Psalm 100; Luke 2.1-14
God said “Yes!”
That’s the heart and soul of Christmas …
The birth of Jesus, called the Christ … the Anointed One, the Messiah, the one who points the way to the truth … who is the truth …
The truth that sets humanity free from the lies and deceptions of sin … the truth that liberates and lays the groundwork for love … the kind of love that alone creates a life, a real life …
A life full of hope …
In Christ, we still hope …
Hope is not done hoping … if anything, Christmas, unleashes a whole new dynamic of hope …
Hope for a better world … hope: for ourselves, our loved ones … for all of God’s creatures, great and small … the earth, the air, the water.
The hope realized in Christ, grows larger …
Women and men of Good Will and Purpose are called to fulfill the hopes and dreams of every child … for safety and for peace … for comfy beds and full tummies:
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.
Is this too much to hope for?
Not at all … because God created the world in just such a way that the world and its resources can supply all our needs … it’s only sin, and its companion, greed, that hordes the earth’s wealth, and distributes it according to the interests of some, to the detriment of the many …
Yes, sin remains, doesn’t it?
In all of us … in each of us …
So, we still hope … we commit ourselves to the project - to the work of God … to fulfill the promises of Bethlehem - that unto us a Savior has been born, Christ the LORD …
God says “Yes!”
Yes to hope, and yes to peace, and Yes to Joy, and Yes to love.
God said Yes in the first moment of creation … the Spirit of God hovers over the dark swells of energy … God says, “Let there be light!”
God says Yes to Adam and Eve in their innocence and then in their sin … when Adam and Eve have to leave the Garden, God says Yes, again, and makes clothing for them … good clothing, sturdy clothing, but at a cost - an animal gave up its life to cloth two foolish human beings who chose self-interest rather than obedience … who then blame one another for the mess rather than admitting the truth … with two sons, one of whom kills the other in a fit of jealousy … and then, God be praised, a third son, Seth, in whom God says Yes again …
All along the way, God says Yes.
The Apostle Paul put it this way: For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaim … was not “Yes and No”, but in him it is always - “Yes.” For in him, every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.”
There is no message on the face of the earth more positive than the Gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ …
Our faith in Christ is not the only faith that God has created and sustains …
God is at work saying Yes everywhere … all across the face of the earth … in countless guises and many tongues … throughout the human story …
God says Yes, again and again …
Even as humankind often says No!
When humankind turns faith into condemnation …
When humankind, in its perversity, turns love into damnation … when humankind takes delight in some going to heaven, and others going to hell … playing with that foul idea, toying with it, to frighten children, to lay guilt upon guilt … to distress and destroy, and then go to war for it all …
Religious zealots here in the States, the Taliban banning women from college, religion gone wrong … even as it rakes in the money from the naive, the frightened, the gullible, and always the true believers … those who believe the rejection of many is somehow the best way to create a better world.
This day, I shout to the world, as loud as I can: Unto us a Savior has been born … God has said Yes, and will always say Yes to the world, to all of us … to every man, woman, and child … to the dogs and to the cats … to the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, to the critters that crawl upon the face of the earth … God says Yes.
And that makes us a people of Yes …
Yes opens up the door to new ideas, new ways of living, new patterns of thought …
Saying “Yes” can be downright frightening … disturbing … upsetting the apple cart …
When some said Yes to the children of Little Rock, that all the children of town could go to the same schools, with the same teachers, the same desks and the same pencils … some shouted out their hate, and said No - not all the children … we don’t want all the children … we hate some of the children … and they have no place in our schools, our neighborhoods, our homes, and our hearts.
When some said Yes to gays and lesbians - that all of us have the right to understand ourselves, and who we are, and to love as love manifests itself in our being … and some said No, we will not accept their love, we will not grant them their liberties; we will condemn them, fight them, beat them, and kill them. They have no place in our lives.
These same battles are being waged right now for all the trans-children and their families …
And for women’s rights to choose …
Some just keep on saying No … and they dress it up with Bible quotes and pious prayers … they blab about family values, and the American Way - and they haven’t a clue.
They’re blinded by their hate,
Chained in the deadly power of No.
Stuck in their ways, cannot move.
No wonder they’re angry - angry at everyone else, when they should turn to themselves and face the truth.
God says Yes … yes to love, and yes to freedom, and yes to all the complexities of the human story … how we love, and how we live, and how we all seek the same things: a place in the sunshine of God’s love, a place at the table for decent food and safe housing … good schools, safe neighborhoods … good jobs, fair wages … a chance to be me, and for you to be you.
God. says. Yes.
It costs God a lot to say Yes …
It’s costly to say Yes.
But you know what?
Saying No is even more expensive … saying No bars the door and pulls the curtains …
All my life, I’ve had the privilege of knowing people who know how to say Yes … they possess a quality of life second to none … life may not be easy for them … but they say Yes.
They commit themselves to the big projects, take on huge burdens … get the job done, and the world is better for it.
Think of the people in your life who say Yes.
The teacher in third grade, the minister with the youth group, the banker who gave you a loan, the people who’ve loved you … all along the way, the power of Yes …
Yes to kindness … generosity … let’s get it done … we’re on our way … tomorrow is our purpose, and today we move ahead.
Christmas Day … Christ is born … God says a mighty Yes to all the world, and the angels sing for joy.
Hallelujah and Amen!
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