William H. Willimon - Christmas Service (December 25, 1993)

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-	We have begun this service	0:15
	by singing a favorite Christmas hymn,	0:19
	Oh Come All Ye Faithful.	0:24
	Come let us adore Him.	0:27
	And you have come here to church this Christmas Sunday.	0:31
	Coming to adore the new born King.	0:35
	And yet you will note that that hymn is best sung not	0:40
	at the beginning of a service but at the end	0:44
	because the hymn is beckoning us to come and adore	0:48
	the Lord, not in the church, not in the temple,	0:51
	but in the world.	0:55
	Come let us adore Him.	0:57
	Come let us go see in the manger and where the shepherds are	0:59
	in the world.	1:03
	It is a hymn sung going out of church and into the world	1:04
	where the Lord is born.	1:09
	And the world that is the problem	1:13
	often between us and Christmas.	1:17
	Where do we adore the Lord?	1:21
	And how do we adore the Lord?	1:25
	A number of years ago the,	1:30
	a group of merchants at the shopping mall	1:32
	asked the council of churches if we would set up a,	1:35
	an appropriate seasonal display at the mall.	1:38
	And so a committee was appointed and some	1:43
	creative person on the committee	1:45
	suggested that we take as the theme	1:47
	the words from the beloved Christmas carol,	1:51
	Christ Was Born for This.	1:54
	Christ Was Born for This.	1:59
	And so we set up a slide projector and a screen	2:01
	and the slide projector showed continuously on the	2:06
	screen scenes of current events.	2:10
	There were scenes from war and poverty and people	2:13
	in the streets and also scenes of families	2:18
	around the Christmas tree and people singing	2:21
	Christmas carols.	2:24
	And then a tape played continuously,	2:26
	Christ Was Born for This.	2:28
	Christ Was Born for This.	2:31
	About a day after the display went up we got a call	2:35
	from the person who administered the mall	2:39
	and he asked up to take the seasonal display down.	2:43
	People just don't like to come to Christmas shopping	2:50
	and see scenes of war and poverty and things like that.	2:54
	It's just not appropriate for Christmas.	2:58
	And you can see the merchant's point.	3:03
	We have come here to rejoice in the birth	3:06
	of the Christ child.	3:08
	We have not come to talk about things like war	3:09
	and poverty and	3:11
	riots and	3:13
	we've come to adore the baby.	3:16
	And joy and babies go together.	3:20
	For what is any longer anticipated and what is greeted	3:24
	with unrestrained joy anymore than the birth of a baby.	3:29
	Babies and joy.	3:34
	And yet, what is more frightening than the birth of a baby.	3:37
	Frightening.	3:45
	Oh, there is joy for the young parents.	3:47
	Joy at the first.	3:49
	But then eventually come other days and there are bills	3:52
	to be paid and clothing to be bought	3:56
	and education to be financed.	3:58
	And it's interesting that it's sort of there that we	4:02
	encounter Mary and Joseph today.	4:05
	Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus	4:09
	come to the temple at Jerusalem for the dedication.	4:12
	And the prescribed offering	4:17
	for the day of dedication of the first born male child	4:21
	in Leviticus is a young lamb.	4:24
	And yet the law says that if you are too poor	4:29
	to afford a lamb, a couple of turtle doves,	4:33
	a couple of pigeons would do.	4:36
	You note in the story that Mary and Joseph	4:39
	offer a couple of birds.	4:42
	What does that tell you about Mary and Joseph's	4:47
	economic situation?	4:49
	What does that tell you about the challenges these	4:52
	parents will face in the future of this child?	4:55
	We sometimes refer to children as gifts of God.	4:59
	But there are many parents here who can testify	5:04
	they are some of the most expensive gifts God ever gives us	5:06
	in many different ways.	5:11
	You hold this baby in your arms and you cherish it	5:14
	and you rejoice	5:17
	and yet any parent knows that there will be other days.	5:20
	There will be long late nights pacing the floor	5:24
	until that little one returns.	5:28
	As one woman told me, you can wear out your knees in prayer	5:32
	when that little one turns 16 and begins to drive the car.	5:38
	There will be disappointments.	5:43
	There will be fierce disagreements.	5:45
	There will be words exchanged.	5:47
	There will be paths taken and not.	5:48
	Hold that baby in your arms and cherish it	5:52
	and rejoice because there will be other days	5:55
	not so joyful.	6:00
	Beneath proud parental joy,	6:04
	there runs another current.	6:07
	Fearful anticipation for what the future may hold.	6:10
	Babies bring joy but babies also thrust us forward	6:16
	beyond today, into tomorrow.	6:22
	Today there is joy but what of tomorrow?	6:24
	But why on this great day of celebration and joy	6:30
	mention fear?	6:36
	We've waited for this day.	6:38
	Day of nativity.	6:40
	Day when Isaiah the prophet at last sings I will rejoice	6:42
	in the Lord.	6:48
	The white upon our alter is reserved by the church	6:49
	for only the most extravagantly joyful days of the	6:53
	liturgical year.	6:56
	Christmas, day of unrestrained joy.	6:58
	And we come to the temple in Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph	7:05
	for their celebration of the nativity.	7:10
	But in today's gospel we meet on the way to the temple	7:15
	a couple of old people hanging out down at the temple.	7:19
	A couple of old people.	7:24
	Simeon and Anna who've been waiting a long time	7:27
	for joy.	7:30
	And like many old people we can tell that they	7:32
	just cherish babies.	7:35
	Simeon takes baby Jesus out of Mary's hands	7:37
	and praises God for the gift of this fresh life.	7:42
	And the old man says at last thy servant is ready	7:48
	to depart in peace.	7:51
	I'm ready to die.	7:53
	I have seen salvation.	7:54
	And Mary and Joseph are amazed at what Simeon tells	7:57
	them about their baby.	8:00
	And Simeon then blesses the baby and his parents.	8:03
	My aunt was dying of cancer.	8:10
	And she was hanging on to life	8:15
	but she told everybody who visited,	8:16
	I am going to wait until I see my first grandchild.	8:18
	And when the grandchild was born,	8:24
	he was taken over to the hospital and to where she was	8:26
	and placed in her arms	8:30
	and she visibly improved.	8:34
	It was amazing.	8:37
	And yet the night afterwards, she quietly died.	8:40
	She had seen new life into her family.	8:46
	She had held this baby in her arms	8:49
	and then she departed in peace.	8:51
	And that's the way Simeon said it was for him	8:56
	when he held the new baby.	9:00
	Simeon blessed the parents	9:03
	but it was a strange blessing.	9:06
	When Simeon blessed the child he said	9:08
	this child is going to cause the rise and the fall	9:10
	of many in Israel.	9:15
	This child will be resisted and then he looked Mary	9:17
	straight in the eye and he said a sword shall also	9:23
	pierce your heart.	9:27
	That's a strange thing to say about a baby	9:32
	and a strange thing to say to a couple of new parents.	9:34
	Opposition, falling, rising, piercing with a sword.	9:37
	Is that appropriate baby talk?	9:44
	Is that appropriate Christmas talk?	9:45
	We have come to church to celebrate the birth of the	9:50
	baby Jesus, to sing the Christmas songs we love to sing.	9:53
	But have you noted there're less people here on the	9:59
	Sunday after Christmas than there were here	10:02
	on the services before Christmas.	10:05
	Now why is that?	10:08
	The church in its wisdom on this Sunday	10:12
	has us read of this strange encounter between a	10:15
	prophetic old man and woman	10:19
	and the baby Jesus and his parents.	10:21
	As if to say, people after we've gotten rid of all	10:24
	the shopping mall jingles and all of the fake ersatz	10:28
	Christmas joy.	10:33
	Now at last we are ready to talk about real joy.	10:34
	Old Simeon knew that in this life	10:41
	any new child brings about as much pain as joy.	10:45
	We come to church and	10:50
	we're confronted by a couple of old people.	10:52
	The baby says to us life, Simeon speaks of death.	10:55
	The glorious temple in Jerusalem with all of its	11:02
	opulence becomes a stark backdrop for this poor	11:05
	peasant couple with nothing to offer for their baby	11:09
	but a couple of pigeons.	11:12
	Today's scripture is full of conflict and contrast	11:15
	and the warm lovely light of the manger is contrasted	11:21
	with a dark, cold cross on a hill.	11:25
	This is not the message that the world wants to hear.	11:29
	The world wants to celebrate.	11:33
	To dance to Christmas jingles.	11:36
	To overspend in shopping malls.	11:38
	Untruthfully to envision itself as happy and peaceful	11:41
	and generous and good.	11:45
	But now on December 26, after the shopping mall jingles	11:48
	is silent.	11:52
	After we've had the office parties and the buying	11:53
	and the giving, the church gathers to talk about joy,	11:55
	real joy.	11:59
	Christmas joy is not some fantasy trip into some	12:01
	never-never land.	12:05
	It's about a God that loves us so much that becomes	12:07
	one of us.	12:12
	Looks like us, feels like us, hurts and dies like us.	12:14
	A God who comes to us has got to be a God willing to get	12:20
	his hands dirty in the conflicted human condition.	12:26
	A God who comes to tell the truth about us has got to be	12:31
	a God that	12:35
	is willing to cause the fall and rising of many.	12:38
	He shall be a sword piercing our hearts as much a comfort.	12:43
	Old Simeon had lived long enough to know that if this God	12:50
	wants to save and bless us, somehow this God must	12:54
	confront the worst about us.	12:58
	The bad things we do to one another,	13:01
	the terrible things we do to ourselves.	13:03
	This confrontation would not be cheap.	13:08
	This cuddly baby Jesus in Simeon's old wrinked arms	13:12
	would grow up, would speak the truth about us,	13:15
	would die for us.	13:19
	And that's why the cross stands	13:21
	over the manger this morning.	13:23
	And Christmas is also about Good Friday.	13:26
	Jesus is joy but he is no simple joy.	13:30
	So if you want an image of Christmas, let it be this.	13:37
	An old man holding in his arms a baby.	13:42
	Simeon's words challenge our notion of blessing.	13:48
	This babe in the old man's arms will be our salvation.	13:52
	But all this talk about swords and sadness	13:57
	and people rising and falling	14:00
	remind us that our salvation won't be cheap.	14:03
	If we are to be saved,	14:08
	if God wants to do something about us and our world,	14:11
	about our cruelty and our fear and our confusion	14:16
	and our sin,	14:19
	it will be salvation with pain.	14:24
	Something has got to die, in order for something to be born.	14:29
	Real joy is joy which is honest and truthful	14:38
	and does something about the pain.	14:43
	Joy which comes in the middle of realism,	14:47
	about what ails us.	14:51
	Joy which does not flinch in the face of the facts of life.	14:53
	One Christmas Eve I came to the service at our little	15:02
	church and I looked up and found that the alter guild	15:06
	had just banked dozens and dozens of poinsettias	15:10
	all over the alter.	15:14
	And I knew something was wrong and I looked	15:17
	and despite all these beautiful poinsettias I realized	15:19
	what was wrong.	15:23
	All the poinsettias were over,	15:23
	they were all covering the cross.	15:25
	And I said to the alter guild chair person,	15:29
	I said isn't there a rule in the alter guild book	15:31
	that nothing is to cover the cross,	15:34
	that every, every	15:36
	you are to put nothing on the alter in front of the cross.	15:37
	And she said well yeah but we decided it's Christmas	15:42
	and we thought it would be better to focus on the beautiful	15:46
	flowers, rather than the cross.	15:49
	And besides the cross is just so out of place this time	15:53
	of year, don't you think so?	15:57
	It was only later that I read that one of the reasons	16:03
	that the poinsettia was chosen as the flower of Christmas	16:07
	was not only because it bloomed in certain countries	16:13
	during this time of the year,	16:17
	but that its blossoms are red.	16:20
	Blood red.	16:24
	Rejoice.	16:30
	Christ was born for this.	16:33
	(organ playing)	16:48

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - Christmas Service (December 25, 1993)

Description:

Sermon start time: 00:15. Sermon end time: 16:38.
The preacher argues that real joy, the Christmas joy, must speak to pain, for only by acknowledging the pains and the sufferings of the world can the Incarnation be meaningful and relevant to human life. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4959cp8c

Date:

December 25, 1993

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Christmas

Biblical Book:

Luke

Chapter and Verse:

Luke 2:22-40

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0681
ref9350_4m4
uachapelsermaud
duke:321269
dcrau001446
ark:/87924/r4959cp8c
46d9e3f2-5ab9-43cf-bdf9-b70dd1b2fb0d

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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