For the ham to bake?
For the turkey to defrost?
For the cookies to cool?
For family members to arrive?
For the last gifts to be bought and wrapped and carefully placed?
For the candles to be lit and Silent Night to be sung?
For the Christmas story to be read aloud tonight or tomorrow or both?
What else are you waiting for?
For the holidays to be over?
For the wrapping paper to be recycled and the gifts to be put to good use?
For the kids to go back to college?
For the start of a new year and the advent of new hope?
For life to get back to normal?
There has been a lot of hate and fear being born again in our nation and in our world.
So tonight, I am waiting for love again to be born.
There have been marches advocating hate and racial division and a return to the old ways of separate and unequal.
So tonight, I am waiting for love again to be born.
There have been acts of terrorism here in the US and in Syria,
in Germany and in France, in our homes, in our work places,
and during the past year of election cycle politics.
So tonight and tomorrow and on January 20, 2017, and for the next four years,
and for all the days and weeks and months and years beyond that,
I will be waiting for love to be born again, day after day after day.
At the same time, I've got to stop waiting for love to be born,
and get to work at birthing more love into the world in which I live.
Love that forgives.
Love that welcomes the refugee and the outcast.
Love that reaches out with tenderness.
Love that touches the unloved.
Love that asks questions.
Love that listens to the answers compassionately and graciously,
even when I don't agree with those answers.
Love that resists every attempt to silence it or deflect it or make it something less than what it is:
Love.
In a few hours here on the east coast of the United States,
we will celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus, The One Who Was and Is Love Incarnate.
Jesus came as the one who forgave,
the one who welcomed the outcast and the refugee,
the one who touched lepers,
the one who asked questions and listened patiently to the answers,
the one whose answers raised the hackles of many of his listeners,
the one whose life, whose questions, whose answers, and whose love
got him killed, executed by the domination system that sought to silence his message of hope,
and stifle his message of love.
In that baby, in that manger, in that little town of Bethlehem,
in that occupied land and into that oppressed community,
Love was born.
Into our occupied communities, into our oppressed communities,
into our little towns, our big cities,
our corrupt state government, our inefficient national government,
into our hearts and our homes,
our marriages and our relationships,
we desperately need Love again to be born.
This song by Rob Mathes, the music director at a church I attended many years ago in Connecticut, is one of my favorite Christmas songs. It has been since the first time I heard it.
All is set.
I know my stocking’s downstairs.
The sky is smiling - there is magic in the air.
I can’t sleep; I am so glad to be home on this early morning, I am not alone.
This is the season. This is the time.
I see the face of a child, and that face it is mine.
I’m looking for starlight. I’m listening for angels.
The house (everyone) is asleep on this Christmas morn, but I’m awake.
Yes, I’m waiting here for Love again to be born.
Bundled up, I know what’s waiting for me
More than a pretty package next to the tree
Something else, a gift far greater I know, born in Bethlehem, long ago.
This is the season. This is the time.
I see the face of a child, and that face it is mine.
I’m looking for starlight. I’m listening for angels.
The house is asleep on this Christmas morn, but I’m awake.
Yes, I’m waiting here for Love again to be born.
The sun is rising. I see the distant lights.
Oh what a glorious day will come from this holy night.
To us is born every December anew
a love that’s unbelievable,
given to me, given to you.
This is the season. This is the time.
I see the face of a child, and that face it is mine.
I’m looking for starlight. I’m listening for angels.
Everyone is asleep on this Christmas morn, but I’m awake.
Yes, I’m waiting here for Love again to be born.
Indeed, I am waiting here for Love again to be born.
What are you waiting for?
Merry Christmas.
Happy New Year.
If Christmas is not a holiday for you, may whatever you celebrate at this time of year bring you happiness and joy, peace and hope. Together, tonight, tomorrow, and for as long as we live, let's work and walk and wait for love again to be born.
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