+In the Name…
The Angel said to the shepherds, “…for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you; you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (St. Luke 2:10-12).
Well, this afternoon at 4:00 pm once again “The Good Shepherd Rosemont Theatre Company and Actors Guild” presented the Annual Children’s Christmas Pageant. We didn’t have live animals as St. David’s Radnor has or a full orchestra in the pit as Radio City Music Hall does, but we had lively human creatures filled with nervousness, potential stage fright, awkwardness, self-consciousness, an appropriate measure of pride, and a myriad of other emotions. I dare not venture into the realm of the parents’ and grandparents’ emotional states of mind. But, it was a grand success, as it is every year by God’s grace, because Wendy Ewing and Stephanie Mahoney were Broadway class directors and the children gave it their best. Smiles were seen on every face; and the children so wonderfully were taken spiritually closer to the reality of the most important event of all times – the Birth of the Son of God, the Word who becomes flesh of the Virgin Mary born in a stable.
At the Pageant’s conclusion, the children placed the incredibly beautiful and delicate figures in the Crèche while I and Father Bayles sweat profusely fearing that one or more of the priceless figures would be dropped or damaged. No such calamity happened – Praise God! The Crèche was blessed. Photos were taken, and the goodwill of this holy season was exchanged amongst those present with hugs, kisses, and tears.
After all left, and before I went to my son and daughter-in-law’s home to enjoy dinner with family, I reflected on what was yet to come – this Solemn Christ Mass of Midnight when amidst the riches of the music and ceremony, I look forward to the moment when I place the Bambino (the figure of the Christ Child) in the Crèche while you all sing “Silent Night.” But beyond that, I thought of the time when after the church is closed down and locked up for the night, I could kneel in silence at the Crèche and pray the words of the prayer placed on the prie dieu: “O Divine Redeemer Jesus Christ, prostrate before thy crib, I believe that thou art the God of infinite majesty, even though I see thee here as a helpless babe. Humbly I adore and thank thee for all thou didst wish to suffer for me in Bethlehem, for thy poverty and humility, for thy nakedness, tears, cold, and sufferings…Fill me with that spirit of renunciation, of poverty, of humility, which prompted thee to assume the weakness of our nature, and to be born amid destitution and suffering. Grant that from this day forward I may in all things seek thy greater glory, and may enjoy that peace promised to men of good will. Who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.”
We are here this evening (and I am so very glad that you are) to worship God, with whom all things are possible. We worship the God who loved and loves us so much that He came amongst us as one of us, as a child, and in the same way that we came into this world.
He could have come in another way to make His presence known among us, and to proclaim that He is Emmanuel – God with us. But He chose to humble Himself, as St. Paul said in his letter to the Philippians, “…emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” for us men and for our salvation. So dearly, dearly does He love us.
Wouldn’t you agree with the words written by a Joseph Bottum in an article in the November, 2008 edition of Touchstone Magazine: “I always felt that the days right before Christmas were a time somehow out of time. Christmas Eve, especially, and the arrival of Christmas itself at Midnight: The hours moved in ways different from their passage in ordinary time, and the sense of impending completion was somehow like a flavor even to the air we breathed”?
Time is different in these days (and especially this evening) because deep within us we sense that something is about to happen and then does happen, that makes everything different. It is in the air; and more so, it is within our hearts. The Golden Legend tells how at the very moment of the Birth of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, there was a momentary pause in all of creation in the whole of the universe, that He through whom all things were made had been born on earth. If you think deeply on this reality, your heart will pause as well in awe and wonder.
Whether we are longing for some type of rest for our hearts, or whether our hearts seem to be fairly much at rest, there is something this evening that touches our hearts. It is the truth of cosmic event that we celebrate – the celebration, the acknowledgement that God came to us as a child; that “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ…”
Father Richard Meux Benson, a priest of the Church of England and the founder of the religious community of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (the Cowley Fathers) once wrote:
“Go to the manger of Bethlehem, behold the child Jesus and worship Him! This child is in all outward respects like any other child…He is in very truth a child as other children are…How truly He took upon Himself the law of human nature. He came not to do anything that was unnatural, or contrary to the nature He assumed. He came to raise that nature to its highest perfection…He is the Word of God who lies thus silent in the manger…The heart that knows that this is the Word of God can indeed fall down before that child to pour itself forth in loving worship, and find itself altogether satisfied.”
We may not be satisfied with or struggling with our relationships, our finances, our country’s political climate, or our church’s struggles; but we can be and are to be satisfied this night with God’s loving action amongst us and for us - for Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled: “For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’’’ (9:6).
So, dear people, who have come into this holy temple where our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving is joined by angels and archangels, let us in the depths of our hearts adore Him!
+In the Name….
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