Homily – Christmas Midnight Mass
Readings
Isaiah 9: 1-6
Psalm 96
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14
Well, it’s
finally here. After all of the planning, and the running around and
preparations and paying attention to all kinds of details, Christmas has
arrived. So what do you think? Is it what you expected? Doesn’t it seem that
every Christmas there is some new and unexpected event or wrinkle or wondrous
surprise? Sometimes it is unexpected bad news or difficulties like an illness
or losing a loved one. Sometimes it is a joyful surprise like someone
announcing their engagement or that they are expecting a baby. But Christmas
always seems to have something unexpected attached to it.
We have
spent Advent preparing to remember the coming of the Lord – the Advent of our
God to earth. And we have prayed for him to come again, and to come into our
hearts. All of Advent has been focused on Christ’s coming – the arrival of the
Messiah.
Now imagine
for a moment that you had been waiting for thousands of years for the Messiah
like the Jewish people were – waiting for the one who was going to save you
from the “yoke that burdens you, the pole on your shoulder and the rod of your
taskmaster” as Isaiah promised. And then the day arrives – and it’s a baby! Born
helpless, poor, hungry – in a state of complete dependence. Not at all what you
expected. It always seems that God defies what we expect. Why would God choose
to come to us that way?
Maybe it’s
because as much as we have wanted Christ to come to us, Christ even more wants
us to come to him. And he wants us to come to him because he has a message of
God’s hope, God’s mercy, God’s salvation. Rather than approaching God with fear
and trepidation, we can come to the Christ child in wonder, and in awe, and
without fear. Our God is approachable…in fact, God wants us to come as
comfortably as we come to a newborn baby: without fear, without pretensions,
without apprehension.
The angels
say as much to the shepherds – do not be afraid. Come – come to Bethlehem, come
to see the Christ child. Come to see God’s advent among the people. And our
Christmas hymns emphasize this too – “Rise Up, Shepherd, and follow”; “O Come,
Little Children, come one and come all”; and probably the best known:
[Singing] O come
let us adore him
[Singing together] O
come let us adore him
O come let us adore
him…
Christ the Lord
Christ’s
birth was the beginning of the life of the one who called us – each of us and
all of us – to come to him. “Come”, he said, “leave your boats and your customs
post, and whatever else you’re doing, and come follow me”. “Come”, he said,
“come out of your grave and live again, come down from up there in the tree and
have dinner with me”. “Come”, he said,
“come and eat my body and drink my blood and have life”. “Come”, he said, “come
to me all of you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest”.
“Come”
In the rest
of the year before us, there will be plenty of time to think about our
responsibilities, to consider what it means to be a follower of this Christ,
the Messiah, God-with-us. There will be time to learn and to grow in this Year
of Faith, and there will be time to reflect on our discipleship. But for
tonight, for right now, let’s just be at peace with each other and be in
communion with God and those around us. Let’s bask in the feeling of warmth
that comes from a God who loves us so desperately and calls us to come near.
Let’s sing and be joyful and celebrate this prayerful time together.
O come, let us
adore him
O come, let us
adore him
O come let us adore
him
Christ, the Lord.
Merry Christmas!
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