The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith
The Long Loving Gaze of God
What are you seeking? What
has brought you here tonight? For many, we have been brought up to have, as
part of our Christmas tradition, a trip to church. We come to hear the music,
sing the carols, see the candles, commune with the holy on this most holy day.
There are others this
Christmas who will go to church for the first time or for the first time in
long time. We come here tonight perhaps seeking different things. God welcomes
all of us to this celebration of God’s love for us – God’s love beyond
understanding. That’s what great about
Christmas, in many ways, it’s not about understanding but about enjoying, and
sharing in, the mystery of it all.
For children who are now old
enough to comprehend the significance of Christmas, beyond the gifts to be had,
they come open to the mystery and maybe wondering what it all means. We can
learn from children, as Jesus taught, to be open to the possibilities. For the
older ones of us, we come with memories of many Christmas celebrations. For the
one unfamiliar with the faith, he or she comes perhaps with hope for new
meaning and connection or perhaps with doubts and questions—and of course a mix
of emotions and attitudes is not unusual.
We seek God in all our
different ways. God meets us here tonight where we are in our lives, as we are.
God’s desire to be close to you is what Christmas is all about. And because God
comes into our world and into our lives as one of us,
to be with each of us,
what you seek tonight,
as it relates to your relationship with God,
is
exactly what God desires to give you.
The message of Christmas is
for everyone, in whatever state of mind we find ourselves.
We seek many things; God
seeks us. God entered the world taking human form because God could not
stand to be distant from us – from you. This news is as amazing today as it was
with first announced. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see--
I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will
be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in
a manger."
To you is born this day a
Savior. What are the signs for us?
What shows this great light
of which Isaiah speaks?
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great
light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness--
on them light has
shined.
There is plenty of bad news
in the world – plenty of darkness to go around. There are times when we feel
that we are walking in the darkness. How is the light of Christ known to us
this Christmas?
We can speak using
theological language all night long and maybe miss what truly touches us at
Christmas. God works through the people and circumstances of our lives to be
known to us. When we start first with what is going on in our lives and ask
“where is God in that” we can learn a lot about just what the incarnation
means.
So what is going on in our
lives? What are we experiencing this Christmas? I invited members and friends of
the parish to share their thoughts, your thoughts, with me about Christmas, by answering
the question: “What does Christmas mean to you?” The reflections I received, are
for me, signs of the Light which has come into our world. Several themes stood
out in your thoughts about Christmas.
Like many in our world today,
we place great value on family and friends during this time. The recent
financial troubles have reminded us of the uncertainties of life – and helped
many to focus all the more on what is most important. Being with each other has
greater value than any material possession we could ever have. We meet Christ
in each other. Christmas and the Christian faith is really all about
connections – connections with have with each other and with God.
At the same time, for many of
us, thinking about what someone would really like for a gift this Christmas,
and giving it, is joyful, and about much more than the gift itself. We like to
give to others. Christmas provides an opportunity to give in loving ways. We
give to our friends and family, but we also are inspired at Christmas to reach
out to strangers in need – helping them byproviding food and necessities, and
maybe a few things they don’t need just for the joy of it. We reach out also to
let them know that all are children of God and worthy of respect. Jesus was born
for everyone.
Many find that they are more
open to God during Christmas. The things of the season, the music, the lights,
the decorations, the Christmas trees, bring people close to God. One person
mentioned that there are twelve days of Christmas and that all twelve are
important for the time and space given to ponder in our hearts, like Mary, what
Christmas is really about for us and for all. We also have a sense that we want
to keep the Christmas spirit alive all year long – hoping that what we experience
on Christmas will be our guiding light throughout the year. When we look around
this Christmas with the eyes of faith, we see so much that speaks to us of
God’s love in the world. Christmas is about God’s love breaking into the world
in away that brings light and life to all.
Christmas is a time
when many think about how they can let God in – how they can be open to the
Christmas promise that God seeks our companionship at all times and in all
places. Recently I was reading about icons and how praying with images of Jesus
is a way to let God in.I was struck by the thought that Christmas itself is
like an icon.
In his book Becoming
Christ, Brian Taylor describes the sort of communion we can have with Jesus
by praying with an icon. An icon is an artistic representation of Jesus, and
Taylor notes that in most icons Jesus is looking right at us. His gaze is
intense and focused on you and me when we are praying with the icon. We can
gaze into Jesus’ eyes using an icon – Taylor states that “an icon is meant to
function as a window, through which the one who prays before it may be taken
into Jesus’ real presence (Brian C. Taylor, Becoming
Chrsit: Transformation Through Contemplation, Cowley: Cambridge Mass.,
2002, p. 82).” Christmas is like an icon for us. Christmas is like a window for
us, enabling us to know God more fully at all times of the year.
Christmas enables us to gaze
at Jesus – to rest in the presence of the God on this holy day. It is hard to
put into words the feeling of Christmas. When we kneel to sing silent night
with the candles giving us light, we are there with Jesus at his birth. We
express our love for God’s great gift to us.
When praying with an icon,
one can have a sense of Jesus entering our lives – as we look into his eyes, he
looks into ours. Meeting us where we are, this encounter with Christ can be
either restful or energizing or more intense than we think we can bare. Taylor
states that when we pray in faith before an icon, our spiritual gaze penetrates
through the icon to Jesus’ actual presence. But Christ’s gaze also penetrates
us. His life enters into ours.
Christmas is not only our way
of gazing upon God; it is God’s way of gazing upon us. Christmas penetrates us
in ways that connect us with God in a way few occasions do. Christmas is God’s
long loving look deep into who we are. So much so that God enters our life as
one of us.
The carols we sing at
Christmas put our theology to music and touch our souls in ways that only music
can—singing these words we say “yes” to the promise and the gift of Christmas.
“Oh come let us adore him.” We have come here tonight to rest in the mystery of
it all. We have come to adore him, Christ our Lord. We come to hear again the
announcement of the angels and commune with our Savior, celebrating his birth. We
are here today because God adores us. Christmas is God’s long loving gaze into
our world and into our hearts. Amen.