Homily for Christmas: Reflections on The Holy Family… Of Humanity

The Christmas story again takes center stage in our lives…
We have the new film, The Nativity Story” playing in our theaters, and proclaiming that the Gospel stories are an accurate and factual depiction of their travels, travails, and the triumph of orthodoxy.

This story is central to our Western cultural and religious heritage. However, most churches and approaches to its implied theology stop from extending this story to each of us today;

Tradition states that the story focuses only on three people… I disagree, for I attest that the lasting value of this story is essentially a human one-for it is the story of families, children, love and hope.

I propose that we need at Christmas, and at every other day of the year, a greater sense, a radical inclusiveness, a universal welcoming and a sustained sense of belong together in one universal human family. Likewise, I affirm that this church community declares that we are all members of a holy family-that we are all sisters and brothers in the household of God or good.

According to the conservative, traditional and most accepted version of the Christmas story, there is a miraculous event, centering on a supernatural pregnancy.

Additionally, since I am not one who is likely to limit my mind or my heart from receiving various sources of inspiration, be they angels or dreams, I cannot confidently limit or restrict the cosmic possibilities of what a God can or cannot manifest, or reveal.

Yet, even with this admission, I am reluctant to accept this usual rendition of the Christmas story as a singular, historical and exclusive event! Instead, I see the purpose of retelling this story as a recalling of our potentials and possibilities that live within each of us, and how they can be born within and among us.

I believe, this night and every night, that every child is holy, and that the Christmas season reminds us of the promise inherent in every child-that each person holds within them the promise of an exalting spirit, a creative courage, and an enduring love.

Christmas, then, is the rebirth of goodness in the hearts of humankind. It is important that we tell this story every year; because it is so much more than a historical or poetic account; It is language empowered as a timeless myth; a myth that, when its fuller implications are understood, becomes for us a universal story for humankind.

Through the singing of traditional carols, and offering our reflections and prayers we connect to the original story and this helps to make it our own…

Through the giving of gifts we gratefully acknowledge the rebirth of caring, generosity and the expressions of love in our world. From this vantage point, we can declare that every child was born in a manger, and that we welcome every child whose possibilities and potential live in us.

In the original language, the Bethlehem event was described as being on a child being born with a Holy Spirit, not by a Holy Spirit….

For our liberal theological approach, this means that Jesus was not born a god, but a human with a latent divinity- a holy potential; a spiritual nature that can learn how to heal, how to teach, and save humanity from itself!

In this outlook, we can see Jesus as a model for what it means to live an inspired life- to live as a compassionate, just, unselfish, and noble person; someone who understands the power found in caring; found in love.

Now, does this radical and inclusive interpretation of the Christmas story make it less believable? Does the fact that it is told from a narrow point of view rather than as a universal story mean that we should throw out all the accumulated beauty and tradition? Of course not!

And while a convincing case could be made for toning down its shallow side and its materialism, the story itself acts as a reminder of the promise: that what is born within each person is the hope for humanity; that our potential for dignity, equality, and justice lies within each of us.

In our remembering, let us recall that the task of our lives is to contribute to knowledge, and to the advancement of our culture by redeeming human evils, and promote opportunities for caring, support and healing among us.

The story of Jesus’ birth recalls our beginnings… Each child has within her or himself a holy hope, a willing spirit, and each child contains within them their destiny of discovery-finding out their value and purpose in life.

The seemingly exclusive doctrine of the Incarnation cannot be seen as a singular miracle that happened once in a stable long ago… It is miraculous because it is repeated in every birth, and whenever a child draws its first breath and knows that it is loved and safe….

Children are our joy, but they are larger and grander than that, as every child becomes the hope of our world. We, who are their parents, teachers, role models, friends and church elders have to value their presence among us, and to cherish our responsibility to teach and model for them what it means to be alive, to be ethical, caring, just, and loving…

This season, may each of us become as open and are loving as Mary, who kept her trust, her faith in her uncertainty; May we have the courage to accept circumstances with grace and nobility as Joseph, even to the point of listening to our dreams, knowing that future generations depend on us…

Let this Christmas, and every Christmas, remind us to move beyond polite expectations, outward appearances, and economic conditions. Let us give birth to a fuller meaning of community, and recognize the face of the Christ Child in each other.

Together, adults and children, we can create a manger in our hearts, knowing that our lives when filled with love and hope shine like a Bethlehem star, and we all participate in the family of God or good, warming our hearts with peace, justice, and love.

Amen. So Be It!