to contemplate why we celebrate Christmas anyway.
Again, this year, during these weeks before Christmas, we have been looking at the very earliest documents we have to ascertain just how those earliest Christians celebrated Christmas –
hoping to find clues as to how we might have a better understanding and actually experience a better Christmas this year.

The first week of Advent, we looked at the very earliest writings we have –
the letters of Paul and some of the writings that were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi and other places in the desert country of Egypt and Syria and Palestine,
and the very earliest Gospel in our Bible:
the Gospel of Mark – which was published around the year 70.

We actually have several texts now that were published during these early  years – during the first 75 years or so after Jesus was killed.
And, look as we may, it is obvious that none of these texts say anything at all about the birth of Jesus.  It just was not important to them.

Yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their history,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their faith,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their life experience – in their understanding of who they were and what they to do.
Clearly, they each articulate a faith that in Jesus, they saw God incarnate – God in the flesh – for them,  Jesus was Emmanuel – God with us.

The second week we looked at the second Gospel, the Gospel of Matthew, published some 15 years after Mark, and intended for a somewhat different audience.
Matthew begins his Gospel with a detailed genealogy setting Jesus firmly in the Jewish camp – a descendent of King David,
and even Father Abraham, himself.

In the 15 years between Mark and Matthew an interest in birth stories had developed.
Matthew’s community wanted to believe that their Jesus was no less a god than the mighty Caesar or any of the other gods they encountered among the cosmopolitan culture of the Roman Empire.
Every other god had a miraculous birth story to show their specialness, so, Jesus should have one, too.

The Gospel of Luke is the third Gospel of the collection in our Bible.
It was published some 15 years after Matthew.
And, again, it was intended for a different audience than Mark or Matthew.

Again, we are reminded that during these early years, indeed, for the first 100 to 150 years, there was no separate Christian church.
There were Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah and revered as Emmanuel – God with Us – and they would meet as small groups –
sometimes even sharing meals and resources and living arrangements –
but, when they worshiped, they went to the Temple.

We see Luke being addressed primarily to a predominately gentile audience to show that belief in Jesus in Emmanuel conflicted in no way with their ability to serve as good citizens of the Roman Empire.

And, we see that each of the Gospels have a very different starting place.
Matthew starts very differently than Mark does – again with that long genealogy.
And Luke starts differently than either Mark or Matthew does with that miraculous birth story – not of Jesus, but of John.
And, here in the Gospel of John, we have an even stranger beginning.

Most scholars agree now that this Gospel of John was published around 110 years after the death of Jesus.
Clearly this Gospel was addressed to people under stress –
there was a conflict between the communities of believers in Jesus as Messiah
and the communities of believers in John as Messiah;
and there was a widening rift between these communities of Jesus believers and the other believers of Judaism.
The break that we know today was occurring.
And this Gospel is written in that context.

Again, dwelling on establishing the specialness of Jesus with stories of his birth was not important to these people.
What was important, was how their faith in this radical new religion based on Emmanuel – based upon the Incarnation – based on God now being with us instead of dwelling from on high –
how life based on this new faith fits into the cosmic scheme of things –
and how it is different from the old ways of doing.

Curiously, we know from the writings of a Jewish Greek philosopher from Alexandria, Philo, that this concept of God as the Doer, the Speaker, the One who Acts, the Word was emerging in Alexandria some 50 years before the Gospel of John was published.

Here, Jesus is remembered not primarily as a specific man at a specific time in history, but
as the embodiment of a wisdom, a sophia, that pervades all things and all people.
The Word has existed from the beginning, and the Word came and dwelt among people, “they knew him not.”
Here, John tells the story in a radically new way.
Jesus is identified with the Logos – the Word of God –   and becomes something other than a man from Nazareth born of flesh and blood –
but nothing less than a construct of God –
a part of Almighty himself –
a very part of the cosmos itself.

Like I concluded last week,
I think it is important for us to ask why the Gospels treat the birth of Jesus differently.
And to remember that the story that you and I have learned and could tell on a moments notice, actually does not occur in any of our gospels.

The story you and I learned,
and the story you and I tell,
is really a composite of the stories we see in the Gospels.
We tend to take a part from one and combine it with a part from another and a part from another, and lo, we have our story.

But, if we actually did what those early Christians did, we wouldn’t revere any of the details of any of these stories;
but, we would come up with our own story – like they did.
A story that begins with an experience with Emmanuel –
an experience of God being with us –
and then coming up with an explanation as to how special that experience is.

For you and me to fully understand and celebrate Christmas, we have to seek out and identify times of Emmanuel for us:
times we have been in the presence of God,
times we when we have been absolutely convinced that God is with us.

And, so we say "Where, oh where, is Emmanuel today?"
And we are on the lookout for signs of Emmanuel in our times:
for some, like the shepherds in Luke’s Gospel, it is in celestial music;
for some, it will be in coming to the Lord’s table as we do today;
for some, it will be in helping feed the hungry at the food closet;
for some, it will be in sharing special time with loved ones;
however and whenever and wherever;
This Christmas will be the best you have ever had when you open yourself to the presence of Emmanuel and recognize God with us.
Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church, in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, experienced this sermon (along with the other sermons referenced here) during Advent of 2006.  
Clyde E. Griffith, pastor

Gaudete Sunday

For nearly a thousand years now, some churches have been celebrating this third Sunday of Advent as Gaudete Sunday. 
Gaudete is a Latin word meaning, literally, Rejoice!
And, specifically, this is to remind us that the only appropriate response to the Christmas story is rejoicing.
Emmanuel happened.
Emmanuel happens.
Emmanuel is.

This is of primary concern for all Christians everywhere.
It is the very basis of our faith.

Our story is that Mary heard the angel Gabriel sing the Lord’s song:

The Lord your God is with you.
He will sing and be joyful over you.
He will give you life!
The time is coming!
Nothing is impossible for God!

         And what did Mary do when she heard the Lord's song? 
She ran right away to visit her elderly aunt Elizabeth....
And then she couldn't help herself. 
She started singing.

         You see, when you hear the Lord's song, you can't help but start humming along. 
Pretty soon, without even knowing it, you are tapping your foot to the beat. 
Pretty soon, you open your mouth and out it comes.  And that's OK! 
When you hear the Lord's song, you can't help but join in.

         Remembering Zephaniah's words:
Sing and shout for joy!
Rejoice with all your heart!
The Lord your God is with you,
He will sing and be joyful over you,
He will give you life!
The time is coming!
Mary started singing. 
Nothing is impossible for God!

         Really,  that's our Christmas message today. 
Nothing is impossible for God! 

Today, as we go through this Advent season, as we prepare for Christmas this year,
we are aware that it is no less than Emmanuel that was being birthed through Mary.
So, knowing what we know, 
How can we keep from singing?
For Mary’s song, becomes our song.  
For Christ has come, Emmanuel!
To claim our years and days.
Both present now and coming still,
Accomplished fact and dream,
Let us join the song that Mary sings.

How can we keep from singing?

How appropriate it is for us, today on Gaudet Sunday, to recall that when Mary got the word from the angel Gabriel, she went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, and in the course of telling her what had happened to her, she burst into song.
Because, that’s the way it is. 
When we finally get it.
When we finally realize it.
When we finally understand Christmas means Emmanuel – that God is with us.
We can’t help but sing.

         You may have seen the article TIME magazine did a while back about angels. 
The writers concluded their 8-page article with these words:
"If heaven is willing to sing to us, is it too little to ask that we be ready to listen?"  
Right there in Time magazine!

         Friends, do it! 
This Christmas season,
Listen! 
Listen! 
Listen! 
Music is coming from on high. 
Listen!
     Sing and shout for joy!
Rejoice with all your heart!
The Lord your God is with you!
He will sing and be joyful over you!
He will give you new life!
The time is coming!
Nothing is impossible for God!
Listen. 

The Christmas story is about God breeching the barrier that people perceive that separates us from the holy. 
Luke wants us to know in no uncertain terms that the Christmas story is about God being with us.
And this is what became visible that night in Bethlehem so long ago. 
Emmanuel.
God is with us, it was announced.
God was with them then.
And God is with us now.
Emmanuel came then.
Emmanuel is here now.

And so, on this particular Sunday we are reminded that no matter what your circumstance –
no matter where you’ve been,
no matter what you’ve said,
no matter what you’ve done,
God is with you.
Emmanuel!  They said.
Emmanuel!  We say.
And that is cause for rejoicing.
Gaudete!
Rejoice!  Again I say Rejoice!
Let Christmas come.
Bring it on.

It’s about  about Emmanuel.
When we get that,
when we really understand the significance of what that means,
my Lord what a morning. 
How can I keep from singing?
Hallelujah!
Amen. 

 This sermon was shared with the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, December 13, 2009, by the Reverend Clyde E. Griffith.

Whose Birthday Is It Anyway?

Ready or not, Christmas is coming. 
With every catalog we get in the mail,
with every card we receive,
with every Christmas song we hear in the stores and on the radio,
with every television special we see,
with every advertisement we see and hear and read,
with every invitation we receive,
we know Christmas is on the way.
And, it will come, wether we are ready or not.
And, so we begin to get somewhat anxious about it all, don’t we?

It is almost as though there are two Christmases:
one of the lights and trees and decorations and presents and reindeer and parties and snowmen –
and . . . .  and . . . . and . . . .
The one we talk about in church.

Sometimes, it seems that the two Christmases are not even of the same wavelength.

We know the Christmas story that most of the world around us celebrates – and we know it well – and we participate in it willingly and knowingly – often for very good reasons. 
We like the feeling that comes with giving and thinking about others and going out of our way to make someone’s day. 

But, you know, the earliest Christians did not celebrate Christmas.
    It just was not important to them.

No one knows when Jesus was born . . .
    No one kept a record – maybe he never told anyone – we don’t know
    It just was not important to them.
There is no record of the Disciples ever singing happy birthday to Jesus.

Of course, the first Christians knew Jesus,
they lived with Jesus,
they heard Jesus talk,
they saw Jesus laugh,
they felt Jesus hurt,
they saw Jesus sleep and eat and drink and do all kinds of bodily functions –
they experienced a living breathing person just as you and I experience each other. 

But, after a few hundred years, some believers began to question whether Jesus ever really lived at all.  
He was being remembered and worshiped as more of a god – than remembered as a real living breathing man who lived and died during certain days and years of the Roman Empire.

So, a small faction began to think it was important not to forget that Jesus was a real person. 
And if he was, we ought to remember when he was born. 
Trouble was, nobody knew when Jesus was born.

The very earliest writing we have in the New Testament is a letter from The Apostle Paul, written around the year of 35 AD.
The earliest Gospel we have is attributed to Mark.  The Gospel of Mark was most probably published around the year of 50 AD. 
In the past 60 years, many other documents have been discovered that date back to the very first decades after Jesus’ death.
When we read these documents looking for what they say about the birth of Jesus, we discover one thing in common. 
None of them have anything to say about the birth of Jesus.  Nothing.
It simply was not important to them.

A strong vocal faction of early believers thought it was just plain wrong to celebrate Jesus’ birthday – because that was too much like the world around them did when they celebrated the birthdays of the pagan gods, the Caesars and the Pharaohs.

But, there appeared a major debate in the middle of the third century.
Whether or not we would celebrate it, it would be nice to know when Jesus was born. 
So the speculation began. 
After a careful study of scripture, one prominent theologian of the third century calculated the birth date of Jesus must be May 20 [Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215)]
The debate began.  Others calculated that it must have been  April 18,
others thought it was April 19, and
still others were fairly certain it was  May 28.
One of the leaders of a powerful faction thought Jesus’ birthday should be remembered as
January 2 [Hippolytus (c.170-c.236)]
Others calculated it to be November 17,
others November 20, and
some, March 25.
And, so it went. 
It took over 300 years for the church leaders to agree on a date of December 25 to recognize as the birthday of Jesus.

And, even at that point, the believers were at odds with the culture around them.
Most of the world already celebrated major festivals on December 25:
the natalis solis invicti (the Roman "birth of the unconquered sun"),
and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness" whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers.
The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier.
There were a lot of major celebrations going on at this time of year in most of the cultures of the world – and they had nothing to do with the church.
So, many believers thought it would be most inappropriate to celebrate Christmas at all.

And, in fact throughout history, there are long periods of years when nobody celebrated Christmas at all.
But, Christians have always had an uncanny ability to find ways to celebrate. 
And, in almost every culture where Christians found themselves, they appropriated local events and customs and made them their own.
And, oftentimes there were movements that would spring up to convince believers they should not participate in the cultural seasonal festivities –
sometimes by trying to convince people to remember the reason for the season,
sometimes by campaigning to put Christ back in Christmas,
sometimes by actually passing laws to ban Christmas celebrations altogether!

Imagine that, outlawing Christmas!
In the seventeen century, you may recall, Christian religious zealots took over the government of England. 
Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan Party actually passed legislation that outlawed Christmas. 
To them Christmas had become a time for lavish and raucous celebration and behavior and commercial exploitation – sound familiar? 
So, that was it. 
Plain and simple.
No more Christmas. 
(Sounds like a Dr. Zeus story, doesn’t it?)

And, it gets stranger. 
The people were outraged.
There was rioting in the streets.
Secret Christmas celebrations broke out all over England.
But, Oliver Cromwell retaliated.
Parliament decreed penalties of imprisonment for anyone caught celebrating Christmas.
Imagine that!
Being rounded up and being put in jail because you dared to celebrate Christmas!

Each year the “Christmas Police” would go through the streets a few days before Christmas warning people against celebrating Christmas. 
Businesses were not to be closed during the day  and there were to be no displays of Christmas decorations.

They went around and broke up any sign of Christmas celebration with force of arms. 

And the people rose up.
And the jails filled to overflowing.

The people would not be denied.
They took to the ballot box and voted the Puritans out of power.
Christmas was back.
The very idea. 
Outlawing Christmas.

Meanwhile, over here in the new country, the zealots persisted. 
Christmas was outlawed and not celebrated in many colonies for years. 
In fact, Christmas remained illegal in Massachusetts until sometime after 1850!

So, there is nothing new here. 
It seems that ever since day one, there was some controversy between what the church thought should be remembered and celebrated
and what and how the world around them celebrated.

Recognizing this historical reality doesn’t really do much to ease the conflict today, does it?
Christmas is celebrated in public schools without singing Christmas songs or telling Christmas stories.
All kinds of merchants appropriate seasonal music and messages to sell their products.
And fa-la-las are sung in synch with cash registers.

And, as it so often happened in the past, today the Christmas of the church gets short-shrift in our celebrations.
For the church, Christmas celebrates one of the most fundamental of beliefs – what is called incarnation. 
Specifically, the incarnation of God – that is, literally, God in the flesh. 
What we also call Emmanuel – God is with us!

The profoundness of this message is shown in the beginning words of the Gospel of John:
this is a time to recall that God existed before time began –
and all things that are and that ever will be were brought into existence by God. 
God is described as the eternal logos – the Word with a capital W. 
And John reminds us that this eternal logos, this Word, this God,
came into the world with flesh and blood –
bridged the gap – came to be one of us – came to live with us. 
And that is Emmanuel means.
God is with us. 
– a profound statement, to be sure.

At this time of year we take time to hear that God is no longer “other”,
God is no longer “out there”,
God is no longer to be appeased with sacred rites and sacrifices,
God is no longer relegated to the realm of religion – apart from where we live and work and play.

So, I am kind of on a personal crusade to never slough over the essential message of the season – the reason we in the church have celebrated the season for so long. 
Because, this is the only place that this message will be proclaimed this year –
you won’t hear it in the schoolroom,
you won’t hear it on television,
you won’t hear it on the radio,
you won’t read about it in the newspaper or magazines,
you won’t hear Rush Limbaugh talking about it,
you won’t hear Charlie Rose talking about it,
you won’t hear Oprah talking about it,
you are not likely to hear your neighbor or friend talking about it.

The bottom line is this:
however touching they are to our heartstrings,
however much we love to hear them and to sing about them,
however much we enjoy the feelings prevalent this time of year,
the birth stories are not really about the baby Jesus.

The birth stories are told and remembered because of the adult Jesus –
and what people experienced with him during his earthly ministry,
and what people experienced because of him after his death –
and what people have experienced through him through the ages,
and what people continue to experience with him day and day out. 

For me, at its essence, Christmas is really about Emmanuel. 
That Hebrew word that means “God With Us”.  
For all those early Christians,
for all those writers of faith documents for their communities,
this word reflects what they affirmed had happened in this man from Nazareth –
what they continued to experience long after he had gone –
that Jehovah –
the great I Am –
God Almighty –
Creator of the Universe and all the worlds that are –
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob –
the One God of the faith of our fathers and mothers –
deigned to enter our world and become as we are
to let us know there is no separation now from holy and mundane,
from sacred and profane,
from work and ritual.
No. 
In this man from Nazareth, we see Emmanuel! 
Through this man of Nazareth, we know Emmanuel.
With this man of Nazareth, we experience Emmanuel.
God is With Us.
That’s what we hear.
God is with us.
That’s what we sing.
God is with us.
That’s what we believe.
God is with us.
That’s what we celebrate.
Each and every year at Christmas.
Each and every week in worship.
Each and every morning when we get up.

Emmanuel!  This Christmas.
Emmanuel!  All year long!
Emmanuel!  Every minute of every hour of every day of your life!

We have a story to tell.
We need to find significant ways to celebrate the incarnation and the revelation of this one we call Emmanuel – Jesus our Christ.

Somehow, we have allowed non-Christians to take over our territory, our message, our celebration.
We should be the ones known for partying.
We should be the ones known for celebrating.
We are, really, the only ones that have anything worth celebrating, don’t you think?

This year, let us – you and me – be the ones to tell the stories, to tell the news.
Let everyone who lives shout and sing!
Our God is great and lives among his people!
Emmanuel!  Amen.

This sermon was shared with the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, December 6, 2009, by the Reverend Clyde E. Griffith.

This Christmas, Experience the Holy.

 

This Christmas, Experience the Holy.

It happens . . . find out how.

Visit a local Christian church this Sunday - and every Sunday between now and Christmas.

Eleven years ago, I wrote:

"The painting depicted in this card has mean so much to Suzanne and me as illustrative of basic theological understanding, that we wish to share this copy with you this Christmas season.

Upon my first encounter with the painting 'The Annunciation' by Henry Tanner, I was overwhelmed. Located in the Philadelphia Musuem of Art, the six foot by five foot size of this work is in itself compelling. The intense and unusual colors and the fine detail stood out vividly to me at first sight. Of course, I knew that The Annunciation illustrates the visit of angel Gabriel to Mary, mother of Jesus, and has been a popular subject for many painters through the years.

This particularly unique painting depicts Mary as, I suspect she really was - a young peasant girl in ragged clothing in a small square, drab room with a single bed and rumpled bed clothes. Additionaly, this painting is meaningful to us because of the manner in which the artist depicts the angel Gabriel. It is the only one that I have seen to picture Gabriel in this manner - as a shaft of light that appears to shine off the canvass and illuminate the entire section of the gallery.

I remember thinking, 'Yes! This artist has it right! He understands about angels.'

Quite often, painters anthropomorphize angels and give them the appearance of a human being, with a pale and eerily unearthly countenance and with wings. But, this artist reflects Mary's encounter with the angel as a shaft of light - a breach of the fabric that separates the mundane from the holy - a crack in the cosmic egg which we humans construct to keep the holy away from our everyday lives."

My wish for you this year is the same as it was 11 years ago:

"May you meet each of your days with expectation and openness to experience th in-breaking of the holy whenever and wherever it occurs."

Clyde Griffith, Tulsa, Oklahoma, November 30, 2019.

Anti-abortion is Anti-Christian

I am sick and tired of hearing the pious and sanctimonious language of the anti-abortion people.  They say they are "standing up" for the unborn as if it were a "religious" act.  It may be a religious act somehow in some way for someone somewhere - But, it is NOT a Christian Act.  And, it is nowhere close to being pro-life. Nowhere, not once, does our Lord even hint at a concern for a zygote.
Jesus spoke against the pious practices and sanctimonious  language of believers of his day.  And he was very clear about the defining characteristic of believers was/is doing and caring for others - our neighbors near and far.
It is about recognizing the divine in the other - deserving respect and dignity and worth - regardless of gender.
Anti-abortion people are on the wrong side of the faith issue here. I don't care how many encyclicals and papers a Pope may promulgate, women are people with divine intinction with inalienable rights and significance.
Our book of faith is full of examples of pious and sanctimonious people who are brought low for their devaluation of life and faith by their actions.
Being anti-abortion is NOT a Christian act.
Clyde E. Griffith

About Children in Worship

One of the reasons I am so slow in going through 55 years of stuff to "downsize", is that keep stopping to read something that I have written. When I came across this from 2008, I thought more folks should have seen this than did. It is a simple message about a simple reaction from a simple pastor as I attempted to address a teaching moment.

What do you think?

Wasn't it great to see so many children in Church on Easter?

They added a certain “aliveness" to the event, didn't they?

The parents that brought the children cannot possibly know what delight they gave to the rest of us.

For us, the whole experience was one of “anticipation of the unexpected" — certainly an appropriate feeling for Easter celebration.

I began to see again that Jesus' words, "Let The little children come to me," were not idle chit chat.

"Unless you can see the world as this child sees if, you don't understand yet".

Those kids do not come with an understanding of the solemness of our assemblies, 

or the somberness of our “celebration”,

or the soberness of our church visages.

They do not come with an innate understanding of what it means to be one of Gods Frozen Chosen.

No, they come as who they are:

nascent beings full of wonder and openness to all they encounter.

Miracles are expected and routine to them.

Thankfulness is a reality and grace a daily experience.

If they heard our Easter story at all, they understood.

[And they might ask of us, "Why do you think it such an unusual story?"]

Just for them to be here among so many people - most of whom they have never seen before -

in such a large room,

with such strange sounds coming from the organ,

with everyone in the room trying to out-sing the others,

and observing the antics of that white-headed man with a beard in a swishing black robe up front are experiences they will have no where else.

It may actually be good for them to be there to experience the acceptance and interest of so many people at once — and perhaps to pick up on the natural rhythms of the worship service that we may tend to overlook.

We say, Christ Church is kid-friendly.

Just as important as what the kids may experience here is what they bring to us and our worship:

The openness.

The spontaneity.

The ability to coo and grin and laugh at will.

The sense of wonder and delight.

The inability to hold grudges.

The trust.

I feel the children enhance our worship experience - they do not distract from it.

Let us encourage parents to bring their children.

Let them never receive any messages that we do not approve.

But, let us thank the parents for bringing their children.

And let the children know that we are glad that they are there.

Let us welcome the children in real ways.

Let them know they are family, and that we care about them.

(Perhaps we should send birthday cards and notes.)

One of our young parents, Adam Castner, looked around one Sunday and noted words to the effect: “You know it looks like we are doing a pretty good job of starting awhole new church here."

On Easter Sunday there were probably half a dozen children under the age of two - and at least two more on the way.

Most of us know it is not easy to get a child ready on Sunday morning to go to church. So, kudos to those parents who do.

Hopefully, our service is pertinent to the daily experiences of the parents - and as more children come on a more regular basis we can begin to integrate worship elements that will be more meaningful to them as well.

Bring on the children!

Remember Jesus said “When you welcome one of these children because of me, you welcome me.”

It is important to Jesus.

It is important to us.

See you in church,

The Eleventh Day of Christmas

"Waiting for the Three Wise Men"

by Lee Kaercher

The 8th Day of Christmas: A Day the Lord Has Made

It’s a good thing we begin a new year every year about this time, don’t you think?

If properly approached, the beginning of a new year can be beneficial to our psyche,
beneficial to our health, and beneficial to our soul.

However, as the years go by, Father Time becomes more of a caricature, and we pay less and less attention to the intention  of the season, don’t we?

Without the fol-de-rol of late night parties, New year’s Eve is of little importance to the on-going nature of our lives. 
We have no ceremony for this time of year, when a youngster may ask, “Why is this night, of all nights, important to us?” 

But, maybe we should. 
For this could be a teaching moment for all of us.

As I have noted before, most of us carry around way too much baggage.  We tend to tote pounds and pounds of grudges, animosity, resentment, and revenge, don’t we?
 
And, we know it’s unhealthy. 
Doctors tell us. 
Ministers tell us. 
Researchers tell us. 
Some friends tell us. 
Our blood pressure is affected. 
Our cholesterol is affected. 


Our heart rate is affected. 
Our mood is affected. 
Our relationships are affected. 
Our outlook is affected. 
Our immune system is affected. 
We become more prone to disease. 
We become more prone to mental disorder. 
We become more prone to grumpiness. 
And, our life is not what it could be. 
Our life is not what it should be. 
Our life is not what it is promised to be.

Dr. Bernie Siegel reminds us that there seems to be an innate desire in all humans to be reborn, to start again,
to make resolutions and changes we can live up to.

He notes that he sees evidence of this deep seeded desire
“every day in my role as a physician:
People learn they have a limited time to live, and they start their New Year behavior.
They move, change jobs, spend more time with those they love, stop worrying about what everyone else thinks of them, and start to celebrate their life. They are grateful for the time they have to enjoy life and they stop whining about what they wish had happened during the past year.”

So, he notes: we don’t need to wait for that one certain day of the year.

Dr. Siegel suggests that everyday can be the beginning of a new year.
When every evening is New Year’s Eve and every day you awaken is New Year’s Day, you are living life as it was intended.

For me, this is the message of the new year. 

As Paul reminds us in Colossians, it is time to put to death old attitudes and agendas.

Then, the new year has meaning.  
Then, the new life we are promised is closer to being fulfilled.

In this way, we nurture our soul. 
And, when our soul is tended, our health is better and our future is brighter.  
Then, and only then, can we truly welcome the new year and the days ahead. 
We know them to be the fulfillment of God’s time.

This is the day the Lord has made. 

When every evening is New Year’s Eve and every day you awaken is New Year’s Day, you are living life as it was intended.