Scripture: Luke 1-2
This Christmas Eve we come to end of the “Angels Among Us” worship series, with the celebration of the birth of Jesus. We have been invited to reflect on the angels of the Christmas stories, while we notice angels in our world today.
As we look back over the last four weeks of angel visitations, however, we may be left with some questions. The stories we have heard have not revealed very much about who and what angels are. The angels have eluded our curiosity, appearing suddenly and then disappearing again, without leaving any clues.
Reflecting back on the stories from Luke’s gospel that we have heard these past four weeks, I am beginning to think of angels and illuminators: spotlights, if you will.
Perhaps, this Christmas season, you have seen a show. There are many offerings, including re-telling of the nativity story, or the Boston Pops with “The Night Before Christmas” read by a local celebrity. There are Christmas movies, musical theater performances. Boston Ballet performs the Nutcracker, and, if you happen to live in Britain, there is the tradition of pantomime.
Live performances are a beloved Christmas tradition. The events we attend this time of year tend to be extravaganzas with the latest in technology and lighting, full-on orchestral music, and sparkly over-the-top costumes. Whatever show you might see, it is likely that spotlights are a necessary part of the production. Spotlights carry the story, drawing the audience’s attention away from extraneous details and changes of scenery. Instead they draw attention to the characters and scenes most important to the story.
Particularly in musical theater, spotlights draw extra attention to significant characters during the grand finale. They come on stage to take their bows under the lights, one by one. It’s often the case that characters who seemed unimportant at the beginning of the production – even listed low on the playbill – draw the greatest applause during the finale. This is all facilitated by the use of the spotlights.
And so this is how I am thinking about angels tonight. They illuminate the scenes that our gospel writer wishes us to focus on. In the case of Luke’s gospel, the angels re-direct our attention from what we think is important toward Luke’s central message for us. Perhaps this is why angels are portrayed as sparkly and filled with light. Yet, they they disappear when their job is done. They have come to illuminate not to draw attention to themselves.
Luke’s gospel has the most angelic appearances of all. Three of these appearances take place in the first two chapters of the gospel which tell the story of Jesus’ birth.
We have heard this story as we journeyed through Advent. Now we are ready to for the full ensemble to gather and take a bow. Here we see the spotlight shining on our Christmas tableau, complete with the angel that Janice brought since we were lacking one. Gazing on this familiar scene completes our Christmas Eve devotions. Having worshiped, we can begin our feasting and celebration.
Only … let’s not rush to the end. Let’s take a little rewind of those chapters from Luke. This time let’s allow the angels to illuminate the story for us, giving us new eyes, new ears and new hearts. The angels’ illumination will show us what God would have us see in Luke’s story.
We begin by opening our playbill. Luke tells us that Quirinius is Governor of Syria, and the Emperor of Rome is Caesar Augustus. We note that the first scene is set in Jerusalem, the seat of religious and political power and the finale takes places in Bethlehem, the city of the Great King David. The story takes place while Judea is occupied by Rome.
Act 1. The spotlight of the Angel Gabriel illuminates an elderly childless priest, Zechariah, who is serving with his section in Jerusalem. Zechariah is offering incense to the God of Israel in the sanctuary of the temple: a seemingly harmless activity. The Roman soldiers on patrol in the city do not know that Zechariah receives an incredible and terrifying vision in the sanctuary. The Angel Gabriel appears to him telling him of the role he and his wife, Elizabeth, are about to take on. They will bear and raise the one who will wander the wilderness outside the city calling the people to “prepare the way of the Lord!”
Next Gabriel shines his spotlight on a teenaged girl, Mary, who lives in the God-forsaken village of Nazareth, in the northern region of Galilee. Mary is lowly, meaning poor. She lives far from the temple in Jerusalem. And, still, one very ordinary day the angel appears to her and invites her to offer her womb to house the coming savior. This is an incredibly dangerous undertaking for this young and as yet unmarried girl. And still she gives her consent. She will do it.
Gabriel’s spotlight follows Mary as she journeys to visit her relative, Elizabeth, who is also pregnant. At their meeting Mary begins to understand what God is doing in their midst, she bursts into song, singing of God’s inversion of the social order. The homeless become kings, and the mighty are brought low. The hungry are filled with rich food and the rich are sent away wanting. The spotlight shines on a poor, unmarried teenaged girl singing the song at the heart of the Luke’s gospel.
Act 2. A tiny spotlight follows a heavily pregnant Mary with Joseph. They make the journey through perilous territory down to Bethlehem on the outskirts of Jerusalem. They go to be counted, at the behest of Emperor Augustus, who does not care about expectant mothers and their babies, in the villages of the outer reaches of the empire. They make it to Bethlehem just in time to deliver. Other travelers crowd all the inns. And so the spotlight follows them to a stable where they birth their baby and lie him in a manger to sleep.
In the final scene, the angels flood a field in the hills with light. This is where homeless farm workers live - off the grid - outside the scope of the census. The heavenly host put on the most extravagant music and light show for this ragtag bunch of shepherds. While the city below buzzes with the chaos of the descendants of King David’s line, the shepherds are given their role in Luke’s story. They are to be the first human witnesses of the birth of Christ, the child who is born to be the savior of all the world.
That is the Christmas story, but what about angel spotlights, here at Wollaston Congregational Church?
At the begin of the season a laundry angel, Karen Decristofaro, came to speak to us. Karen began the Laundry Love project at Quincy Point Congregational Church. Once a month Laundry Love offers a two-hour window of free washing and drying at a local laundromat.
Kate and I were curious about this program and so we went along to the Wash’n’Dry to see the project in action. We saw people come with their month’s worth of laundry: families with children, single people, couples and room-mates. Sadly, on the evening we went along there was a massive power outage here in Quincy and the laundry was left half-done. Our hearts ached for the young mother who loaded three huge machines and had only just begun the wash. We couldn’t help much that night, but we had a spotlight to shine, on one place God would have us all see.
Also during this season, Bartholmew Jae of the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center spoke to us about BCNC’s work in Quincy. But that wasn’t where the spotlight was shining. BJ took on the role of an angel, shining a light on recent anti-Asian hate crimes in our community. These crimes often go unreported, due to the hesitancy of the Asian community. BJ invited us to become allies of our immigrant Asian neighbors, extending friendship and signs of kindness, so that they know they are safe with us. Surely this is another place where God would have us shine a spotlight.
Yet another angel shining a spotlight is our member and friend, Mary T. Over the past months Mary has illuminated the plight of families around the world who are seeking refuge, through her stories of hosting guests from Ukraine. Mary has provided us with the unique opportunity to show a welcome to her new family. I am quite sure that this is a place where God would have us shine a spotlight.
And so, let’s return to the performance the angels are illuminating for us this evening.
In the grand finale, the angels herald the glory of God and then they fade away. The most important characters come forward to take a bow. First elderly Zechariah and Elizabeth, holding baby John, Joseph the quiet carpenter, then Mary the poor teenaged mom. The shepherds run on stage and assemble hand-in-hand at the footlights. Their stooped backs are straightened and they are beaming with joy. The audience erupts as they bow in unison. Quirinius and Augustus are nowhere to be seen.
Now the music slows and fades. The cast circles up and then falls back, receding from our view. A single spotlight remains. The theater is in darkness and silence. In the center of the stage: lying in the manger – the animals’ feeding trough – is the savior of all the world, the infant Jesus. This is where our God shines the spotlight this night.
May all God’s people say …
Amen