Out of sync and yet deeply connected

 

We followers of Jesus are, generally speaking, out of sync.

If you don’t believe me, look around over the next few days. Christmas came on a Saturday, so I expect that it may take a day or two, but the rest of the world is moving on.

Soon the greeting will move from “Merry Christmas” to “Happy New Year,” if it hasn’t already.

Outside the church, the Christmas music is mostly gone; the gifts have been given unless you are from a tradition or culture that does this part on the Epiphany. Starting tomorrow I expect that we’ll see the curbs lined with trees and wreaths waiting for the removers to pick them up with the trash.

But we’ll be here… hanging on for two whole Sundays before the Feast of the Epiphany arrives on January 6^th. We will still be surrounded with greens and poinsettias, or if the flowers have gone off to homes and the homebound, we’ll still be singing [lots of] Christmas carols.

So, what is it? Are we stubborn, simply out of sync, or is something else going on?

Well, we are out of sync. And, yup, something else is going on because we’ve never been more connected!

The Gospel of John says that the Logos, the very Word and perfect expression of God, Jesus entered the very same world that he spoke into existence!

But the world did not notice. The gospel says that Jesus came to his own people, the ones God picked out of all the tribes and nations and peoples of the earth, and they did not know him either.

It was as if God and humanity and creation were not in sync with each other.

Well, in fact, it’s true. This creation is out of sync. And so is humanity. We are all out of sync. You don't have to look far: the news channels, the internet, and the papers will all tell you. I could give you a litany of all the things that are wrong with the world right now; all the evil, all the neglect, all the corruption. We could compare notes. But I don't need to. We all know it's there. Ironically, that appears to be the only thing in sync.

Here is the good news. Rather than let us stay out of sync, God has done something about it. God has come among us as one of us to put us back in sync with God and each other and creation.

John's first chapter is his nativity story. I’ve heard it called “the Nativity Story for grown-ups!” There are no stars, no babies, no magi, or shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. Instead, there is a poem. A hymn. A meditation on what God is up to.

It’s a poem because what God is doing is beyond our imagination! Sure, it all happened in history, and it all takes place in the same cosmos as ours! The One God, who spoke all things into being is now one of us. God became human without diluting either his divinity or his humanity, so that we might be truly, and wonderfully alive. God draws near to us, so that we may draw nearer to God.

John's nativity story is not without a birth though. What is born is us. Check out Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John chapter 3. What’s born is us!

When we see Jesus, we see the very face of God. And when we see Jesus, we see the very face of humanity. And when we see Jesus among us, and witness his grace and his truth, we are changed. We are born to a new life.

And that is not all. After meeting God in Christ and having been changed, we witness to what we know. The Gospel talks about John the Baptist who was not the Light, but told us about it, because he is the model of the Christian. One who has faith, who has seen the Christ, who tells what he sees and hears.

The world has moved on. For most people, Christmas is over. For us, who are baptized followers of Jesus in word, sacrament, service, and community, Christmas is never over! In fact, as Blessed St. Benedict of Nursia says, “Always, we begin again.”

We are always seeking after Jesus, the one who is the fullness of God and the fullness of humanity in one person!  We are always seeking to be changed by this new relationship with God; we are always serving Christ in the people God gives us, especially in the faces of the poorest, the loneliest, the most unlovely among us.

To the world, followers of Jesus always seem to be out of sync. And that's okay. Because in Christ we are in sync with God and we are more and more deeply connected with what God is doing in the world.

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Bulletin for the First Sunday after Christmas found here.

A video of the Liturgy may be found here.

A video of the sermon may be found here.