American Church in Paris - Sermons

ACP HOME - About Us - Weekly Church Activities - Music at the ACP - The Women of the Church - FACC Activities

Sermon Archives - Past ACP Sermons

The Christmas Spirit by Rev. Carol M. Simpson, Assoc. Pastor 26 December 1999--Christmas TEXTS: Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:22-40 © 1999 Carol M. Simpson

Christmas is over. Soon we will put away the decorations, take down the tree and repack our nativity set into a box to sit forgotten on a high shelf or perhaps in the "cave" until next year. Christmas is over, but hopefully not forgotten! To much of the world, the "Christmas Spirit" translates into glitz and glitter, into frenzied commercial activity, into trimmings and trappings without any real meaning. But for us, for those of us who gather here this morning, the "Christmas Spirit" is so much more. When Christmas ends, our work begins, as it did for Mary and Joseph.

We know the story well. We know of Gabriel's words to Mary and of her submission to God's will. We know that Joseph, though he had decided to quietly divorce Mary, bravely took her as his wife after the angel reassured him and confirmed the outrageous tale Mary had told about being pregnant by the Holy Spirit. We know that in difficult circumstances they journeyed to Bethlehem because the law decreed that they must be enrolled, and we know that while they were there, Mary gave birth to God's Son. It is clear from the Christmas story that Mary and Joseph are people of faith. They are surely familiar with numerous Old Testament scriptures and prophecies regarding the coming of a messiah. They are willing to be used by God to make the preposterous plan become reality. And today's scripture tells us that after the birth, they continued to fulfill their religious obligations.

Old Testament Law placed three requirements on Mary and Joseph when Jesus was born. First, on the eighth day after his birth, Jesus was to be circumcised. Luke 2:21, the verse immediately preceding today's reading says, "After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb." Circumcision was the sign of being part of God's covenant people, and the ceremony was usually performed in the parent's home. It was also usually the time at which the child was officially named. Thirty-three days pass between the events of verse twenty-one and those of verse twenty two. Custom dictated that forty days after the birth of a male child, the mother was to offer two sacrifices at the temple for her purification. Because blood was involved in the birth, the mother became ceremonially unclean. The sacrifices restored her ritual purity and also served as a reminder of the curse of sin upon humanity. The Law required that a lamb be offered as a burnt offering and a dove or pigeon as a sin offering. Those too poor to buy or to bring a lamb could offer two doves or two pigeons. Since Mary and Joseph offered two birds, it seems likely that they could not afford a lamb, further confirmation of God's decision to act in human history through very ordinary people. After the purification offerings had been made, Mary and Joseph were ready to fulfil their third obligation -- the presentation of their firstborn to the Lord.

God claimed the firstborn son in each family as his own possession. That son belonged to God to serve him as a priest. After God selected the family of Aaron to be a perpetual priesthood in Israel, God allowed the other families and clans to redeem their firstborn. When the parents came into the temple and gave the child to a priest, they were symbolically giving their son to God. The priest lifted the child before the Lord and pronounced a blessing. The parents could then pay the redemption price of five shekels and redeem the child from the obligation of serving in the temple. As Mary and Joseph received the child, Jesus, back from the priest, they recognized in a fresh way that God's own possession had been entrusted to them.

It is possible that Simeon was the priest assigned that day to bless the sons brought for redemption. More likely, he was simply a godly man who by divine insight recognized Jesus as God's promised Redeemer. Jesus, through his parents, kept the Law of God, even in his earliest years. The service of baptism which we witnessed this morning establishes a link between present practice and historical traditions. Pamela and Thierry brought Alexander to church today to dedicate him to God and to declare their intention to raise him in the ways of Christ. That is one of the ways in which we keep the Christmas Spirit.

We read in Galatians this morning, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. God has sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts." Christmas, the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, was not intended to be a one-time act recorded for posterity in dusty religious volumes. The birth of Jesus was for the purpose of redemption. The birth of Jesus was intended to change the world for all time.

When Christmas is over, God counts on us to keep the Christmas Spirit alive. Jesus did not come just so we could have cute pageants in our Christmas Eve services. He came to radically change human history. He came to upset social norms, to uplift the oppressed and to set the captives free. Jesus lived what he taught and calls us to do the same. Christmas means nothing if it fades from our minds as soon as the December page is ripped off the calendar. If we believe in Christmas, if we understand God's redeeming purpose, brought to fruition in the birth of Jesus, then the Christmas Spirit becomes an integral part of who we are. We cannot see a stranger without seeing the face of Christ. We cannot hear news reports of war without pausing to pray for peace. We cannot turn our back on human need or tolerate injustice.

Mary and Joseph had years of parenting ahead of them. They understood that Jesus was special, but they surely were unaware of the price he or they would pay for being part of God's plan. Parenting is not easy, and neither is being a Christian. In an increasingly secular world, God challenges us to take our religious obligations seriously. The call to love our neighbor, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and welcome the stranger is a call that is repeated every day. And every day we are offered the opportunity to respond in some way to that call. The Spirit of Christ dwells within us and it is our task to allow that Spirit to direct and to guide our lives.

The Christmas Spirit is embodied in the words and deeds of Simeon and Anna. It comes as a spirit of joy, hope, expectancy and worship. Luke goes to great lengths to point out that Simeon was filled with the Holy Spirit, which made it possible for him to recognize and celebrate the Christ Child. Simeon and Anna incarnate the Christmas Spirit - they lived hopeful, prayerful, worshipful and vigilant lives -- pointing the way to others as well. Can we say that about our lives? When others observe the way we live, does the Christmas Spirit shine through? Can we say that our lives are lived hopefully, prayerfully, and worshipfully?

It is only when we surrender to the Love of God incarnated in the manger of Bethlehem that we are able to keep the Christmas Spirit in our hearts all year long. Each Christmas season, Charles Krieg, a pastor in New Jersey, takes his mother into New York City to look at all the decorations and to visit Santa at Macy's Department Store. The windows of the department store were unforgettable one year. The first window had a scroll which read, "The Smell of Christmas is in the Kitchen." The scene was an old-fashioned kitchen with a black stove and food cooking on it; it was so life-like you could almost smell the food. The second window was titled, "The Taste of Christmas is in the Dining Room." There was a long table laden with mouth-watering food. The third window showed a beautiful tree decorated with ornaments and lights, little toys and popcorn strings. The scroll read, "The Color of Christmas is in the Tree." The fourth window scroll said, "The Sound of Christmas is in the Carols." This scene was a group of animated figures singing Christmas carols. Then came the store's main entrance. If you ignored the entrance and kept on going, you would have seen one more window. The scroll in this window proclaimed: "But the Heart and Soul of Christmas is Here!" In this window was a stable with shepherds, wise men, Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus lying in a manger. Here is not only the heart and soul of Christmas. Here is the heart and soul of the universe.. God offers us new life in Him by faith in Jesus Christ.

But far too many people enter the store and miss the final message. Too often we get so wrapped up in the external trimmings of Christmas that we fail to focus on the real meaning, fail to fill our hearts and our lives with the Christmas Spirit. Because Simeon was filled with the Spirit, he was able to recognize the Messiah. We, too, are empowered in awesome ways when we allow ourselves to be Spirit-filled. When the Christmas Spirit dwells within us, we are open and eager and expectant. We turn every day into an act of worship because all that we do is done for God. The Good News of Christmas proclaims that God comes to us in the midst of life, in the midst of its busiest season, it the midst of the messes we sometimes make. Consider this story: God came to Wendy, a mother, and also professor of spirituality at a Catholic university, in the midst of the vegetable department of a supermarket. The overheated, overcrowded store, brought beads of sweat to her brow and the smell of fish made her vaguely nauseous in her newly pregnant state. Striving to keep her toddlers at bay and struggling to complete preparations for the holiday, all joy had faded from her countenance. At this spiritual low-point of the Christmas season, her ears were captured by the familiar words of a Christmas carol: "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!" The words bore a hole in her soul as they paraded across the eyes of her mind. "Let earth receive her king!" She stood transfixed, with a can of tomato paste in her hand. "Let every heart prepare him room." Wendy reported: "At that moment the floodgates of my heart were flung open and a vast and spacious wonderment filled me."

Simeon and Anna lived in a state of wonder and expectancy and worship. They were ready to see and to hear God in all that they did. And so it will be for us, if we make the Christmas Spirit an integral part of our life. We read the story; we watch it acted out; we hear the Good News proclaimed, but do we allow it to change our life? Does Christ dwell in our heart and not just in our mind? Have we been transformed by the coming of Christ? Christmas is over, but our work has just begun. The world-changing work begun by Jesus is ours to carry on. It is our Christian duty to train up our children in the ways of Christ. It is our Christian responsibility to know our neighbor and to respond to his or her needs. It is our Christian obligation to share our gifts and our resources. Carrying the Christmas Spirit in our hearts all year long makes us caring, sensitive, loving and forgiving. Keeping the Christmas Spirit means being open to God's movement in our life, whether that results in a call to ministry, a challenge to get involved in social justice, or a nudge toward reconciliation in a difficult relationship.

The Christmas Spirit is a spirit of openness and wonder. It causes us to kneel before a humble manger and then to rise and follow the Christ into all the situations of our life. It reminds us that Christmas is so much more than a story about a baby being born. It is about God's transforming power and about the myriad ways that power can be at work in our world and in our life. In a few moments, we will be invited to break bread together, to remember not only Jesus' birth, but also his death on the cross. The Christmas Spirit demands that we link those two events in our minds, in our hearts and in our actions. Jesus Christ was born to save us from our sins and to call us to carry on his transforming work in society. We are the body of Christ, transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, called to carry the Spirit of Christmas, or the Spirit of Christ, in our hearts all year long. As we break the bread and share the cup, let us rejoice once more in the power and the presence of God and in the love that God showed for us in sending His Son.

ACP HOME - About Us - Weekly Church Activities - Music at the ACP - The Women of the Church - FACC Activities