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The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane, D.D. Merry Christmas and a warm welcome from the Nation’s Capital and from all of us at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, the Washington National Cathedral. As a parent, priest, cathedral dean and bishop I have witnessed over 50 children’s Nativity Pageants. Each one has been different in performance although the story told remains constant. One such pageant stays fixed in my mind and I would like to share it with you this Christmas morning. It has a larger story to tell. Some years ago on Christmas Eve, a pageant unfolded with the usual cast of biblical characters all played by young children in a church I was serving. The sanctuary was filled with shepherds, celestial angels, children hidden in elaborate sheep, cattle and camel costumes, three wise men, Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus. During the pageant, much to the consternation of gathered parents and parishioners, a dispute arose between two of the shepherds who happened to be brothers, one five years old and the other nine. Embroiled in sibling rivalry, they began a noticeable shoving match initiated by the younger of the two as to who should be closer to the crèche and the baby Jesus…and of course the best camera angle for their proud parents. Eventually the pushing and shoving ended when one of the brothers fell into one of the three wise men who happened to be carrying a thurible containing burning incense which the young wise man dropped with a loud crash on to the carpet of the sanctuary. The congregation gasped in horror as ushers rushed forward with fire extinguishers in hand to put out the smoldering coals. The Angel Gabriel, who was played by an 11 year old “goody-two-shoes” who was known by all to have never said a bad word in her life, seeing that the pageant was now in chaos wailed loudly and tearfully for all in the congregation to hear; “Reverend Chane, those damn shepherds are ruining Christmas for everyone!” The pageant ended in a cloud of mist as extinguishers were emptied on the now slowly burning carpet and with the pageant’s young cast beating a hasty retreat to the parish house for sanctuary and Christmas Eve refreshments. Today we live in a world where there is far too much pushing and shoving and where pushing and shoving has too often led to something more disastrous than a wailing angel Gabriel and ushers extinguishing burning coals from an incense thurible. Today we live in a world where there is not only pushing and shoving going on during this Holy Time of the Christian Year, but pushing and shoving that too often leads to violence, death, and neglect of the poor in our cities and towns and has threatened the stability of our own Nation and that of the Global Community. This morning over 150,000 service men and women are serving in Iraq and in other parts of the volatile Middle East. And no matter how any of us may feel about this war, they need our prayers and Christmas wishes at a time of great difficulty and danger for them, their families, and the Iraqi people. This Christmas morning we need to remember that pushing and shoving in different parts of the world and in our own country has left one out of every three persons in the Global community living on less than two dollars a day. This Christmas morning, we need to remember that pushing and shoving in the Holy Land of Christ has caused it to be torn by violence and terrorism and that centuries of pushing and shoving has led to a situation that must make the God of all creation weep as we celebrate the annual remembrance of the birth of Jesus. This Christmas morning we need to remember that the pushing and shoving of the centuries between Judaism, Christianity and Islam over whose Holy Texts contain theological inerrancy and exclusivity have led to religious terrorism, violence and death that the world’s interfaith and inter-religious communities have too often been silent in condemning and unable or unwilling to cooperatively confront. And yet in all of this pushing and shoving, and with all that would seem to neutralize the Christmas Story as simply a saccharin, politically correct, theatrical presentation, we need to remember that the miracle of Christmas and its message of unfailing hope and God’s unending love for the whole of creation is a miraculous truth that has already occurred and will continue to occur in spite of our human short comings and myopic limitations. Christmas will always come in spite of our vanity, our shortsightedness, our selfishness, and our desire for control and power. And the fact that Christmas will always come is the hope of the world. It is hope for those who wait upon the Lord and who seek to do God’s will of living well into doing justice, seeking freedom and ending the oppression of God’s people by any nation or people who claim divine right and exercise authority over compassion. Christmas will always come in spite of us. And it will come with all of its bright lights…its sung Carols…its Santa Clauses…and reindeer and gaily wrapped packages…its feasts and the annual outpouring of public generosity to the poor, the afflicted and the homeless. Christmas will always come in spite of bad sermons, long winded services of worship, flawed nativity pageants and bad theology. Christmas comes every year reminding us that we ought not to be so sure that we are in control of our own destinies, nor are we the divine ticket takers for those who are called by God to enter the gates of the eternal. Christmas comes to remind us all that miracles happened once and will continue to happen and that they will always be wrapped in a package that when opened reveals that God is love and that Jesus is that love born into the world. On this Christmas day, may we rededicate ourselves to the course of peace, reconciliation and unconditional love and vow to make the world a better, safer and more forgiving place for our generation and the generations that will come after us. AMEN |