Christmas Letter to St. John's, Waterbury, December 2010

Christmas Letter to the people of St. John’s, Waterbury,

December 2010

Dear Members and friends of St. John’s:

On a long wall in the science building of my childrens’ high school, passersby see a series of pictures.  First, a map of the universe shows many galaxies, with our Milky Way marked by an arrow.  Then follows a picture of our galaxy itself and our sun’s place in it, then a schematic of our solar system, then an image of Earth, then a view of the Western hemisphere, then North America, then New England, then Connecticut, then the town, then the school itself.  The science faculty want everyone who passes that wall to know we belong not only to our immediate world, but to the universe.

The Christmas Eve Gospel proclaims a similar message.

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

These words encompass the universe of Jesus’ time, and they spiral in like the pictures on the school wall:  Rome, Syria, Judea, Bethlehem, a manger, a child.

Luke wanted us to know just what sort of world greeted the child Jesus; a place ruled by a despot whose orders from a far away capitol set in motion a descending series of commands, finally compelling a carpenter and his pregnant wife to travel to a place of little refuge.

But Luke wants us to know something else as well.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them…

Suddenly, as if that opening universe picture on the school wall moved straight to the school building itself, traversing everything in between in a nanosecond, God’s own messengers come right to the local Bethlehem scene.  They proclaim with power that the one being born is the one in charge, God’s very self, as helpless as he seems, as contrary to appearances as it looks.  The emperor did not start this series of events unfolding, God did.  Rome then, or Washington, or Moscow or Beijing now may seem to be in the driver’s seat, but a more powerful force runs the universe, and ultimately, we are citizens of that realm guided by love and justice.

We celebrate love’s arrival this Christmas Eve and the Creator’s presence with us every Sunday.  Join us so our voices may rise up the way the angels’ song came down from so very far to change to world forever.

May your Christmas be joyous,

The Rev. Norman M. MacLeod

Interim Rector