(A service of lessons and carols based on the hymn From Heaven Above)
Grace and peace to you from God, whose love for us is born this day and every day in Jesus the Christ. Amen.
I like puzzles….crossword puzzles, and word searches and riddles. I’m not particularly good at them, but there is something very gratifying in that “Aha!” moment, when the answer to 4 down comes to you. As our bulletin noted today, this wonderful hymn of Martin Luther’s “From Heaven Above” is a riddle or a puzzle. Between the words of the angels and the reflections and prayers that follow them, we are answering questions about who Jesus is.
There are five questions that we asked in our liturgy today:
Who are these angels come to earth?
Who are these shepherds who run to see?
Who is this child so small, so slight?
Who is this King a Manger his Throne?
Who is this God, who sends a Son?
And of course, our answers come to us from the words of Scripture, words both mysterious and familiar.
In an age of scientific and technological wonders, we are not very comfortable with puzzles or riddles much less mystery. We seek to understand and explain how all of life happens. We master technology, as the saying goes, so that it does not master us. Each morning I can log onto a computer screen and instantly connect with a community I have assembled on Facebook. I can keep up with the lives of folks from my entire lifetime and they can do the same. I can email instantaneously and receive an instant response. From my phone. I can talk to my son in Nepal on Christmas morning as though he were just down the street. It’s wondrous, but it’s not very mysterious.
What we come here to celebrate and ponder on this Christmas morning is the mystery of the Word made flesh. The mystery of how God….who created and established both the heavens and the earth. How God, would and could come to dwell among us as a tiny child.
There is much about this that is beyond our understanding, beyond our comprehension. We cannot create an app for the Incarnation. It is beyond knowing and yet is the One by whom we are most intimately known and most lavishly loved.
And I think when it comes right down to it, this is what is the most mysterious thing of all. That God would take on flesh in order to love and save us. That God would be born in humble estate and in lowly manger just out of sheer love for us.
Angels sing. Shepherds tremble. Magi seek. And we wonder. Who is this Emmanuel…this God, who is with us?
Luke’s Gospel describes a tiny child. But the writer of John’s Gospel describes a savior who is Word and who is light. This is truly where mystery lies. We can understand and explain and experience a baby. But words and light are both things we have not tamed. Word existing before all things and bringing into being all things. Light, returning daily. Light for all people that ultimately is not overwhelmed or overcome by dark places.
Who is this God, come to earth? Mystery. Word before all things. Light in the darkness. Born to us this day.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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