The Real Christmas Story

Christmas Day

John 1.1-14

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

On Christmas Eve we hear the angels proclaim to the shepherds, “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.” (Lk 2.10-12). That’s the entire story of the nativity in a nutshell. The rest is just detail.

But now, in the stillness of Christmas Day, after the angels have gone back to their Heavenly home, after the shepherds have gone back to their fields, after all the adoring crowds at the manger have dispersed, we face the dawning of a new day—literally and figuratively. This is a day unlike any other that has come before in all of history. A new day that is the beginning of a new era in salvation history. “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1.14).

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Guests at the Inn

Christmas Eve

Isaiah 9.2-7; Luke 2.1-20

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

We know the story. Of course, we just heard it read for the umpteenth time. But even so, we know it so well most of us could pretty much recite it from memory. At the very least, we would get all the major points right.

We know the place. The city of David called Bethlehem. And more specifically, a manger in a stable associated with one of the inns in Bethlehem.

And we know the cast of characters. Mary and Joseph, arriving in Bethlehem for the census. Shepherds living in the fields outside Bethlehem, tending their flocks. Angelic messengers sent from Heaven to proclaim the birth of “a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” And, of course, the baby Jesus, who is born into the midst of this place under the adoring eyes of this cast of characters.

But there’s one place that only receives a passing mention and a cast of characters that receives no mention at all—although their presence is implied. That place is an inn. One of many in Bethlehem. And the other characters are the guests of that crowded inn and others that are nearby.

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Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Third Sunday of Advent (Year A)

Isaiah 35.1-10; James 5.7-10; Matthew 11.2-11

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

The season of Advent is about anticipating and preparing for the coming of Jesus, both at his birth in Bethlehem and at some unknown date in the future, at what we refer to as the Second Coming. And while this season is focused on the coming of Jesus, the “icon” for this season is most certainly John the Baptist, who epitomizes what it means to “prepare the way of the Lord.” In fact, John is featured on two of the four Sundays of Advent; and in two of the three years of our lectionary cycle, he even is featured in utero on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, leaping for joy in his mother’s womb at the arrival of Mary who is pregnant with Jesus.

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Invitation to Prepare the Way of the Lord

Second Sunday of Advent (Year A)

Isaiah 11.1-10; Romans 15.4-13; Matthew 3.1-12

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

There’s something I find puzzling, even unsettling, about today’s Gospel reading. No, it’s not crazy old John the Baptist, wearing clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, eating locusts and wild honey. It’s not John hanging out in the wilderness of Judea, which was—and still is even today—a pretty desolate place, literally in the middle of nowhere, ranting and raving “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” It’s not even the fact that there were actually people who came out to see what John was all about. That I can actually see, in a weird kind of way. After all, I guess if you happened to live in the middle of nowhere, you had to get your excitement wherever you could find it, even if it was from someone who appears to have gone off his meds. No, what I find unsettling, what I don’t quite get, is the fact that “many Pharisees and Sadducees” were going out to see John, to hear his message of repentance.

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The Restlessness of Advent

First Sunday of Advent (Year A)

Isaiah 2.1-5; Romans 13.11-14; Matthew 24.36-44

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Today is the first day of Advent—the beginning of a new year, liturgically speaking. For me, this day, this season, carries the same weight as does the beginning of the new year that we celebrate every January 1^st. It is a time of reflection about where I have been, what I have accomplished, in the previous year. And a time to acknowledge what I have not accomplished and to either let go of those hopes as being not that important or to resolve anew to make those things happen if they are indeed still that important to me.

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