December 24, 2005 - Christmas Eve Midnight Mass - Father Andrew Green

FIRST READING: Isaiah 9: 2-7
PSALM: 96: 1-6
SECOND READING: Titus 2: 11-14
GOSPEL: Luke 2: 1-20

(Audience participation will be noted in bold print and italics)

I don't know if it seems odd to you, but we have all sorts of excitement surrounding this birth. We just sang the same hymn that the angels sang, but the angels didn't sing it around the birth; they sang it a couple of miles away to a bunch of shepherds. The angelic host wasn't in Bethlehem; the angelic host was in the field. The angel, this day, didn't have a message for Mary or Joseph, or even for Jesus; the angel had a message for the shepherds. Over the hill, and in Bethlehem, that's where the action was, but the people closest to it didn't seem to notice. A whole group of folks, folks who would not necessarily have been invited to any of the parties locally, were the people who were excited. They were the people who were being agitated by the angels, whipping them into a frenzy, where they got themselves over to Bethlehem to see what was there.

And then we have those words, "And Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart".

The Good News of that event is told to us very simply by Titus: "For the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation to all". That's what we celebrate tonight, that the grace of God appeared in an unlikely place, a place where the band didn't even show up for the event. "The grace of God appeared, bringing salvation to all". Now, can you spell that - all?

A - L - L

Bringing salvation to all. This is not some liberal message; this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ - that God's grace appeared to bring salvation to all. The important part to remember about this is that, when you have a Gospel like this that is the beginning of Jesus, it tells us something very important. There is going to be some more homework and more work for us to do after this, but you have to understand that this idea of salvation for all tells us that anybody who doesn't get saved has had to work very hard to escape it; because it is God's intention and God's good pleasure that all should be saved, or else why would the grace of God appear, bringing salvation to . . . .

ALL!

That's why we're here on Christmas Eve, because the grace of God appeared.

Lowly, quietly, unreasonably, beautifully and poetically - if it wasn't for that, would we have all these crèches? No.

But there is work for us. There is something that we need to do when we respond. It says that we are asked to have lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly. That is what we are asked to do. That is how we, as the people to whom salvation has been brought, have been asked to respond.

We are asked to be self-controlled. Aside from me, on days like this, is that something we can or can't do?

To be upright. It means that how we live matters, but we live it in response to the Good News of God, not as a way to figure out the Good News of God.

And godly. Well, first of all, you are all here in Church on Christmas Eve, so you have at least one leg up on godly. But, don't get too smug. Remember, the action this night was happening a couple of miles away from where Jesus was born, so not everybody seemed to have gotten the same message.

It goes on further, saying that our lives are a part of God's life now, and God is raising up a people whom God wants to make zealous for good deeds. Now, you probably don't get many sermons in Episcopal Churches about being people of good deeds, and part of that is because of our Protestant heritage. We are always nervous that, if the words "good deeds" come up, we might think that good deeds are the way you get into heaven. But the letter to Titus here - in this letter, Paul is very clear to us that good deeds are the response of people who are becoming groomed and practiced and rehearsed at living in heaven - people who are zealous.

Now, I am often scared of zealots. I'm scared of people who are zealots about their beliefs. They are zealots because they want to make sure that everybody believes the same things they do. Those kind of zealots often scare me, especially if they don't believe the same thing as me! The ones who believe the same thing as me cause me less heartburn! But the truth is, in the reading from Titus, we are not asked to be zealous about a belief; we are asked to be zealous in caring for other people. This is a message that we need to take to heart, especially at Christmas.

At the early service, Mother Stephanie did a sermon with the children, and she was asking the kids what they liked best about Christmas. And the kids, taking right after their parents - well, what do you think was the first thing that they said that they liked the most about Christmas? Presents! Right! They liked presents, and I don't want to give her full sermon away, but cupcakes figured prominently! The kids didn't seem to be able to figure out any way to deal with righteousness outside of cupcakes to ease them into it.

So, the truth is that, at this time of year, we can very often get focused on presents, and it is not hard for us to be thinking about what we get, or how we are going to go about fulfilling all the social obligations surrounding gifts; but the readings tonight tell us that that is not what we are to be zealous about. We are not to be zealous about gift-giving in a present- and social-exchange sort of way, and we are certainly not to be zealous about receiving them; we are to be zealous about good deeds - about caring for people, and particularly people who are in need.

Think about a year ago this Christmas - the tsunami in southeast Asia - and about hurricanes, earthquakes - there are so many things to remind us of the deep needs, far away and near in our own country. All you have to do is drive down to Baristo and Sunrise, and you can see the great needs that exist in our own community. This is the time of year, not just to make a feast for folks for one day, but to figure out how we identify ourselves as a people - a Christmas people, an Easter people, a people of Jesus Christ - who are zealous to do what we need to do to make sure those conditions change. I am not going to give you an extended sermon about taking care of the homeless, but I do want to say that, when you see that, connect it with what you just heard in the Scripture tonight.

It's God's desire that all of us should be saved. O.K., that's done.

Now, as a saved people, it's God's desire that we should learn to care for others - that we should live self-controlled, disciplined lives, and that we should be upright; that we should be godly, and that the needs of others should figure prominently in the way that we conduct our lives. This does not take away the responsibility of other people for taking care of themselves, too, but it doesn't let us off the hook.

Christmas is the time that we have to attend to all of that, but the real key importance here is that it is not about saying "here is the list of things that you have to do in order for God to love you". This is not about the list that you have to check off as to if I am this or if I am that, God will love me or God will not.

Grace has appeared, bringing salvation to . . .

ALL!

That's us - that's you - that's them - that's the folks with shopping carts in the park at Sunrise and Baristo.

Grace has appeared, bringing salvation to all, so the challenge we have is how do we become a people who are zealous for good deeds? - not zealous for bribing God into loving us, but zealous for living as God's children, learning the lessons that God taught us in Christ, and making sure that those lessons are apparent to every one who is in need. We have the ability to do it, just as we have the ability to live self-controlled lives, to live upright lives, and to live godly lives. Why do we have the ability? Because God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is with us. We have the example of one another to support us, and we have, I hope, a burning desire to be a people zealous for good deeds.

So, I want you to join with me tonight in celebrating that the grace of God has appeared and has brought salvation to all.

Let's be thankful, and let's be deedful as we go out from here tonight, and in the years to come.


AMEN