“The Spirit of Christmas”
Wayne McLaughlin
December 27, 2020
First Sunday after Christmas
Montevallo Presbyterian Church
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Isaiah 61.10—62.3 Contemporary English Version
I celebrate and shout
because of my Lord God.
God’s saving power and justice
are the very clothes I wear.
They are more beautiful
than the jewelry worn
by a bride or a groom.
11 The Lord will bring about
justice and praise
in every nation on earth,
like flowers blooming
in a garden.
62 Jerusalem, I will speak up
for your good.
I will never be silent
till you are safe and secure,
sparkling like a flame.
2 Your great victory will be seen
by every nation and king;
the Lord will even give you
a new name.
3 You will be a glorious crown,
a royal headband,
for the Lord your God.
Psalm 148 Contemporary English Version
Shout praises to the Lord!
Shout the Lord’s praises
in the highest heavens.
2 All of you angels,
and all who serve him above,
come and offer praise.
3 Sun and moon,
and all of you bright stars,
come and offer praise.
4 Highest heavens,
and the water
above the highest heavens,
come and offer praise.
5 Let all things praise
the name of the Lord,
because they were created
at his command.
6 God made them to last forever,
and nothing can change
what God has done.
7 All creatures on earth,
you obey God’s commands,
so come praise the Lord!
8 Sea monsters and the deep sea,
fire and hail,
snow and frost,
and every stormy wind,
come praise the Lord!
9 All mountains and hills,
fruit trees and cedars,
10 every wild and tame animal,
all reptiles and birds,
come praise the Lord!
11 Every king and every ruler,
all nations on earth,
12 every man and every woman,
young people and old,
come praise the Lord!
13All creation, come praise
the name of the Lord.
Praise God’s name alone.
The glory of God is greater
than heaven and earth.
14 Like a bull with mighty horns,
the Lord protects
the faithful nation Israel,
because they belong to God.
Shout praises to the Lord!
Galatians 4.4-7 Common English Bible
4 But when the fulfillment of the time came, God sent the Son, born through a woman, and born under the Law. 5 This was so he could redeem those under the Law so that we could be adopted. 6 Because you are sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit of the Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and if you are God’s child, then you are also an heir through God.
Luke 2.22-40 The Message
22-24 Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God as commanded in God’s Law: “Every male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God,” and also to sacrifice the “pair of doves or two young pigeons” prescribed in God’s Law.
25-32 In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:
God, you can now release your servant;
release me in peace as you promised.
With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;
it’s now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
and of glory for your people Israel.
33-35 Jesus’ father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother,
This child marks both the failure and
the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted—
the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
But the rejection will force honesty,
as God reveals who they really are.
36-38 Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.
39-40 When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him.
SERMON TEXT:
During December we sometimes hear someone talk about “the spirit of Christmas.” They are usually referring to the way the season brings out the generosity of people, and perhaps the ambiance of cheerfulness. Two of our readings for today speak explicitly about the “Spirit” of Christmas. I’m referring to the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit shows up four times in the readings appointed for today. Three times in Luke and once in Galatians. Let’s start in Luke.
Simeon & the Spirit
In the second chapter of Luke a man named Simeon has the Spirit of Christmas. Luke mentions three ways the Spirit is at work in the life of Simeon. Luke says:
…the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple.
So, the “Spirit of Christmas” functioned in three ways: She rested on him; She revealed something to him; and She guided him. That is what the Spirit of Christmas does: gives a sense of spiritual presence, puts ideas into our heads, and nudges us in a particular direction.
These activities are everyday miracles. When we feel the sense of the sacred, that’s the Spirit resting on us. When you get a shiver going up your spine while watching a movie, or at a concert, or in bed with your spouse/partner. That’s the Spirit resting upon you—the Spirit giving you a touch of the divine.
In the Ordinary
One day you are sitting around thinking, and all of a sudden a new idea pops into your mind. “Wow,” you say to yourself, “I never thought of it like that before.” Or, “Oh my God, now I understand!” That’s the Spirit revealing something to you. The Spirit works in our everyday thoughts.
Or have you ever been going somewhere and you suddenly have a hunch about something, and you turn the car around and change your destination? Something tells you to go see someone. Or you decide to call a person you haven’t talked to for a long time, and it turns out that they had been wishing you would call. That’s the Spirit nudging you; planting a hunch in your psyche; giving you knowledge by intuition.
The Spirit of God works in our thoughts, our intuitions, and our gut feelings. (Although sometimes our gut feelings turn out to be the pizza we had the night before.) You see, we don’t have to wait for miracles to happen in order to experience the Spirit. Everything that happens is a miracle. All of life is a miracle. The miracle of thought, of intuition, of emotional knowledge—all come from the Spirit. Human consciousness is a miracle. Day dreams are miracles. The stories we write every night in our dreams are miracles. God is everywhere. The Spirit is at work all the time and in all places.
The Spirit of Christmas is ubiquitous.
The Spirit of Christmas leads old Simeon to find the baby Jesus in the temple with his parents. Simeon knows right away that God has let him see the Chosen One before he (Simeon) dies. He is so happy. He takes the forty-day-old child into his arms and declares him to be the light to non-Jews, and the glory of the Jewish people.
The Spirit of Christmas is the Holy Spirit—the presence and power of God. That Spirit is the same Spirit that Jesus was anointed with so he could heal the broken-hearted and bring liberation to the oppressed, the mistreated, and the forgotten. The Spirit of Christmas is the Spirit of the Lord, the Giver of Life, the One who gathers people into the Beloved Community.
The Way it Happened
We may have grown up thinking that when God called Abraham and Sarah to leave their home and go somewhere God would show them, that there was a booming voice from a big guy in the sky, telling Abraham what to do. But as we mature in our faith we come to understand that the call of Abraham was a thought that Abraham had one day. It was such a strange, yet compelling, thought, he knew it was a thought put into his head by the Creator of heaven and earth. So, Abraham and Sarah followed that thought, picked up everything they owned, and started out on a journey without knowing where they were going.
The Bible tells us that on the Day of Pentecost there was the sound of a strong wind, and tongues of fire descended on the head of each Apostle. The Holy Spirit came as wind and fire. Who knows what group dynamics were going on that day as they prayed in the upper room. Those gathered there must have come to a consensus that there was a force at work, like the wind, an energy, like wind and fire, that motivated them and moved them to go public and boldly speak the Good News. Movements for human rights and liberation sometimes feel like the answer is blowing in the wind. Liberation movements set people on fire for their cause. So, yes, there was "wind" and "fire" that day. And we've all felt it.
The Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Christmas, doesn’t have to be a thundering voice from heaven or miraculous fireworks on earth. The Spirit works through our thoughts, our hunches, our intuitions, our convictions about the truth that liberates. The Spirit works through artists and musicians and athletic competition and the play of children.
Discern
I read a news story recently about the mayor of Lincoln County, Tennessee where Covid-19 was surging. The mayor said he was not imposing a mandate to wear masks because he was waiting for “the approval of the Holy Spirit.” Sometimes we confuse the voice of the Spirit with our own prejudices or ideologies. Not every thought or hunch is the Spirit speaking to us. We have to learn to discern. That is why it is important to be part of a worshiping community where prayer, liturgy, and education is part of our maturing process.
Paul’s Christmas
Our Epistle Lesson is from the letter to the Galatians. It’s Paul’s version of the Christmas story. Very brief and to the point. No angels, no wise men, no stable, no manger. Just a woman (not named), and the Jewish context. Paul writes:
When the fulfillment of the time came, God sent the Son, born through a woman, and born under the Law.
Through a woman; under the Law. Now, that’s a brief Christmas story. But there is more. Paul says:
This was so he could redeem those under the Law so that we could be adopted.
Two important words there: “redeem” and “under.” To redeem is to set free, to liberate. He was born under the Law in order to liberate those who were under the Law. It seems reasonable to say that this liberation from "under" results in being raised up, lifted up, or brought higher; being brought out from under. Therefore, Christmas is a story about liberation and lifting up. Paul continues:
Because you are sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit…
Oh! The Spirit. The Spirit of Christmas. Paul says:
God sent the Spirit of the Son into our hearts…
Oh! The Spirit of the Son. So the Spirit of Christmas is the Spirit of the Son! The Son and the Spirit are of the same substance, so to speak. And Paul says:
The Spirit of the Son comes into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”
The Inner Father
A psychoanalyst named Joao dos Santos tells a story about children who were brought together for a game in which they were to launch an assault on a castle. The teachers had prepared everything and the whole class was about to assault the castle, in full daylight, with swords and helmets made of cardboard. But just as the battle was about to begin, one little four-year-old refused to take part. He began to cry, and said, “I’m afraid. I have no strength. I can’t fight a battle, my father is in Paris.” Now, none of the other children had parents present. But this little boy was speaking of an absence on a different level. His fear had to do with the fact that he had not yet internalized the presence of his father in such a way as to give him confidence in his own abilities.
To be able to call God "Abba" is not just a matter of relating to a distant God “out there” somewhere. To know God as Abba (or Amma) is to have appropriated the fatherly or motherly reality of God as a good, loving, caring Parent in such a way as to have access to the Spiritual Presence of strength, love, and wisdom. To call God Abba/Amma is to have an inner sense of the Goodness of Life—that Life is trustworthy and beautiful. To call God Abba is to be able to live with hope and experience joy.
So, the Spirit of Christmas works from within us, enabling us to address God as Abba (father). [Or if you prefer, Amma (mother).] The Spirit is what produces in us an intimate, trusting relationship to God—just like a child who trusts and loves her parent. The universe is friendly. Life is beneficent. We can depend upon God. To call God Abba/Amma is to be confident of an inner power available to us in every situation.
Abba and Angst
It also means that we can address God just as Jesus did—with the word Abba. There is only one place in the New Testament where Jesus’ use of the Aramaic term “Abba” is retained in the Greek text, and that is Mark 14.36:
Jesus said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.”
In the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is shaking. He is in anguish, on the threshold of a painful, shameful ending to his life. He is bargaining with God. Is there another way? Remove this cup from me. Please, God—please, Abba—don’t make me go through this.
It is the Spirit of Christmas, the Spirit of the Son, that enables us, even within our anxious moments to approach God with the trusting, childlike word, Abba.
Liberation
Paul continues:
Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and if you are God’s child, then you are also an heir through God.
No longer a slave. The Spirit of Christmas liberates us from the bondage of any religious conception of God as slave-driver, God as monster, God as inhumane, God as enemy, God as wrathful judge.
The Spirit of Christmas, the Holy Spirit, is the liberating Spirit. She gives us the assurance that we are God’s children—loved, cherished, dignified, and precious in God’s sight.
The Spirit of Christmas is that power that liberates us to be our true selves, and sets us on a mission to liberate others. It offers a certain kind of joy as we go about our ordinary lives, not worrying about being good enough, accepting ourselves as we are, and accepting others as fellow travelers on this human journey.
All Year Long
We sometimes hear that Christmas should in some sense be all year long. We should continue to be generous and cheerful. The truth is that the “Spirit of Christmas” is present and working all year long. Every day the Holy Spirit is our companion, our inner source of strength, and our guiding wisdom.
God is present in our thoughts, in our dreams, in our friendships, in our motivations, in our desire to advocate for justice and equality, and in our times of silence and sadness and anger. The Spirit is as close to us as our breathing. In fact, the Spirit is the Breath of Life.
