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Thank you, Bob, Dave, Kathryn, and Rose. That was a beautiful anthem entitled Ubi Caritaas. Ubi Caritas et Amor, Deus Ibi Est. A poetic translation of the Latin renders this verse: Where charity and love prevail, There God is ever found. Today we come together to remember that God is found in a manger, a stable, in a lowly place. We come to remember that it was the shepherds who went to that place and found the new born king. As Luke tells the account, those shepherds went as quick as they could; they went with great haste! Did you rush to Christmas this year? Have you hastened your way to the holiday? How many of you have rushed to the celebration – to the mall, and the bank, and the post office, and the mall again, and the bank again. Like those shepherds, We have been going with great haste to Christmas, to this very day. I don’t know about you, but as the last two weeks unfolded, I became more hassled and harried, And the refrain that went through my head was not Ubi Caritas, but rather was Finish shopping! Finish wrapping! Finish baking! Finish writing the sermon! In the midst of all the rushing about, In the middle of all the running around with great haste, Rose told me that her school choir was going to go to Westfarms Mall on Wednesday afternoon to do some caroling. “Not to worry, Mom,” she said, “Mary has had her license for a whole year and she’ll drive. Oh! And by the way, can you give her directions to the mall?” Well, since I didn’t want her traveling with a relatively new teenage driver on a very busy day, I volunteered to drive her and a few others. They got out of school at 12:15, So I figured with a quick stop at McDonald’s for lunch, Go to Westfarms, sing for a while, And we’re home at 3:30. Because I still have a project or two at work and at home, Some things to hasten to after we’re done. So arrive right on time at the High School, And wait for Rose to come out of the school. Then the first phone call comes. “Mom, we’re having a hard time figuring out where to go for lunch. Some kids are leaving, others are coming. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” “Not to worry,” I reply, I’ve got my briefcase here with some work I can do.” About ten minutes later, Rose pops in the car and gives me the status: “I’m going to stay with Jane who is outside waiting for her mom to bring her money. While we’re waiting can you bring Meghan to her house so she can change and get some money, too? Okay, thanks, Mom!” So I drive Meghan to her house – Just a stone’s throw away from the school – and then return to pick up Jane and Rose. Rose tells me they are going to Mitchell’s for lunch! Whose idea is that, I ask? Do they realize that we have to go from Wethersfield, to Rocky Hill, and then back to Wethersfield to get to West Farms Mall? Well, by now it’s almost one o’clock, so I decide to drop them off and get some work done. I go back to Mitchell’s to pick Rose and her friends up. It’s now 1:45, and they are supposed to be at the mall at 2:00. I try corralling them and just as they are ready to pay their checks, The waitress comes over and says, One of our favorite customers just came in. She’s really sick and I know she’d LOVE to hear you sing. Okay, I thought…okay – one song, and then we’re off. The young folk shuffle off and gather around the booth where the older couple sits, Like an older Mary and Joseph, Remembering a better time, remembering happier days. And then, as the choir begins to sing, The woman takes off her cap and shows them her bald head – Hairless from all the chemo treatments. The kids keep on singing, And they are transformed a chorus of angels, no less than those who sang in the fields on that cold dark night long ago. They sign “We wish you a Merry Christmas” but what they are really singing is: Behold, we bring you good news of great joy! Behold, do not be afraid. Behold, you are not alone. Behold, we bring you peace and comfort. They sing to the woman and her husband – Whose smiles now shine as bright as the glory of the Lord! - And they sing to each other and to me and to everyone else eating their lunch, waiting on tables, and cooking in the back. And in that moment, we are at the manger - in this ordinary place, in the middle of struggle and strife, with lots of noise around us. And in that moment – Christ is born again. Luke tells us that the shepherds leave the manger glorifying and praising God, And so did we. On the way back to the car, Rose’s friend said, Well, I guess I know why we had to come to Mitchell’s today! Yes, I guess I know why too: to hear the ancient story anew, to be brought to the place of birth, and to be amazed like Mary and Joseph and the others, because what has been said is true: Christ promises to be born in us whenever we see the face of love, whenever we hear the voice of peace And whenever we are touched by the hand of grace. It happens in a stable, In a coffeehouse, In a chapel, in a dining room. It happens when there are two or twelve or twenty, It happens in moments of silence and moments of conversation. It happens whenever and wherever you and I live and move and have our being. This IS the good news of great joy for us today! Amen. |