“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” These are the opening words that we hear from the prophet Isaiah at our Christmas eve mass this evening. The light of Christ shining in the darkness of night is such a powerful image for us in the midst of the darkness and coldness of winter. We just marked the Winter Solstice on December 21, the day with the shortest amount of daylight in the year. So, yes, the image of Jesus shining in the midst of the darkness is very real for us this time of the year. We see Christmas through our own eyes, and that perspective can vary greatly. Think of Christmas through the eyes of a child, giving and receiving presents, Christmas cookies and special treats, beautifully decorated Christmas trees, lights and garland, a glorious, glimmering season. Then, earlier this week, we celebrated Christmas with the residents of the Traceway retirement community, remembering friends and family members who are sick or who have passed away, enjoying familiar Christmas treats and hearing Christmas carols, thinking of memories of so many Christmas celebrations with family and loved ones. Today, we hear the Gospel of Luke’s description of Jesus birth, probably the Scripture passage we associate with Christ’s birth, of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem from their hometown of Nazareth, of going from place to place but finding nowhere to stay, of Jesus being born in a humble manger, of the angels proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s birth to the humble shepherd while they were watching over their flock.
Not only do we have our own eyes through which we see Christmas, not only do we have the account from Luke, but the other three Gospels give three very different perspectives as well. The Gospel of Mark does not even mention the birth of Jesus, but rather starts out with Jesus and John the Baptist as adults, with John baptizing Jesus and the people of Ancient Israel in the Jordan River, preparing the way for the Lord. Tomorrow morning, if you make it to our 10:30 am mass, you will hear the beginning of John’s Gospel. Rather than mentioning angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and the three Magi, John gives us a very mystical, poetic image of Jesus as the Word of God that existed at the beginning, as the Word that gives light and life to all of creation.
Yes, we all bring our own perspective to the Christmas story. Back on Christmas eve in 1992, I was serving as a missionary in Winnipeg, Canada. I had arrived in October of that year to serve as a missionary working in a soup kitchen and a food bank in the inner city of this large Canadian city. When I arrived in October, Winnipeg had already had its first snowfall. It was a cold and dark winter already by the time Christmas rolled into town. I was serving in a ecumenical missionary group whose main sponsor was the Mennonite Church. The pastor of the local Mennonite congregation that sponsored us as missionaries asked me to speak at the Christmas eve church service as to how I experienced Christ the light in my life. In fact, I remember so clearly that when I road my bicycle to the church service that evening, it was 40 degrees below zero - actual temperature - without the wind chill. As I thought about and prayed about how I saw Christ the light in my life, I reflected upon how I saw the light of Christ in the people we served at the soup kitchen, not only in their struggles and their challenges that I saw being united to the cross of Christ, but also in the sense of community that they street people had when they came to the soup kitchen. I remember serving a Christmas meal to them that first year I was there, feeling a deep sense of community and belonging and service to the people of God. The two years I spent working at the soup kitchen and food bank in Winnipeg have influenced the rest of my life and my priesthood in a major way. Those are very wonderful memories of Christmas and of Christ as a light shining in the darkness.
Joseph and Mary had a hard time finding a place to stay when they arrived in Bethlehem. This journey of trying to find lodging is represented in the Hispanic tradition of the posadas that we celebrate each Advent season in our Hispanic community here at St James. The Hispanic community celebrates a novena, nine days in a row in which we pray the rosary and we recreate the lives of Mary and Joseph right before the birth of Jesus. Each night we had more than 100 people attending, with many families and young children, passing down this wonderful Advent and Christmas tradition and preparing a place in our heart for Jesus to reside.
One tradition that St James has had for Christmas is the Care Tree, of giving to families in our parish and throughout the community. For the second year in a row, one of biggest Care Tree contributions has been to Dismas House, a transitional facility here in Tupelo for federal prisoners who are preparing to go back to the free world. All of you, our very generous parishioners, contributed so much to help those in need. And we thank you for that. Whether you are a regular parishioner here, or a visitor or someone that just comes every once in a while, we want you to be a part of our mission and ministry here at St James. We have a lot going on in this very active, welcoming parish, and we want you to be a part of it.
We will journey with Jesus in a special way through the Christmas season these next couple of weeks. Next weekend we celebrate the New Year and Mary, the Mother of God. The weekend after that we celebrate the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus. As the Angels sing tonight, as Mary and Joseph welcome their newborn baby, as the shepherd hear of God’s Good News, let us rejoice at the presence of Christ the light with us. Let us see that light. Let us be that light.
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