Introduction
For several years on Christmas Eve I took the role of one of the characters in the Christmas story and presented the story in a dramatic monologue. One year I might take the place of one of the shepherds visiting the stable at the birth, or another year it would be one of the wise men, and then again the innkeeper. Also in Passion Week I used to take the place of the Centurion who was in charge of the crucifixion of Jesus and presented the story from his perspective being converted in the end by the seven words uttered by Jesus on the cross. People in the congregation have told me that these stories have affected their lives significantly and that the events have become real to them. I have found that telling the stories have had an enormous influence on my faith. How? I found myself in the character that I was portraying. The story was my story. The character was me.
I used to have a book on my book shelf called “Find Yourself in the Bible“. It was a book about Relational Bible Study. We can have a bible study like that because the Bible is about us. The stories in the Bible are about what it means to be human. The Bible is about our growth toward wholeness as human beings. So, the stories in the Bible are our stories.
The story of Mary in Luke’s gospel is also our story, for Mary bears the Christ Child and there is a sense in which we all as human beings bear the Christ within us waiting to be born. I’ve always been fond of the hymn O| Little Town Of Bethlehem especially the fourth verse:
- O Holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend on us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born in us today
This is a spiritual experience that we can’t make happen. We often try to make spiritual experiences happen by the rituals and practices that we participate in but they don’t happen that way. Frederick Buechner in his book “The Hungering Dark” talks about being at St. Peter’s in Rome one Christmas Eve along with thousands of other people. There was music and much pageantry which was certainly impressive but his remark was:
- Whatever sense anyone might have of it being a holy time and a holy place is swallowed up by the mere spectical of it, – the countless voices and candles, the marble faces of Saints and Apostles and the hiss and shuffle of feet on the acres of mosaic..
We can’t make spiritual experiences happen but they do happen. The Holy Spirit comes upon us like a surprise. We are surprised by Joy. All that we can do is to be open to it as Mary was open to it in the story “Let it be with me as you say”. Not unlike Isaiah when he hears the words “Whom shall I send and who will go for us? He says, “Here am I, send me!”
We can be bearers of the Christ. It happens:
- When we become aware of God’s Love for us like the light breaking into the darkness
- When we can experience the acceptance of our selves and can reach out in acceptance of others
- When we discover our true selves beyond our egotism and self-centredness
- When we become aware of God’s presence and oneness with other people
- When we discover within us a burning desire for Shalom (peace , justice , well-being and compassion for all.
That is when the Christ of Peace is born in us and begins to grow in us like a tiny mustard seed. As it grows, we become the bearers of the love that was in Christ, to the world around us.
Illustrative material
Bearers of Love
How important it is to be carriers of Love! Love is the sun under which everything living thrives. In his autobiography, The Son of a Ragman, the actor Kirk Douglas talks about his mother as being warm and supportive but the impression he had of his father as being stern, untrusting, strict, and cold. One evening at school, the young Kirk Douglas had major role speaking and dancing, and singing in a play. He knew his mother would be there, but he seriously doubted that his father would. To his surprise and amazement, he looked up and saw his father. After the program he wanted his father to congratulate him in the ordinary sense, but his father true to form, wasn’t able to say anything. Instead he asked his son whether he would like to stop and get a five-cent ice-cream cone. As Douglas reflects back over all his awards in life, he said he prizes that five-cent ice cream cone even more than his Oscar. It was an act of love. It was the only way the father who was so inhibited could express his love. That was enough.
We all need to know that we are loved, unconditionally. The greatest gifts that we can give is love. It really is the little things that count. I have somewhere among my possessions little cards that children made when they were small on father’s day, on birthdays, at Christmas. Those I treasure most of all because they are a gift of love.
There are so many people willing to spread hate, discord, disharmony through diabolical debauchery that it is only love that can overcome such influence in the world. We need to be carriers of love
(From my archives The Kingdom Within Advent 3, 1999)
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Beyond the Patio 