Christmas Carols

Merry Christmas!  It's hard to believe, but it's here again.   I'd like to take a moment to sincerely welcome all of our visitors here with us.  The decorations are all set, the time of advent waiting is over, and now is the time to celebrate the fact that it's Christmas.  It's an incredible thing that we are all here to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas, Jesus Christ.  Every year, I like to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas.  It's amazing how a classic cartoon from 1965 can still speak to us today.  It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas.  It's so easy to zero in on the shopping season, the presents, the decorations, and everything else that goes along.  Those aren't bad things.  Each of them really do have their place, but before all of it, is the miracle we celebrate today.  I love that little scene at the end where Linus walks into the middle and reads from memory, the very Gospel we hear today.   This is what it's all about.  We are here for Jesus Christ.

Today is born a savior, who is Christ and Lord.  The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light.  The angels praised Glory to God in the highest.  The shepherds in their flocks by night were amazed.  Jesus Christ, the eternal God, the creator of the universe, the savior of the world, had become a human being, born to a virgin, in a little town called Bethlehem.   That's the mystery, that's what we celebrate, that's why were' here.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting down trying to think to myself, what am I going to talk about this Christmas?  For the past few months, I've really been honestly trying to read from some of the saints, to really dig into prayer, and one day, during mass a thought came to me. 

When I was back in school, one of my professors used to say "If you want to know the faith, listen closely to the words of the old hymns"  Christmas is one of those times when some of the hymns we sing are ancient, full of meaning, and really teach what we believe.  Even some of the more recent ones can really teach us about our faith.  So there's two I'd like us to really reflect on tonight.  We began tonight with the great Christmas Carol "O Come all ye Faithful," which as hymns go, isn't really that old, it's only from 1751.    By comparison, Creator of the Stars of Night that we sing for advent, was from the late 600s. 

As we were singing that song during the entrance today, we're singing exactly what we're doing.  We come here, today, to this church to adore him, to adore Jesus Christ.  On this day, Christmas, so many years ago, was the first time when people really gathered together to see the real presence of Jesus Christ here on earth.  They came forward, the rich, the poor, the angels and the shepherds to see the newborn king.  The Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.  I was just reading that those shepherds, in Bethlehem, because it was so close to Jerusalem, would have been raising lambs, very special lambs, according to the Jewish law, so that they would be able to be used the next year for the Passover.  They were in their fields at night, during birthing season, and so as they were delivering their lambs for the passover, so the true Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the true passover lamb was born at the very same time.   Then, at mass, right after the consecration, right at the bread has become the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ, what happens?  The priest lifts up the Host and we fall down on our knees in adoration, proclaiming, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.  We come to adore him!  That's why as Catholics, when we take time to visit with Jesus in the blessed sacrament outside of the mass, we use that same word, we come to Adore him.  It's the reason we have a church, it's the reason for everything.  It's great to have a Church with a choir, to have good preaching, to have a friendly congregation, but at the end of the day, that's not why we're here.  We're here…to come and adore Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the one who saves us from our sins, the one who is born today.

That's where I was when about 2 weeks ago, as I was thinking of what to say tonight, the strangest Christmas carol came to me, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized, in a real way, it sums up not only the mystery of Christmas, but exactly who we are as a Christian people and what we do right here when we come to mass.  The song was one of the more recent carols written, only in 1941, it's a simple little song, called the "little drummer boy."  We all know the song, but listen to the lyrics without all the pa rum pa pum pum's.   It goes, Come, they told me, our newborn king to see.  Our finest gifts we bring, to lay before the king, so to honor him when we come.   Little baby, I am a poor boy too, I have no gift to bring, that's fit to give a king, shall I play for you, on my drum?  

Jesus is our king, they each were to bring their finest gifts, gifts for a king, but here is this poor boy who looks around and realizes that he has nothing to give that's fit for a king.  So, he humbly offers what he has.  That's exactly what each of us are doing every single time we approach our Lord and savior.  If we're really honest with ourselves, that little baby is responsible for everything.  Before time began, he gave us the sun, the moon and the stars, he gave us the air we breathe and the ground we walk on.  He gave us life itself, and he loves us so much that he was willing to take on human flesh, as our savior, so that he could someday walk the road to calvary and die in our place.  If we really see that, if we know that from the depth of our being…every single one of us really is like that little boy, completely poor with no gift that could ever be fit for our king.  So what do we do?  We offer to him what we do have, our very selves.  That's exactly what the little boy does.  He offers to Jesus, the very gift that he holds most dear, his musical talent on the drum.  That’s' what each of us do every time we come to mass.  We remember, it's not as if the choir is performing and we're the audience.  We are all here, coming to Jesus and offering our gifts to him.  Our gifts of our voices, of our words, of our hearts.  We're praising him with all of our being, and we adore him with all of our heart.

For today it born our savior, we come today just as that little drummer boy did, to offer our gifts, unworthy as they are to the king, and to remember the real reason we are here, to come and adore the one who made us, who has taken flesh, as in a few short moments, we realize, he will be with us, right in front of us, body, blood, soul, and divinity, as we fall down and adore the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world….truly present among us.

Merry Christmas