Christ is born!  Glorify Him!

There is a charge that is often made against the Orthodox Church and Christianity in general that it is not relevant.  That it does not have anything to add to the lives of the modern man or woman that can not be done more efficiently in some other way.  So for instance, they will argue that the socialization benefits of a Christian community can be gained through sports or music, moral instruction can be given by good people in secular institutions like schools, and spiritual growth can take place through fellowship with friends, personal meditation, or even a walk through the park.  When considered this way, is it any wonder that our pews are empty? 

Of course, we can respond to this charge of irrelevancy head on – for example, by trying to make sure that our parish of St. Michael’s offers these things in a way that rivals or surpasses secular institutions.  But if we do this as a parish – if we think this way – then we are missing the point; and if we, as individuals, find ourselves thinking in this way [i.e. thinking of Church as just one of the many things we do], then we are no longer walking the Christian path to perfection and are unlikely to enjoy the true benefits of our relationship with God and His Church.  We are unlikely to enjoy “church” any more than people who evaluate and compare their marriages to relations they have (or could have) with other people are really going to enjoy the benefits of their union with their husbands and wives.  For married men and women, the way to a more perfect and joyful union with their spouses is to recognize the special role their husbands and wives play in their lives, to immerse themselves in selfless devotion, and to recognize that no other relationships can ever be allowed to replace – or even compete with – the union between husband and wife.  Married men and women must recognize that no relationship that is not compatible with a chaste marital union can even be considered, much less entertained or embraced.   Of course, a happy marriage can serve to bless and increase the joy we have with friends, families, and coworkers, - and this joy can certainly reciprocate back into the marriages themselves - ; but the commitment to the marital union should never be supplanted or undermined.  Thinking of marriage as just another relationship won’t just suck the joy out it, it will keep people from enjoying the sanctifying grace of every relationship.  They all become transactions or short term fixes, valuable only for their superficial benefits.  Life becomes empty and dead, a series of events that will – at best – only distract us from our emptiness.  The bottom line is that married men and women need to enjoy the Mystery of their Sacramental Union in order to enjoy everything else.

But as with St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians: I am not really speaking of marriage, but of the Church.

The huge number of divorces, unhealthy marriages, and the ubiquity of fornication and cohabitation throughout this country show that we have missed the point about marriage.  Declining Church attendance and the growing number of people who are completely apathetic about what our society refers to as “organized religion” shows that we have missed the point about Christ and Orthodox Christianity.  Well, having spent time in many bureaucratic organizations, I can tell you that there is nothing “organized” about Orthodoxy  and that there is no replacement for the Christian life to be found in the mundane, secular world.  If we turn our parishes into organizations that simply offer religious and spiritual services to the community; if we allow ourselves to treat Christianity as just one of the things we do; then we are wasting our time. 

None of us have time to waste, and I have no intention of wasting my own or yours.  That is not why you are here today, and it is not why I gave up a successful career to serve as your priest.  Much more importantly – and this is the point of today’s lesson – , it is not why God emptied Himself to become a babe in Bethlehem.

Today is the Nativity.  If we take this opportunity – away from all the distractions of this world – to allow the great mystery of the event we are celebrating to penetrate our minds and hearts, it will transform our membership in this community from a pleasant obligation, to a life-changing and deifying blessing.

So let’s take a moment to unwrap this “Christmas gift”:  why is it that you like Christmas?  Why do you look forward to it?  Children will tell you that it is the excitement of exchanging of gifts that they love the most; others will tell you how much they enjoy time with family, and how Christmas dinners help us reconnect with each other and with the fond memories of times gone by; others will share their great fondness for their cultural traditions: things like Svyatyy Vechir, caroling, advent wreaths, and midnight masses; others enjoy the food – especially coming as it does at the end of forty days of vegan fasting; all of us enjoy the music. 

These are all beautiful things, and it is a sign of a healthy culture that such things are associated with the Holy Day of Nativity.  All of these things are nice on their own – we exchange gifts at birthdays, spend time together with family at Thanksgiving, sing songs and enjoy our cultural heritages at weddings; and so on.  You can have all these activities without Christ and without Christmas.  But all these things – the gifts, the music, the culture, the time together - take on a special and deeper meaning – they truly flourish – when they grow out of the deeper roots of a Christian life and Christian worship.

Before I was blessed to come here and serve full-time, I remember how Monday morning conversations at work were about one of two things: “did you see the game”  and “so… what did you do this weekend”.  The answers were predicable after a while, and, given that we were all boring suburban bureaucrats, generally pretty dull.  So one day, I decided to change things up a bit.  After everyone else in our lunch group had shared the fun they had had grilling out, or going to visit the in-laws, or painting the house, they finally asked me.  We were close, so I knew I could tell the truth.  I put on my best “awe shucks” smile then said something like this; “well, we went out to the mall on Saturday so we could buy some new socks at Target… then on Sunday I served in the Holy of Holies and called upon the Holy Spirit to change the bread and wine on the altar in into the Body and Blood of the Living God.  Then I took that Body and Blood and shared it with everyone who came forward so that we could all become perfected in Christ.”   They appreciated the irony for a minute, then we soon started talking about the normal stuff like the utility of always wearing black socks and which stores had the best selection of them.

When you think about Christmas, it is fine to remember the many wonderful activities that go with it; just as it is fine to appreciate the many practical benefits of parish membership and married life.  But if Christ is not the center of our marriage, then it will eventually become tedious; and if Christ is not the center of our parish, we will lose people to places that offer better activities; and if Christ is not the focus of the Nativity, then we are missing the point of everything.

God, the only One who ever brought anything out of nothing, who created this world and everything in it; the one cannot be praised enough to match even a fraction of the Glory He is due; the One who was begotten into perfection before time itself; looked on us in love; He saw mankind’s suffering; He saw YOUR suffering; He saw how mankind groaned in agony and loneliness; He saw how YOU groan in agony and loneliness; and He lowered Himself; He emptied Himself; He gave up the glory that is His due; He did this to take on flesh and save mankind from agony and loneliness; to take on flesh and save YOU from agony and loneliness.

This is the mystery of Christmas; eternal, perfect and unboundable God; Incarnate in Bethlehem for the salvation of mankind.  God living as flesh and blood in the manger two thousand years ago – and His eternal and life giving Flash and Blood here on this altar today.  Contemplate this Mystery.  Allow it to penetrate your mind, your heart, and your body.   Let it change your life.

Christ is born!  Glorify Him!