We All Need A Savior: A Sermon for the Nativity of our Lord (I)

“The truth is, we all need a savior, because the world isn’t all that we know it can be. It wasn’t then, and it isn’t now… Life isn’t what we frequently pretend it to be; nor is the world. And that’s the whole point of Christmas.”

This penetrating observation from Brother James Koester strikes at the core of what it means to be a Christian. “The world isn’t all that we know it can be.” Isn’t that the truth?! Humanity simply hasn’t lived up to who and what we were created to be. The evidence is all around us. And throughout history, humankind has tried to take it upon ourselves to “fix” all that is wrong with the world. We have come up with various and sundry useful and not so useful movements of the human spirit and ingenuity. And while we have made great progress in many ways, the fact remains that the world still isn’t all that we know it can be. The fact remains, we still need a savior. No amount of “progress” - no political system or political leader, no weapon, and no scientific discovery will “fix” what has gone awry with humankind. Salvation and redemption for all of creation lies in God’s hands, not ours. And as scandalous and shocking as it seems, salvation and redemption for all of creation lies in a manger…a feeding trough in a stable.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the same sort of access to that feeding trough that the shepherds had that evening when Christ was born. We haven’t been visited by an angel, or serenaded by a multitude of the heavenly host. We can still travel to Bethlehem, but we can’t literally “see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." We can’t go “with haste and [find] Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.” That being said, we are still being called to the manger. We are still the shepherds in the night.

And like the shepherds, many of us are weary as we watch over our loved ones –our sheep just happen to be our aging parents, or our spouses, or our children. We grow weary as we long for health, safety, and peace in the midst of a violent and chaotic world. Like the shepherds, we have been waiting for a sign that will tell us that it will all be ok…that God is still in control. And tonight, we are blessed with the Good News that our waiting has not been in vain. God is Emmanuel…God is with us. And so, like the shepherds, we are being called to the manger to bear witness to the savior of the world…to see this thing that has taken place. And like Mary, we are called to ponder this scandalously Good News in our hearts.

One thing that I have noticed since last Sunday is that our gospel lessons have invited us go to deep within ourselves – and deep into our hearts. In the gospel reading on the 4th Sunday of Advent, the only way that Joseph could obey the Angel’s instructions was for him to listen with his heart, not his head. That is because what he was told by the angel defied all logic.

Every week at the beginning of  worship, we pray the Collect for Purity, which calls upon God to, “cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit…”. To be saved by Christ involves an internal scrubbing – a  “cleansing the thoughts of our hearts.” We must make room for the scandalous Good News of Christ in our hearts, even when our logical minds tell us that it can’t be so. Unlike so many in Bethlehem on the night that he was born, and unlike so many since that night, we must make room for Christ in the Inn. Mary made room. She accepted the unbelievable news in her heart that she was pregnant with the Messiah through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph made room. He accepted that same scandalous news in his heart, and he agreed to take Mary as his wife, name their baby Jesus, and raise him as his own. And the shepherds made room too. They accepted in their hearts the shocking news from the angel in the night that the savior they desperately needed – the savior they were waiting for – had come. And that savior was a helpless newborn baby lying in a feeding trough in a barn.

As James Koester says, “Life isn’t what we frequently pretend it to be; nor is the world. And that’s the whole point of Christmas.” In other words, Christmas reminds us that our savior came to the world - and will come again - on God’s terms, not ours. Christmas reminds us that salvation involves making room for Christ in our hearts and in our lives, just as Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds did.

So as we continually call upon God to purify our innermost selves, we are making room for Christ, so that he might abide in us. As we carry Christ within us – whether it be in a manger or a mansion -  we do so because we recognize that the world needs a savior. “The truth is, we need a savior, because the world isn’t all that we know it can be. It wasn’t then, and it isn’t now.” But it can be. And it will be.  We just have to make room for Christ in our hearts.