A Christmas Eve Homily

December 24, 2009

Text: Luke 2:10-12

Have you ever thought you had a person pegged, figured out, only to discover one day that he or she was much more interesting, colorful, or deep than you had ever thought possible?  

Perhaps that person does something that reveals a dimension hitherto unknown. and you say to yourself or others: "I would never have guessed that William would ever do something like that," or "I didn't know he had it in him."

We had perceived that person to be rather one-dimensional or boorish and then they did something that opened up to us a rich personality or character of which we had not previously been aware.

Our understanding of someone's character or personality is heightened such that we will never look at him the same way again.

I experienced this with some regularity when I was training new lieutenants in the Army.  Typically, these men would undergo a couple of months of training in the classroom.  Some men excelled behind a desk with paper, pencil, books, and tests.  Others didn't.  Take these men out of the classroom into the field with a mission and men to lead, and the transformation was often stunning and quite unpredictable.

This often happens with seminarians, too.  The one that you perceive as a miserable, abject seminary student after a few years in the ministry is transformed.  You are amazed at the unveiling of depths of character and skill that you might never have predicted.

Something very much like that happens with the birth of Jesus.  What the world may have thought about God is revolutionized, transformed, even replaced.  Surely within the Hebrew Scriptures there was this latent potential hidden in typological and symbolic prophesy—that the God of Israel had more to him than man might have ever thought. But it remained dormant, hidden until Christmas day.

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While visiting New York City for our 30th anniversary my wife and I were able to get over and see the Galts and the Steadmans one afternoon and evening. Jamison has moved into the neighborhood where he will be planting the new church. And Brian Steadman will be taking over Jamison's duties at Park Slope Presbyterian Church.

Their new home and the church plant will be located in the Clinton Hill/Washington neighborhood of Brooklyn. Here are a few pictures of their new home and neighborhood.

Here are few of the Clinton Hill/Washington neighborhood:

 Their new place has a backyard (with grass) for the kids!

You can see updates on the Galt's church plant here.  

This past Sunday (May 31st) in the second message in my series on Genesis I talked about the Spirit as the divine agent of beautification/glorification in the world.  At the end I also said that humanity is empowered by the Spirit to carry forward God's program for the glorification of the cosmos.  In explaining that there is an aesthetic dimension to our vocations I lamented the rise of "vocational training" as a substitute for "liberal arts" education.  I also criticized the modern American rhetoric that reduces the purpose of education to "getting a job."  I realized afterwards that what I said might have been misunderstood to imply that some vocations are inferior to others.  What I intended to say is that all vocations contribute toward the glorification of the world.  We don't work merely to "make money" or because everybody "needs a job."  Whatever we do contributes toward humanity's ongoing beautification project.  Each one does their part to bring form, order, and light to the world as well as to fill the world with new things.  God worked this way in the creation week through his Word and Spirit; now we also under the Lordship of the Son and empowered by the Spirit are the authorized agents of transformation in the world.

One of the great things about my "job" as pastor is I get to think of ways to spend time with parishioners and seminary students.  Everybody is different and enjoys some dimensions of God's creation more than others.  Me, I love to capture images of God's world. It's always a delight to find someone in the congregation who shares that passion.

On Wednesday Weisan Hui and I took short trip late in the afternoon to Shaw Nature Reserve to see what kind of images we could capture.  We didnt' get all that many photos, but we did have a great time of fellowship and discussion.  I've included a few of my images.  I you click on them you can see the dozen or so more at my Smugmug site.