Isaiah 9:2-7
Luke 2:1-20
“Born Into This World”
Preached Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24, 2024
As members of my congregation know, I gave birth to my second child in September and just returned to work one week ago. I knew when I was pregnant that I would be returning to work, the church, just before Christmas. And so throughout my leave, from time to time, my mind and my heart would turn to my Christmas Eve sermon - what would I say to all of you about the birth of Jesus? How would my late nights holding a baby shape what God has to say to me - and to you - this Christmas? And so, as a small content warning, I’ll be sharing some reflections on the early stages of motherhood - at least in the introduction of my sermon and then we’ll get to the more theological stuff.
After the birth of both of my children, in those extremely early days, I found I could only pray one word prayers. Christian writer Anne Lammott says that there are really only three types of prayers and they can be summed up in one word each: Help, Thanks, and Wow. And I have found this to be infinitely true - especially in those times of life where we are just surviving, hanging on.
After the birth of my first child, I prayed almost exclusively “help” prayers. I prayed a "help" prayer every night. The prayer was just one word over and over "sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep." And since I was talking to God I would throw in a couple of pleases. "Please Lord, let us all just sleep. Sleep sleep sleep sleep please."
I certainly prayed this “help” prayer for sleep this time around too - but the one word prayer I prayed over and over the last couple months, especially in those early newborn days was “safe.”
I would pray it before sleep, mentally cataloging where each child was. Agnes - safe in her bed. Winifred - safe being rocked in dad’s arms. Safe and so I can shut my eyes and sleep. There was a night in the early weeks of postpartum where I had some medical complications and I had to go to the hospital, spending the night away from my newborn baby. And I just prayed over and over until I fell asleep - Safe, safe, safe, safe. Keep us all safe. Grandma and Grandpa have got Agnes - safe. Dad has Winnie - safe. And God’s got me - safe. Of course, God had us all but it brought me immense comfort to think of who was holding my babies and God holding me, cradling me and all of us in God’s arms, keeping us all safe.
I want to add that there were certainly lots of “Wow” and “Thanks” prayers alongside these “Help” prayers. So much can be said with a wow or a thank you. Deep appreciation for one's body and what it's been through. Gratitude for community that surrounds you with love. Appreciation for the beauty of nature, whether that be in a newborn's face or the changing of the seasons.
It made me wonder - what one word prayers did Mary pray that first Christmas night, cradling baby Jesus in her arms - not in an ideal setting. Did she pray for sleep? Did she simply pray the word “safe” like I did? Her baby had been born safely into the world - it was looking a little uncertain there at first. With all the traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehmen - with the question of WHERE she would give birth in this overcrowded city. With the animals!? Laying the baby in a manger!? But despite the hassle and the odds - her baby was born into this world and he now lay safely wrapped in clothes in the manger, and in her arms. Did she pray “safe” as a help, thanks, and wow prayer? Newborn babes, even under ordinary circumstances, certainly elicit all three types of prayers in abundance. And these were not ordinary circumstances with the angels and the shepherd visitors and their words - not the first time she had heard them, having heard them first from the angel Gabriel - of all that her son could be, would be. Could do, would do.
For here is the thing - Mary’s baby, Jesus, was not born into a safe world. That night he was safely held in his mom’s arms. But the world? Not a safe place. This is a reality that I know in my mind as well for my babies and try to hold the knowledge at arm's length. I can hold my children tightly through the night…but I cannot keep them safe forever. Not in our world, not in this world.
In our world, well…War, mass shootings, violence of all kinds. Hateful rhetoric, biases, and prejudices. A changing climate, pollution. Disease and sickness. Oppression and hunger. I don't need to belabor the point of the things that make this world not safe. If I go into any more about it, I'll ruin the Christmas vibe.
But that's the thing …just as our world is not a safe world. Neither was the world that Jesus was born into. And that's kind of the point. If it was a safe world, there would have been no need for Jesus to be born at all.
The Gospel of Luke reminds us that the Empire, one known for being oppressive, was conducting a census - the very reason Mary had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Soon, in response to the proclamation of Jesus's birth from the magi, Herod will issue an edict to murder newborn sons. Soon the Holy Family will become refugees, strangers in a strange land as they fled for their safety to Egypt.
This does not sound like a safe world. It is not a safe world.
Our Scripture from Isaiah today talks about a people in darkness. In Isaiah, just a couple of verses down from “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” and just a couple verses up from “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”...we find THIS less than poetic line:
“For all the boots of the trampling warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.”
We tend to kind of just...move right past this line. Almost like we’re mumbling it under our breath. Mumble: “For all the boots...rolled in blood...fuel for the fire.” Who wants to hear about garments rolled in blood on Christmas? That really kills the merry, jolly vibe. But this line gives all the more power to the meaning of Christmas: They have walked in darkness for too long! They knew darkness. They knew the boots of war that oppressed them, trampled them, killed them. The world was anything but perfect in the time of Isaiah - the Israelites were in exile, knowing what it meant to be crushed by violence and the trampling of warrior’s boots. And still - they looked for that Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace to come and rescue them.
The world of Isaiah was not a safe world.
Jesus was not born into a safe world.
We do not live into a safe world.
But it is into this world, this unsafe, chaotic, messy world that Jesus came. Not just on that night in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago for through the acts of the Spirit, Jesus is still active in our world today… but God sent Jesus into our world because we KNOW darkness. And we need a light.
As the prelude to the Gospel of John says:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.”
We need a light in the darkness. An anchor in the storm. Hope in the midst of despair. Love in the midst of hate. Peace in the midst of war. Joy in the midst of loss. And so God sent us Jesus.
And here's the kicker - here's the thing that always gets me - God sent us Jesus, born into the world, born into this unsafe, dark world….in the form of a baby. The most vulnerable form God could have ever taken. God didn't come fully formed as a king or general or political leader or even as a capable adult… God came as a vulnerable baby. A newborn baby. Who needed to be held. And loved. And cuddled. And rocked to sleep. And nursed at the breast. Who couldn't hold up his head. Who is precious and so so so small in comparison to the bigness of the world.
This tells us so much about the kind of God our God is - that God is a God of tenderness and love. Of care and mutuality. That God isn't daunted by the darkness of the world, knowing there is still so much light to be found. That God acts in small but impactful ways. That God knows fully what it means to be human in our world. To know our fears and our darkness. To walk alongside us, truly as Emmanuel which means God -With- Us and in the midst of that darkness, show us a better way. Show us the light. The light that will never go out. The light that the darkness will never overcome.
So here is my prayer for you this Christmas: that you may take a deep breath. And when the world seems unsafe, know that Jesus has already walked this path. When the world seems too dark, know that Jesus shines a light. That you can pray the word “Safe” and feel the arms of God holding you close, as God’s self in Jesus was held as a newborn baby, all those years ago, safe and secure in loving arms.
Amen.
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