The Son of God was born as an outcast in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God.

 

CHRISTMAS 2022

 “Keep Christ in Christmas.”    This is a very familiar Christmas mantra.

My question for our prayer today is: “What about Christ are we keeping in Christmas?”  I suggest that Bethlehem crib is a school where Jesus chooses to teach a lot of lessons.

The first lesson Jesus teaches us that we need to keep in Christmas the humility and simplicity of his birth in the Bethlehem crib. It is not insignificant that the Son of God chooses to come into the world in a stable in the tiny town of Bethlehem.   Do our exterior Christmas decorations obscure how we are to discover the presence of Christ in our lives in 2022?   Do we pay as much attention to the simplicity of the Bethlehem crib as we do to the impressiveness of our Christmas trees?  Are we able to get in touch with the simple, the ordinary, the humble moments of our day and to know in that simplicity we will best discover the Bethlehem crib in our lives? 

Let us ask ourselves: can we accept God’s way of doing things? This is the challenge of Christmas: God reveals himself, but men and women fail to understand. He makes himself little in the eyes of the world, while we continue to seek grandeur in the eyes of the world, perhaps even in his name. God lowers himself and we try to become great. The Most High goes in search of shepherds, the unseen in our midst, and we look for visibility, to be seen. Jesus is born in order to serve, and we spend a lifetime pursuing success. God does not seek power and might; he asks for tender love and interior littleness. 

 

A second lesson:  we need to keep in Christmas the message that all are welcome at the Bethlehem crib.  What is the housing situation in the inn of your own heart?  Is there room in the inn of your heart for the family member for whom you have difficulty getting along with?  Is there room in the inn of your heart for people who think differently than you -- politically, religiously, or in any way whatsoever?  Is there room in the inn of our hearts for Jesus who lives in the hearts of the poor, the immigrants, and children of all cultures and of all ways of life?    How many people in our world today experience “no room in the inn” because of race, color, religion, gender, or sexuality?  The Son of God was born an as an outcast in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God.

This Christmas, Jesus is still looking for shelter in your heart.

Third lesson:  The mystery of Christmas happens for us when we connect the story of our lives with the story of Christmas.  Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus.  The Christmas message is the story of God’s unconditional love for us.  As his disciples we are to fill this world with many other stories that mirror and give witness to God’s love for us.  That is the meaning and wonder of the Incarnation.  Keeping Christ in Christmas happens when we are to be immersed in the merciful love of Jesus.

It also means that Christmas is to be found in the presence of Jesus among us and in our love for one another.  The story of Bethlehem points to a vision of hope, one that relies not on the exercise of military power but an on appeal to the common instincts of the human heart.  These common instincts of the human heart are very spiritual – a spirit of peace, a spirit of joy, a spirit of family, a spirit of love, the spirit of Christmas

The real meaning of Christmas is that God is with us.  In the inn of our own hearts, there is an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. 

Yes, we are celebrating the birth of Christ to Mary and Joseph in the Bethlehem crib.  But even the fact of celebrating his birth, is that enough?  As we celebrate Christmas in 2022, Christmas is not simply about Mary and Joseph and the baby.  It is about God becoming part of our daily struggle, transforming the world through us. Tonight, love has conquered fear; new hope has arrived.  God’s light has over the darkness.   Celebrating Keeping Christ in Christmas in welcoming the birth of Christ in the inn of our hearts in 2022.

It means also we need to keep in Christmas the compassion and love and joy and the light of Christ that shines through all the dark places of life, transforming the world through us.  We are the people who walk in darkness – the darkness of sin, the darkness of war, the darkness of relationships that are broken, and the

 

 

 

darkness of the threat of violence and terrorism.   The message of Christmas is that Jesus comes for people like us in dark places.  The real, lasting, and deep joy of Christmas is that light shines in the darkness.

We recognize on this Holy Night that even after centuries of knowing Jesus Christ, our world still wanders in darkness.  Even after proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, our hearts are not yet converted completely to Him and our world even less so.  We humans are a broken people and each of us is broken.

Therefore, we are missioned to be the keepers of the mystery of Christmas – God is with us. We give birth to Christ when we allow the light that is within us to extend to our family, and our parish family, and to all of creation.  The Christmas mystery happens when we allow ourselves to be loved by God.

Let us return to Bethlehem.

Yes, we are to keep in Christ in all the ways we welcome God to become part of our daily struggle and to transform these struggles by allowing the love of God into our lives.   we need to keep Christ in Christmas in all the ways we communicate that all are welcome at the Bethlehem crib.  We are to love our neighbor, no exception.  We are to connect our story with the story of Christmas.  We are to keep Christ in Christmas through our faith-filled awareness that God is within us.  In the inn of our hearts, there is infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

 

 

Have a blessed Christmas day.