The late bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, The Right Rev. Thomas Shaw, posted a series of videos on YouTube called \u201cA Monk in the Midst.\u201d He was a brother of the Society of St. John the Evangelist as well as being an Episcopal bishop. He spoke in one of these videos about an encounter he had with a man named Fred and his six-year-old son Sam about what they were going to do on Christmas. The father explained that they would get up and open their presents on Christmas morning and then go to church. The son replied, \u201cChurch?! On Christmas? We\u2019re going to go to church on Christmas?\u201d Fred patiently explained, \u201cOf course, that\u2019s what Christmas is all about. It\u2019s about Jesus\u2019 birth and God coming to us.\u201d Sam said, \u201cI know, I know, I know! But Christmas! Church wrecks everything!\u201d The church wrecks everything. Yes, yes it does and tonight we come here to encounter not only the church that wrecks everything, but also the child who was born to wreck everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It may sound a bit odd in the face of our culture\u2019s approach to Christmas and even disquieting in an age where terrorism dominates the news cycle. But we dare not forget the scandal of both the cradle and the cross and be lulled by the culture\u2019s attempts to sentimentalize Christmas. We all do it and to be honest, it even happens in the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think for a moment about how our own hymnody conspires to tame this feast day into something more palatable and \u2026 dare we even say \u2026 nice<\/em>. Consider the opening of the beloved carol O Little Town of Bethlehem<\/em>, \u201cO little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.\u201d Lovely words from Phillips Brooks but if we think about the tumultuous history of the Middle East, imaging Bethlehem as peaceful more expresses a longing than an historical reality. And what about Away In A Manger<\/em> telling us, \u201cThe cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus no crying he makes?\u201d No crying? Any nurse or doctor would call that a zero on the Apgar score and would start resuscitation attempts immediately. Seriously, these images may just be conspiring to sentimentalize the scandal of Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What about those emotional expectations of the holidays? You know, those happy family get-togethers that often don\u2019t turn out so great or the longing for an estranged relationship to magically get better and be resolved in some kind of Christmas miracle. Of course, there\u2019s the cultural pressure to over consume. Whether it\u2019s going overboard with buying presents and dreading the credit card bill in January or over-eating and drinking and dreading what the scale will tell you in January. Between sentimentality, emotional burdens, and unrealistic cultural expectations, perhaps we need this child of God to wreck what we\u2019ve made of Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reality is we come together this night to pay honor to the one who came to wreck all of that, the one who came to wreck everything! This child\u2019s birth was the plan of a subversive God who snuck into the back door of history on a mission to wreck everything. Coming as one of us \u2013 vulnerable, poor, and powerless \u2013 he came to upend the world as we have constructed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He came to wreck our selfishness and narcissism, so that we might be able to love God and others and to receive that love in return. He came to wreck our fear of death, so that we might be able to live more fully and freely in this life. He came to wreck the political systems which choose who is in and who is out, so that all of God\u2019s children would be included in the kingdom. He came to break down our tendency of tribalism pitting one group against another. Oh yes, we still organize ourselves into tribes; we just call them political parties, ethnic groups, or faith traditions now. He came to break down our economy of values to build a different one based on valuing the eternal rather than things that pass away. He came to break down our ideas of family to embrace a wider vision of God\u2019s family, which includes all people, not just the ones like us. Yes, he came to wreck every structure we try to build which puts us first at the expense of everyone else. As he would later tell his followers, he came not to be served but to serve. And he calls us to follow in his path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is no small thing. For 2000 plus years, people have come together to mark the birth of Christ as God\u2019s subversive way of dwelling among us and wrecking everything for the sake of bringing about something greater than we could ask for or imagine. To mark a vision of the kingdom of God unfolding right here in our midst regardless of our fears or of the conflict we may be experiencing. May this holy child, this holy one man wrecking crew, disrupt your life this season so that he might plant the grace of God in your heart and you may come to know Christ\u2019s love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This sermon was written by the Rev. Anjel Scarborough<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The late bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, The Right Rev. Thomas Shaw, posted a series of videos on YouTube called \u201cA Monk in the Midst.\u201d He was a brother of the Society of St. John the Evangelist as well as being an Episcopal bishop. 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