Christmas Pageant

Rev. Meg Barnhouse
December 15, 2013

We join together in our annual intergenerational Christmas Pageant as the shepherds, angels and royalty gather around the newborn holy child.

Call to worship

From Patrick Murfin’s “We Build Temples in the Heart”

Today, let us be that stable, let us be the place that welcomes the last the weary and rejected, the pilgrim stranger, the coming life.

Let not the frigid winds that pierce our inadequate walls or our mildewed hay, or the fetid leavings of our cattle shame us from our beckoning.

Let our outstretched arms be a manger so that the infant hope, swaddled in love, may have a place to lie.

Let a cold beacon shine down upon us from a solstice sky to guide us the seekers who will come.

Let the lowly shepherd and all who abide in the fields of their labors lay down their crooks and come to us.

Let the seers, sages, & potentates of every land traverse the shifting dunes, the rushing rivers, and the stony crags to seek our rude frame.

Let the herdsman and high lords kneel together under our thatched roof to lay their gifts before Wonder.

Today, let us be that stable.

Introduction

WHEN GOD WAS A BABY

At the Christmas pageant last year, children picked out costumes from piles the director had arranged on the tables outside the sanctuary. You could be an angel, a shepherd, an animal, or a king. Two brothers came in already dressed as Batman, and stood reverently by the manger looking at the baby Jesus. “There is no Batman at the manger,” one person said later.

“Probably not,” I answered, “but there is a lot we don’t know about what actually happened. Historically, we barely know Jesus lived, much less whether he was born in Bethlehem, or whether he was married to Mary Magdalene, or whether he went to India to study in the ‘lost years’ between being a twelve year old talking with the teachers in the temple and beginning his ministry as an adult.” I saw her eyes glaze over with this much information, and circled back to the point. “Right. Odds are against there having been a Batman.”

The baby in the manger is a soul story, if not an historical story. Soul stories are as likely to be true as stories from history, but they are perhaps a different sort of true, and you approach them differently. Before and after doing historical research, Biblical study, and the kinds of work on context and language one does when looking at a story from a Scripture, my inclination is to interact with the story as I would with a dream.

Holding the image of the Divine as a baby in mind and heart, I invite myself to let go of my hold on the Abrahamic God, the ideas about the Divine I can live with or not, the elements of the concept of a God I believe in and those I don’t believe in. A soul story is a dream from the depths of a culture, not an individual. This is bigger than my squeamishness or my history.

When God is a baby, no one has to be afraid of God. No one has to tremble before God’s wrath. No one has to wonder what they have done wrong, how they have disappointed God. A baby God isn’t mad at you – in fact, it needs you to coo over him, hold him close, smell her head, curl her tiny fingers around your pinkie, protect him and visit her with presents. No wonder Christmas is a well loved holiday – we get to coo over the baby God, and feel the aching openness of a heart at its very beginning.

Among the ways to understand the Divine is as the spirit of love, the spirit of light, the spirit of life. A baby love, a baby light, a baby life would carry within itself all that it will become, like an oak within the acorn, like two hundred and thirty-eight possible tomatoes contained within one tomato seed, like a mighty river that starts as a spring seeping out of the earth in a high and quiet place. The light starts as a tiny spark. A new baby love has all the possibilities in the world, it carries all the hopes and dreams. Later on, as it grows and matures, it becomes more real, and if you are skilled and lucky, it grows richer and deeper. As life starts you care for it and nurture it. You are careful with it. You delight in it. A baby is full of possibility.

What if this is a story about the soul entering the world of the body? The light of spirit and wisdom, the Divine Seed planted in a human being? Some of the founders of our free religion believed that the seed of God, a tiny sliver of the light, was in each of us.

I think about the Divine seed, the wise baby, within me, containing the whole of divinity in itself, yet needing to grow. Antoine St. Exupery writes: “the seed haunted by the sun never fails to find its way between the stones in the ground.” (“Flight to Arras”) Is my soul the seed, or is it the light? I say it is both. Do we long for the Divine, or are we Divine ourselves? Both. Do we search for God or is God within us? Both.

In times of confusion and doubt, I see myself able to visit my soul like the magi, the wise magicians, and kneel before it with gifts of quiet, respect and love. I can nurture the light, the seed of God within me. I can protect it from the forces of power-over that show up next in the faith story, the forces of fear and control, the Herod power, the light-killing, love-killing power of the outer world and of my inner world as well.

I wish for each of you at this time of the rebirth of the light that the light be reborn in you, that love be cradled in your heart, that you be a seed haunted by the sun, finding your way from the nurturing darkness, past all obstacles, stubbornly and rapturously breaking through to live in the light.

The Christmas Pageant

Today, we are a family, a community, gathering not only to enjoy an old story, but also for the feeling of being together. We have lit our chalice as a symbol of the light that people before us have celebrated forever and the light that shines within each of our souls. However it is expressed, it is a time of joy.

The season of the winter solstice has been celebrated in one form or another for thousands of years. A hundred different cultures have told stories about how the birth of their gods took place at this time of year, or how light, hope and life are returning to their world and to their lives. This evening, we will present the version of this story written by Christians, which is part of our American and Western culture, whether we are Christians or not. It is the story of a special baby, a child of God as all babies are, a child called Jesus. And today, this story is wrapped not only in swaddling clothes, but also in wonderful music about the greenery, the holly and the ivy, the candles, music and merriment that were part of the season long before Christianity was born – like our next carol, “Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly.”

THE CHRISTMAS STORY:

Now this is the Christmas story. It happened long, long ago, in a far away land. A man and a woman named Joseph and Mary had to make a journey to the city of Bethlehem, because there was a new law that said everyone had to return to the city where they were born to pay their taxes. Joseph was worried about Mary taking this trip as she was going to have a baby very soon, but Mary wanted to be with her husband for the birth of their first child. It was a long trip to Bethlehem, three full days of walking.

Mary was glad when they saw the rooftops of Bethlehem in the distance. “Joseph,” she said, “let’s stay at the first inn we come to. I think our baby is almost ready to be born.” But when they got to Bethlehem, they found the little town crowded with people. They stopped at the first inn they came to and knocked on the door. But the innkeeper told them, “I’m sorry, there is no more room here.” At the next inn the innkeeper said, “We’re full. Try the place three streets over. It’s bigger.” Joseph tried another place and another place, but everywhere it was the same story: “Sorry, no room for you here.”

Finally, when it was almost night time, they saw a house at the edge of town with a light in the window. Joseph knocked at the door, and told the innkeeper, “Please help us. We need a place for the night. My wife is going to have a baby soon and I don’t think she can travel any farther.” And the innkeeper said, “There’s no room in the inn, but don’t worry, we’ll find someplace for you.” The innkeeper showed Mary and Joseph to a quiet little barn where the animals were. (Animals, come join us in the barn with Mary and Joseph.) It was clean and warm and smelled like sweet hay.

And on that very night in that barn in Bethlehem, their little baby was born. It was a boy and they named him Jesus. Mary and Joseph wrapped him in the soft swaddling cloth and made a little bed for him in the hay.

BIBLICAL READING: Luke 2:1-7

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

That night, like every night, there were shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem, watching the flocks of sheep. The shepherds were surprised and amazed by a very bright light in the sky and a strange song coming from nowhere and everywhere, all at once. It was angels and they were glorious! (Angels, please find the shepherds to share the good news.)

After sharing the joyous news with the shepherds, the angels went to find the baby born in a stable in the city of Bethlehem and to tell everyone about him. (The Angels are free to wander the sanctuary spreading the news and come to the barn to say hello to baby Jesus. Then they should return to their seats.) Mary and Joseph never saw the angels, but the angels saw them and their little baby and all said, “What a beautiful child!”

BIBLICAL READING: Luke 2:8-16

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company ofthe heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

After the angels had gone away, the shepherds remembered what they had said, that a wonderful baby had been born and that they could find him by following the brightest star in sky. So the shepherds all said to each other, “Let’s go look for that baby.” They had no trouble finding the stable, because of the bright star, and sure enough, there inside were Mary and Joseph, watching over their little baby, Jesus. And the shepherds all said (very quietly), “Oh! What a beautiful child!” Then they went away and told everyone what they had seen.

On this same night, three wise men saw the bright star and said to each other, “Look at the amazing star! It must be shining for something very special!” The wise men loaded up their camels with treasures and traveling supplies and followed the star all the way to Bethlehem. (The Wise Men will make their way to the barn/stage.) Jesus was only a few days old when the wise ones found him, but they knew he was special. “What a wonderful child. This child will be our teacher.” And they gave the baby gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Mary and Joseph wondered for a long time about all of these things that happened when their child was born. “Isn’t it wonderful that all these people would come to see our baby and give us presents for him. They don’t even know him.” When Jesus grew up, he was a courageous teacher, just like the wise ones said. And one ofthe most important things he tried to teach people was to love each other and to treat all people, even strangers, with kindness and care. And people who have tried to follow his best teachings have become better people, and have spread light through their world, which is what we are here to do.

Today we shared the Christmas Story about one special baby. But this baby isn’t the only special one. Every child is a treasure, is a wonder and a miracle. And as they grow up, they are always and forever a treasure, a wonder and a miracle.

Reading

For so the children come and so they have been coming.
Always in the same way they come
Each night a child is born is a holy night.

[parents] sitting beside their children’s cribs
feel the glory in the sight of a new life beginning…
Each night a child is born is a holy night, a time for singing,
a time for wondering, a time for worshipping.

Excerpted from “Each Night a Child is Born is a Holy Night” by Sophia Lyon Fahs

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them here.

http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776