“Same story, different town.” This is my first Christmas at Johnson Memorial, but, after more than twenty-five years in ministry, I find myself telling the same stories again and again. During this season, I have lots of family memories: there was the time my little cousin cried on Christmas eve because bigger people had “blocked her view” and that was the only reason she couldn’t see Santa’s reindeer in the sky, the December day when my aunt held a new baby boy and cried her thanks to God, because she was dying and had feared that she would not live to see him born, the time we all went to church and came home to find Barbies and Lincoln Logs piled in front of our tree and the dog running circles, barking for joy….there was that December Sunday morning when my family’s general store burned to the ground, and the volunteer firefighters were late because they had been in church, but we all held hands and prayed in the ashes. Light and darkness, joys and tears, all mixed together, overflowing.
As a pastor, I used to worry about how to tell the ancient stories of our faith in a new way, and especially this story—-the birth of the Christ Child. After years of Christmas pageants, with wise men and shepherds, angels and animals, children wearing bathrobes and tinsel crowns, don’t we all know this story, maybe a bit too well? Haven’t we sung it, said it, chanted it, so often, that there’s little room for wonder? Every year, at this church and thousands of others, we share scriptures about the promised One from God, the longing and the waiting, the evil King in his palace and the baby in the manger, fulfillment at last. It’s so easy to summarize the story, and then leave it alone, not connecting it to the lives we lead. I majored in history, and also love folklore, so there’s no happier set of words to me than “once upon a time….” But the Holy Mystery of the Incarnation demands more of me, more of us: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us….” John’s gospel proclaims. This is a stunning pronouncement, with consequences all the way through time and history. Human life becomes the vessel for Holy life, and our story and God’s story entwine in amazing and beautiful ways, not just as history but as present reality. When we tell our stories, we are telling a part of God’s story, too. Suddenly, the light and darkness, laughing and crying, winning and losing, every single part of life from the smallest to the vast, is touched by the numinous power of God. And it all matters—-Thanks be to God, it all matters!
I wish you joy this holy day, and I leave you with another favorite scripture about the connect between body and spirit:
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’ “ (Isaiah 52:7) You’ve got beautiful feet, and a beautiful, God-touched life. Joy to the World.
Rev. Terry Deane
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