SandSkript

Isaiah 9:2-7

In recent years, around about Christmas, the American viewing public has been subjected to seemingly constant squabbling by television pundits about “The War on Christmas.” Personally, I have to say, I find the whole concept to be little more than a perfunctory exercise in what has become a continual hype-fest aimed at polarizing the nation. To make matters worse, the point on which they attempt to divide us is completely and utterly untrue and lacks any semblance of logical rationale. In particular, I have a problem with the way the “two-sided” argument implies that there are…well, only two sides to the argument – the Christian side and the side that everyone else is on.


You see, the reality is that that particular perspective is far, far from the truth. Now, if what they had really meant by “War on Christmas” was that they wanted to minimize the dominance of the modern Christian culture in America throughout the Holidays, then (believe it or not) I’d have to say, “I’m ready to enlist.”


Now, before anyone gets upset because the preacher just said he wants to see Christianity de-emphasized during the Holiday season, let me just say, it’s not for the reasons you might think. It’s not like I’m on the side that by default is considered the “Non-Christian” side of the “War on Christmas.” Quite the contrary, if anything I’d make the argument that the dominate face of Christianity (as it is seen on television and promoted through news programming) is itself far from what Christianity is supposed to be about. It is a sort-of white-washed, sanitized version of Christianity that every year presents an increasingly sanitized version of the Christmas story to the viewing public.


That’s the beginning of the unraveling of the “there-are-only-two-sides-to-the War on Christmas” myth – a Christian side and a non-Christian side.


You see, the baby we are here to remember tonight, was not part of the dominate culture the way the religion he started now is. The stories that were told in those days were told under the shadow of the dominate culture. They were stories of oppression and hardships, stories of overcoming unthinkable odds, stories of hope for a people living in times and cultural positions that – well, quite frankly felt hopeless.


But today, our stories are told from places and positions of power. Today, Christianity is the dominate culture. So, instead of story of a olive skinned middle-eastern, unwed, pregnant mother, who was seen as little more than property, giving birth to what the world would surely see as an illegitimate child who was wrapped in what rags they could find and placed in a smelly, flee infested feeding trough in the midst of a dark musky smelling animal stall… instead of that story, we end up with a clean, white skinned European woman giving birth to a glowing baby wrapped in swaddling clothes so white that even my own mother couldn’t get them that clean and then laid to rest in a manger that looks more like a crib than a trough in the midst of a barn that is more kept and clean than many of our houses.


“War on Christmas?”, sure sign me up. I’d just about prefer the elimination of the modern “celebration” to the increasingly sanitized version we hear every year.The Christmas story has been high jacked by a dominate culture. Places of power and positions of prestige have warped the comeuppance sensibilities of the original Christmas story. God’s vision of liberating the oppressed, the downtrodden, has been slowly replaced year after year with a story that no longer brings fear to the Powers that Be, but rather supports the big business agendas of profit and mass consumerism that this time of year pant on the face of a jolly, portly man with rosy red cheeks.


“War On Christmas?” – come to think of it – they’re right. There is a “War On Christmas,” but many of the people who think Christmas is getting squeezed out of our culture in the name of plurality and other religions are actually the ones who are killing it. If the Christmas they support wins – well, I for one, would have to say all is lost. So, yes, there is a “War on Christmas” and we Christians have been supporting it. If the present day, sanitized version of Christmas continues to be the dominate version, then I believe a great darkness will smother us in a sea of privilege and perverse oblivion to the struggle of those most in need – the oppressed, the downtrodden.

If the Christmas Present continues to masquerade as Christmas Past, we will be left with not only a sanitized Christmas, but a Santa-sized Christmas where we give out of our abundance rather than out of a response to need and out of a response to God’s love - a sanitized, Santa-sized Christmas where we give abundantly to those who already have while the oppressed, the downtrodden, watch our overindulgence and rightfully judge us by actions that run contrary to our words of a child born to bring light into the dark corners of the world.


Isaiah 9:2 – “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.” That is the first verse out of our texts for tonight and it is supposed to be the dominate message of the Christmas narrative. Is it? Does the way we celebrate Christmas bring light into the darkness? Does it bring hope to the hopeless? As the end of our texts suggests, does our modern day Christmas celebration bring justice to those who have been treated unjustly?


If your answer is “no” then, whether you knew it or not, you too believe that the Christmas Past has been sanitized and Santa-sized by the Christmas Present.


On this night, as we remember not only the birth of the light of the world, a child sent to enlighten the darkness, we also remember his words, “No greater love has anyone than this, that they lay down their life for a friend.” As we remember the humble, unassuming way he came into this world, let us not forget that he left this world among thieves, as outsider hanging on a cross in an attempt to teach us something about God’s love.


A child born in a manger, no crib for his head – sent into this world to teach us something about the value of every human soul – sent in as the least-of-these, born to a poor woman in a borrowed animal stall – sent to teach us that “the least-of-these” is simply a human construct created by the insiders to define themselves over and against people they see as somehow less than themselves – sent to show us what a life looks like when it starts from the assumption that all people are worthy of God’s love.


This Christmas I wish for you and for me light in the darkness of the Christmas Present. I wish for us enlightenment from God – an enlightenment that helps us see clearly the love for all people that laid in a manger some 2000 years ago – an enlightenment that encourages us to be the light to those trapped in the darkness of hunger, homelessness, oppression, poverty and war – an enlightenment that allows us to see we too have darkness in our lives – an enlightenment that helps us see beyond the sanitized, Santa-sized Christmas of the present to the humble, unassuming beginnings of our religion, the Christmas Past – a baby King, born to an outsider – born to save the world from darkness.