December 24 – The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Fr. Cal Calhoun
In the Name of God: the God who comes among us as a child: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Here! On this night, one of the longest, deepest, darkest nights of winter, we are reminded that there is always new life. There is always new light. There is always hope. Even in these darkest of days.
God arrives in these shortest and darkest of days. And God can be found in mangers and stables. Genius really. God could have arrived anywhere. In a palace, as a prince. But then, would we, could we really relate to that God? But the humility of a manger in a stable, which in the area around Bethlehem was not the wooden stable we likely have in mind, but just a stone outcropping, that is where the animals were kept around Bethlehem. What a humble beginning. There is not much below starting out in a manger, outside, under a stone outcropping. We can’t use the excuse that Jesus doesn’t understand me because he was so entitled. Jesus is anything but entitled. And Jesus directs his message to everyone, but the entitled have a harder time hearing it.
Richard Rohr reminds us of the line in the ancient hymn, which sings of Mary, “Hail, space for the uncontained God!” Space for the uncontained God, or maybe better, uncontainable God. How is it that God, the uncontainable God, could be contained in Mary’s womb? And later, how could the uncontainable God be contained in the person, the human, we call Jesus?
I have to work this out by going to the Trinity. Which is never an easy answer, because the Trinity is never an easy answer. The Trinity seems to go against simple logic: one God, three Persons. What does that even mean? How does that make sense? God, in and of Godself, is community. A community of Love. It is out of this community of love that God acts, that God creates. We exist, because God creates out of love, an overflowing of love.
Which is why we can say that God is Love. God, at God’s very core, is Love, because of this one God being community. So when the uncontainable Jesus chooses to be contained in Mary’s womb, and in the person of Jesus, it’s not like no one is watching the shop, whatever that image might mean for God. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are still doing what God does. Which, if I understand this right, is love. God is Love. Love both as a noun and as a verb: God is Love. Love is both who God is – and what God does.
And so, Jesus, the Light of the World, bursts through the darkness of this long winter’s night, out of love. Not our love. Not anything we have done. But out of love, God’s love.
God became flesh and lived among us. In this act of enfleshment, the containment of the uncontainable God, God did much more than simply take on a human body. God took on our limitations, our finite selves, our bad moods, even our disfiguration. God took all this on in the person of Jesus, for no other reason than love. And that, my friends, is a thing full of wonder.
Year C – The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ – December 24, 2024 – The Rev. Cal Calhoun
