All Saints Episcopal Church, Thomasville

Christmas Eve, 2005

"O hush the noise ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing."

"...the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

            We live in an age of wars and rumors of wars.  Indeed this evening we have war all around us.  And yet last Sunday we read the words of Isaiah:  "Unto us a child is born.  Unto us a son is given.  And the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His Name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."  This evening the angel Gabriel tells us that the meaning of the birth of this Son is Peace:  Peace on earth; goodwill toward men, from Heaven's all gracious King. 

          The words peace and goodwill are not just a message to us, but a commandment.  When He was around thirty years of age this same Son would open His most expansive peace of teaching with the words "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be call the children of God"  -- just like Himself.    And yet, the angles need constantly to remind us to "Hush the noise, ye men of strife."

            We men of strife continue to produce a cacophony of noise.  We make noise with the war in Iraq.  We make noise with the war between New Orleans and FEMA.  We make noise with the wars over Supreme Court justice nominees.  We make noise in the war between straights and gays.  We make noise with the war between Republicans and Democrats.  We make noise with the war between hawks and doves.  We make noise in the war between Mr. Bush and Congress. 

          And some of the worst noise we make comes from with the war being fought not just over the world and the air-waves and internet, but right here in Thomasville with the War on Christmas!  Just how pigheaded and imbecilic can we really get?!  Can we stop for even a moment this evening to recollect that our Lord was born precisely to do away with noise and war -- even this incredibly stupid war on Christmas?

            I wish some Christians could begin to look at their glass as half-full rather than half-empty when they hear the greeting "Happy Holidays!"  Do they understand the word means "holy days"?  How many of them realize that we have not one but actually six holidays (holy days) to celebrate over the next twelve days?  Do they ever stop to consider the outrageously bizarre irony that on December 26 the Christian Church commemorates the death (celebrates the death) of St. Stephen the Church's first martyr -- or that on December 27 we celebrate the life of St. John to whom God gave the insight to unfold the mystery of the Incarnation which we just read -- or that on December 28 we celebrate (yes celebrate again) the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents -- or that on January 1 we give thanks that God has deigned to allow us to name Him and thereby to call upon Him? -- or that on January 6 we celebrate our Lords' epiphany:  the manifestation of  His message of salvation not just to the Jews but to the entire world!

          Six holidays (holy days) -- and this week, really seven if we remember to include Hanukah.  Hanukah you remember is the Jewish feast commemorating the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem, as well as the victory of the army lead by Judas Macabeus over the third century BC's version of  Saddam Hussein- an emperor thug named Antiochus Epiphanus III.  How could any serious Christian get bent out of shape being reminded of these truly wonderful and spiritually life-giving holidays?!

          Further, I wonder what percentage of some other Christians who insist on shoving the "Merry Christmas" greeting down the throats of one and all (And I've had the sense the last few weeks on that a couple occasions it really has been shoved down my throat); how many have a clue that the greeting refers to the Christ Mass which we celebrate here tonight?  How many of them have ever attended a Christ Mass, much less bothered to set foot in Church Christmas Day.  I've read church bulletins from Episcopalians this month which on one page push their members to "Remember the reason for the season", and then on the next page announce that services will be cancelled on Christmas Day.

            Do I mean that we should not say "Merry Christmas"?  Of course not, but lets remember what the greeting actually means,  as well as to give thanks for the holy days we ought to remember and contemplate when someone (knowingly or unknowingly) greets us with "Happy Holidays!"  Can we Christians (we men of strife here this evening) manage to "hush the noise":  to settle ourselves enough to realize that our dear Lord was born precisely to help us do away with wars such as this? 

          If we can't manage to find some peacemakers over skirmishes like this, how can we ever begin to deal with the wars that really matter!  Again it was not for nothing that Jesus said that God would bless the peacemakers by making them children of God.

            How does one go about becoming a child of God?  In fact one doesn’t do this.  God does it.  Certainly He does so at our Baptism.  But tonight I want to direct your attention briefly to a seminal verse in the Christmas gospel:  "He came unto His own and His own received Him not."  Hopefully tonight we might ask ourselves what we have done -- or failed to do in terms of being peacemakers which might be indicative of our having "received Him not".

            But then the next verse:  "But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the Sons of God, to them who believe on His Name."  Tonight we might also ask ourselves if we simply "believe", or do we "believe on His Name".  To believe on His Name means that we attempt to act in terms of what His Name really stands for.  And certainly one thing His Name stand for is Peace.

          But that's not the end of the verse.  This is:  "To them gave He the power to become the Sons of God, to them who believe on His Name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

            The former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple in his commentary on John's gospel makes much of how the words "who are born" can be translated as "who was born" -- in other words if we change that phrase to the singular (who was born), John is stating in no uncertain terms the reality of the Virgin Birth -- and that Jesus was born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 

          In addition to reminding us of the Virgin Birth, Bishop Temple goes on to admit that the vast preponderance of evidence directs us to translate the phrase as "To them gave He power to become the sons of God, to them who believe on His Name who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  That is, we become sons and daughters of God no by any act of you or me, but by the sole intention, discretion, direction, and operation of God.  "Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

          The other great commentator on John's gospel is Sir Edwyn Hoskins, who back in the 1930’s called this one verse:  "The End of All Moralism".  That is, to become Sons and Daughters of God, there is nothing that we can do other than believe on His Name and thereby doing all that belief in His Name entails.  First and foremost we must recognize our need to be made Sons and Daughters of God, and ask if we are actually ready and willing to set aside our own wills in order for Jesus (whom W. H. Auden calls God's "outrageous novelty") to make us into the children He wants us to be.  Again, we are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  In other words my dear friends, after putting ourselves in His hands, it's all in His hands and we don’t have a thing to do with it.  Because the good we do is the result of Him working in us.

            What that means for us tonight is simply this:  God does not give a tinkers damn whether you and I are right or wrong -- in the war of Christmas.  I might even venture to say He doesn't give a damn whether you or I are right or wrong about anything -- other than being ready and willing to welcome Him into our hearts and lives tonight, in order that we might begin to become peacemakers.  Honestly, God does not care so much about our being right as He does about our being good.  If he wanted us to be right He never would have told the parable of the Prodigal Son.  What He does care mightily about, is whether you or I are good.  I'm not talking about simply following the Ten Commandments although that's a good place to start.  But we've got to go way beyond the Commandments to the Beatitudes, before we can find the blessedness of what it means to be children of God.  And one of those beatitudes has to do with you and me becoming peacemakers.

To paraphrase Mr. Auden:  Do we have the spiritual strength and desire to set aside our "richly odoured ignorance" long enough to allow this "outrageous novelty" to "scratch its way into our lives" in order that we might find real peace? -- or do we simply want to continue on our Pilgrim Way to the Abyss, reveling in our ability to out shout or out smart our enemy?

            The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.  The Prince of Peace lies before you this evening as a helpless child in a manger.  And the manger ought to remind us that real peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but the most perfect state of being in which we can become the peacemakers we are meant to be -- made in the image of God. 

Why must we do this?  John Milton reminds us why our good intention is worth the effort.  For in time,

"Time will run back and fetch the age of gold,

And speckled Vanity

Will sicken soon and die,

And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould

And hell itself will pass away,

And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day."

"Peace on earth; good will toward men, from Heaven's all gracious King."  It’s not simply a greeting, but a command.