This cute little girl came to church last Christmas and stopped with her parents at the Nativity set to pray. The little girl pulled on her mother's arm and said, "I think baby Jesus is sick." "Why do you think he is sick?" "Because he's not growing - he is the same size that he was last year."
Today we come together - this annual celebration of the birthday of Jesus - to reflect on the birth of Jesus and on our life as the Body of Christ in the world. Let's start with the birth of Jesus: why, why did God take on human flesh - why did God become one of us? The local news these past few weeks has been dominated by the Crown Point Lake Champlain Bridge. The bridge has been declared unsafe by State engineers - it has been closed for weeks resulting in personal and economic hardship. The lack of a bridge has caused disruption in the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people. You can still cross the lake but with great difficulty. The bridge once made it so easy! Possibly a bridge is a good image for us to reflect upon this Christmas in the sense that the birth of Jesus bridges humanity and divinity. From the beginning of humankind we read in the Book of Genesis, God desired to be one with his creation - to walk in the garden with Adam and Eve - to be in harmony, to be linked together, to be one. But our human pride, our selfishness, our ego, our desire to control, our lack of faith and trust in God's Word kept us at a distance from God. Left on our own, isolated from God we find humans acting inhumanely. Cain kills his brother Abel - selfishness and greed take center stage - famine and war consume the human imagination. Our ancestors built walls that divide: the biblical city of Jericho, the ancient Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, even the wall that today divides the land of Bethlehem - the Israeli wall of Palestinian confinement.
We have a very long history of selfishness - of doing it my way - not God's way - not the communal way - but my way. Adam did not listen to God and many have followed in his footsteps: fearful, prideful, full of greed, lustful. Despite God constantly pursuing us, beckoning us to trust, to live justly, to be open and loving of one another, despite countless prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel - calling us to tear down walls, to soften our hearts - little changed. A great gulf develops - a wide open lake between the heart of God and the ego of humanity.In the fullness of time, the birth of Jesus comes about. By becoming a child, completely dependent on human care, God bridges the distance between the divine and the human. We are not afraid of a little child. God in glory is now an infant in rags. Rather than appearing triumphant and powerful, God comes as a helpless, pitiful, homeless infant in the cold. God becomes one of us - God takes on our weak, fragile, mortal humanity. By doing so, God has shown us that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with humanity. We are not specs of dust or grains of sand. We are God's precious sons and daughters - brothers and sisters to one another. We have a divine dignity and a glorious destiny. This child, Jesus, grows into a man who completely trusts in his Father's love. Even while enduring the worst side of humanity: betrayal, rejection, suffering and crucifixion, Jesus trusts his Father's plan of creation. He believed in the truth of God's love for us - each of us. He followed God's way of living - a way of selfless love for one another. Jesus bridges the distance - he links humanity and divinity - He makes us one with God - that is why he was born - that is why we celebrate this night.
And now the more difficult question. Have we embraced the plan of God? Are we living as the Body of Christ here on earth? Are we growing or are we sick, like the little girl thought of the infant Jesus in the crib - not growing at all in holiness, in compassion, in justice. There is within each one of us a choice, a fundamental option to take -a pattern or movement in our life: either to live the plan of God, the life of a Christian or to choose the way of the world, "I'll do it my way" as Frank Sinatra would sing. Do we build bridges among strangers? Do we reach out in love to the neglected? Do we tear down walls of prejudice, swallow our pride and seek reconciliation, offer a hand of compassion to the broken? Are we willing to become vulnerable, as vulnerable as a helpless child? Or will we build walls, become hard of heart, surround our homes with barbed wire and close our minds so that we can no longer even speak civilly with someone with a different point of view? I'm not necessarily suggesting that we have to join "Doctors without Borders" or "The Peace Corps" but I think it is clear that God has given us a bridge to the fullness of life. We no longer need to live hopeless, alienated, or angry lives. Jesus is the bridge - he has shown us the way to live, the way that leads to the fullness of joy and life with God. Many have crossed that bridge but many have not out of fear. Tonight the angels still whisper to us - "Do not be afraid."