1 The Word Became Real May the words of mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, my Lord,

, my rock and my redeemer. So, what is all the excitement about Christmas? What is all this talk of joy and why do the writers of our old testament reading and the psalm for today seem so filled with it? Jesus birth was the first of many miracles to come but it was this common miracle, the miracle of birth that is the source of that joy, a joy incarnate. The Gospel reading for today from John and the Christmas reading from Luke have inspired many stories in the last two thousand years. Stories like Pinochio and my favorite, the Velveteen Rabbit speak of the human longing to become something more, something Real. Listen to this excerpt from the Velveteen Rabbit. The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and

2 only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it. "What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stickout handle?" "Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real." "Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. "Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt." "Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints

3 and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. That which is most real came into the world two thousand years ago. In an instant reality as we had known it changed. No longer was God someone far away and removed. Now He was one of us, with us. More amazing was that He offered to make us real. During Advent we began each Sunday service with a prayer written by Richard of Chichester. Dear Lord, of thee three things I pray: to see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly. Richards prayer, our prayer was answered in the birth of a tiny baby born in a stable. To see thee more clearly God, the Father, the God of the Old Testament is spirit. He makes himself known but we cant look directly at him or touch him. He appears as a pillar of fire or smoke or thunder clouds and you can hear him but you cant really touch him or hug him or look in his face. Even the Angels cant look directly at God. They cover the eyes with their wings. But the baby changed everything. You can hold a baby. You can feel a babys soft skin, kiss their cheek and smell that wonderful baby smell. Imagine changing Gods smelly diaper. If that isnt enough, one of

4 my favorite writers and theologians, Max Lucado, even writes about a God that spits, envisioning Jesus confronting a crowd as he spits in the dirt and then doodles in it with his finger. What could be clearer than God standing before us as one of us? To love thee more dearly Who couldnt love a baby and yet is that enough? Maybe but God also lived among us for 33 years. It has been said that to know someone is to love them and Jesus not only lived among us he yielded his life up for us in every way imaginable. He healed us, served us, loved us and finally died for us. That would have been enough but then we consider what Jesus gave up to become human. Paul in his letter to the Philippians tells us that Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
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rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a

servant, being made in human likeness.

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And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled

himself by becoming obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Jesus gave up all his power as God and became flesh, became human. Would any of us be willing to give up that power for someone else? Jesus did that and then offered us eternal life, a chance to be real. Before Jesus was born human we were dead in our sins. Are corpses real. You can touch them, smell them, see them but they cant interact with you. Like the clay we came from we were just

5 animated pots until Jesus came. Beyond all that both John and Paul tell us that God gave his own son so that we might become his children. It wasnt enough to give us eternal life, God offered to adopt us, to offer us all that Jesus was heir to. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God .

In one of my favorite movies, Prince of Persia, a homeless orphan, Dustan, is adopted by the King of Persia after the King witnesses his courage in defending a friend. Dustan grows up as a Prince of Persia and when the kingdom is threatened and his adopted father and brothers murdered he gives his life to defend them. What would you be willing to do for someone who had saved you from poverty, had given you a place in their family, had even made you heir to all the authority and riches of a kingdom? God offers you the universe as an inheritance.

Follow thee more nearly - God has become one of us and loved us completely. How do we respond to that? We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Joy has come has become real. Have you ever noticed that as you come to know someone, to love them, you also become familiar with how they think and act. Even if you had not

6 seen them do something you would know who had done it just by how it was done. This is especially true of God. As we have become his children, become real, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see God at work around us. I believe that at Christmas time it becomes easier for everyone to sense Gods presence, joy becomes palpable. Yet for those of us who believe, God is visible throughout the year and His presence fills us with joy and gives us strength carry on in difficult times. Becoming real doesnt mean we wont suffer. As the Skin Horse notes sometimes becoming real can hurt but the joy in being real carries us through the pain. This has been one of the most difficult years of my life. I lost my home, work has been challenging, and I am adjusting to my children leaving home as they begin to live their own lives as adults. Throughout all this I have been surprised by joy as I have seen God at work in the world around me. That joy has helped me to carry on, lifting me up. I have tried to teach my daughters how to recognize God around them but I think it has to be experienced rather than taught. Until you become real you cant really see God. Recently at the winter concert at Rangeley Lakes Regional School I was overcome with joy as I listened to the kindergarden through second grade children singing. For a moment I felt the presence of God as He smiled with joy listening to the children sing. I can tell you about it but the only way I can truly share that moment is to joyously share my life with

7 you. If we would follow Jesus that is what God asks of us. He wants us to share that joy, to be a light in the darkness. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. Like John the Baptist each of us is called to be a witness to the light, to share the joy we feel as we see God at work around us. The world needs that joy. North Korea is shooting at South Korea, Iran is building nuclear bombs, people shoot up churches and school board meetings. This world can be a very dark place but the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. May the joy of the Word coming into the world, of a baby lying in a manger, so inspire each of us that we become beacons of warmth and reality in a world that has become blind and deaf to what is real.