Made Visible

Made Visible
John 1:1-18
Christmas Eve
December 24, 2023

This is the best night of the year. It is an amazing evening, with all that it awakens within us. The pervasive darkness is pierced by a thousand lights. The beauty of this sanctuary counters the fierceness of the weather. The music we make bubbles with joy. And then there’s that X Factor. Call it “community,” “friendship,” or “homecoming” – whatever it is, it is captured in that New Testament word “koinonia,” which simply means we are here together.

What inspires our celebration is the announcement of a baby’s birth. In the words of the prophet, “A child has been born for us; a son is given to us.” This birth sparks everything. A brand-new child can do that. I think of a dozen different fathers I have known, shaken to the core when a child is first placed into their arms. One spoke for all when he blurted out, “I didn’t know I could love anybody so much as when I first saw my baby.”

No doubt Mary and Joseph melted when Jesus arrived. During that pregnancy, so much was demanded of them: nutrition, good health, protection, emotional stability, and a whole lot of waiting. To make matters worse, a foreign emperor’s decree had inconvenienced the family. The young couple had to travel ninety miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, walking on foot for four or five days. When they arrived at Joseph’s ancestral home, there was no place to stay. The child was born in a borrowed room. With no available cradle, his mother placed him in a feeding trough. It was a challenging situation.

Despite it all, there was delight, joy, and deep gratitude - because every birth is a miracle. Not just that birth, but every birth. When a child comes to us, it prompts a hallelujah. It’s big news, the best news. “Unto us a child is born!” That is true every time a baby comes.

Yet in the Christmas birth there’s something else afoot. Mary, Joseph, and those around them wouldn’t know the full importance of Jesus’ birth for another thirty years. It will take even longer for people to wrap their brains around what happened. Ninety years after Christmas, the Gospel of John put it in the ancient poem that I have just read. Here is what he says: the Child born in Bethlehem is the sign that God is in love with the world.

Now, John tells us this because it is not obvious. Walk outside on a clear December night. The stars twinkle. The frigid air is bracing. See your breath, then trace a meteor as it falls across the night sky. It is a stunning sight, reminding you how small you are. You are alive to see it, even though that meteor’s been traveling a lot longer than you or I have been taking breaths.

The view is stunning. The sky is overwhelming. But there’s no evidence of love. Physics, yes. Mystery, to be sure. You can assume it had to originate from somewhere, that it didn’t happen by accident. But you don’t know how, where, or Who. You don’t know why. And the ancient poet declares, “In the beginning, there was a Word, a breath, a logic and intention.” Everything emerges from that Word that none of us ever heard.

The Poet tells us that same Word, breath, logic, and intention created life. Life ignited light, and light and life pervade all things. The Light sings joy into the universe. It fuels wisdom and intelligence. Light keeps shining, regardless of the darkness that attempts to snuff it out. Where does all of this come from? The Poet says, “God.” God is the Source. But what do we know about God? What kind of God is out there? We can never be sure…

… until the Child Jesus is born, until he grows up and matures, until that Mysterious Word speaks in him. Then things begin to happen. Broken people get mended. Hungry souls are fed. Injustices are untangled. Truth fractures all the lies. Grace cancels violence. The darkness cannot handle this. It conspires to silence him. Yet Jesus comes back. The light shines. Life abounds. He is with us. He is still here.

Those awakened by Jesus have always been the keepers of Christmas. They look upon this night to see a birth, and they see more than a birth. They recognize Christmas as the beginning of a rescue. It is a salvage operation, a mission from heaven to earth. The world has always seen glimpses that the God unseen by human eyes is up to something. The coming of Jesus makes it clear. God is deeply in love with the entire world. That’s why the angels are rejoicing. That is why we are singing. God so loved the world that God gave us Jesus.

One of my greatest memories of this church family is a night when we went into New York City. We heard Dave Brubeck, the renowned jazz pianist, was performing his Christmas cantata at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Enough of us were interested to fill a bus. But then the 9-11 attack happened. Everything was shaken, but we still wanted to go.

One of our church friends was a commercial pilot who lost colleagues in the attack. He told us that before he became a pilot, he had worked as a firefighter in Hell’s Kitchen. Members of his hose company were killed when the first tower fell. So, we wondered out loud: how could we show the survivors some love? How could we make that journey to the city redemptive?

It turns out that Brubeck’s Christmas music set the context for our day-long pilgrimage. It was a major production: big choir, jazz ensemble, and a mariachi band. Next the end of the performance, he put the Christmas message in 5/4 time. The words go like this:

   God’s love made visible, incomprehensible! Christ is invincible! His love shall reign.
   From love so bountiful, blessings uncountable. Make death surmountable.
   His love shall reign!  (c. Derry Music)

God’s love made visible. That is the point of Christmas. The Invisible God reveals how much this world is loved. It is a Word announced, not just to us, but to everyone. It’s a Word – the Word - not merely for those we know, but for strangers, too. Jesus has been sent into this world. He began to save us by loving us. When darkness conspired against him, he came back. Then he sent his Very Presence, his Breathing Spirit to us so that we would continue to show God’s love and make it visible.

We are loved. Every last one of us. That is truth and grace. It is light and life. It is God’s love enfleshed in Jesus. As we carried seventy-five homemade pies to the 9-11 first responders, we broke into song, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” We sang to them, and they sang to us. That’s the way love flows, from heaven to earth, from Jesus through us.

There wasn’t a dry eye in that fire station. Just peace, joy, and a whole lot of love. And that’s what God intended from the beginning.

(c) William G. Carter. All rights reserved.