Father Manny's Christmas Eve Sermon

Christmas Eve, 2025

Building Relationships Through Love.

Rev. Emmanuel Mercer

     “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.” John’s prologue is so beautiful and awe-inspiring. I get chills whenever I read that text because it points to the beginning of everything.

     Its beauty rests, first in the poetry and second, the mystery that it evokes. The poetry gives us the chance to appreciate the beauty and power of language and how carefully crafted words can inspire us, renew us and lift us up, taking us to places we never thought possible and making us yearn for something new and different, a new beginning if you will.

     The mystery lies in John’s claim that God’s self-communication, the Word which was in the beginning with God, and through which God created the world, has now come to live among us as a human being-how extraordinary is that? 

     Two things worth pointing out: First - The way God created the world was by speaking creation into being. Second - When God speaks; stuff happens.

     The good news is, when God speaks into the mess void of our often disordered lives, new creation emerges-a new creation which gives meaning and substance to our daily experience with God and others.

     For those of us who may not know, the Greek word for word is logos, from which we get the word logic. Greek philosophers in antiquity spent time talking about the logos of things or the logic of things. To know the logos of something is to know why those things exist.  And unless you understand the reason why something exists, you are going to have problems with it. Take your microwave for instance. We all know that microwaves are for warming food, thawing fish or meat or for some simple cooking, like oatmeal.

     To understand the use of the microwave is to know that you cannot use it as a rice cooker-no matter how much time you put rice in a microwave, it cannot cook your rice for you. To know the logic of something is to know why it exists, the reason behind its existence.

     The Greek philosophers at the time when John wrote his gospel believed that human beings had a logos-in other words human beings had a reason for their existence. But it is only when you can discern that logos through philosophical reasoning, and apply yourself to that logic can your life go well.  

     It was within this society of varying degrees of philosophies that John changed human thought by saying, for the very first time that there is a reason for your life, there is something you should be living for. And it is not an abstract principle discernible through philosophical means, but it is through a person that you can come to know and love-Jesus Christ. It is through a relationship of love with Jesus Christ. And this Jesus made his home with us and lived among us.

     The word that John used for lived is tabernacle-Jesus became a tabernacle in our midst. This idea takes us back to Exodus 40-when Moses and Aaron made a tabernacle in the wilderness, where presence of the glorious living God rested within the tabernacle. To see the tabernacle was to acknowledge the presence of God. This image represents the essence of Jesus presence among us.  

     The point of the incarnation then is, since it is the creator of the world who made us for himself, and has pitched his tent among us, it is only when we know and love him that we would be aligning with our logos, it is only when we know and love him that we would know the logic of our existence.

     And at no time of the year does this revelation come alive than at Christmas. Christmas reminds us that the incarnate God who pitched his tent in our midst, in spite of who we are did so because of love. And it is only the gift of love that can help us unravel the mystery of the incarnation. It is only the gift of love that can help us understand the beginning of everything.

     The incarnation is the beginning of everything and it embraces the idea of love that comes alive because of presence. If you love someone, the greatest gift you can offer is your presence. If you are not present, how can you prove your love? Here’s a meaningful declaration when you are in love ‘Darling, I am here for you.’ Your presence is as important and essential and that cannot be bought with money. Christmas reminds us that God proved God’s love with God’s presence.

     Do you know what your logos or logic is? Sometimes we confuse our logic or logos with our jobs. But your logos or logic isn’t your job. You are not your job. Your logos or your logic is to make creation anew every day. Your logic is to partner with God to renew God’s creation every day. And the beauty is, you can use your job to make creation anew.  

     Here’s a story for you. Gillian Lynne is one of the famous ballerinas in England. Gillain is a dancer but long before she became a dancer, she struggled in school, so her mother, took her to the doctor and explained about her fidgeting and lack of focus.

     Upon listening to the mother, the doctor told Gillian that he needed to talk to her mother privately. He turned on the radio and walked out. He then encouraged Gillian’s mother to look at Gillian, who was dancing to the radio. The doctor told the mother that she was a dancer and encouraged her to take her to a dance school.

     That was the beginning of everything for Gillian. A discovery that made creation new for her and all who loved her. Who is it that said that God cannot begin again or begin anew with us? Who is it that said a new creation isn’t possible, that the beginning of everything isn’t possible. Remember, with God all this are possible. And like Gillian, a new beginning awaits all of us because Christ is born tonight.

     Miss Dixie asked her Sunday school class to draw pictures of their favorite Bible stories, She was puzzled by Larry’s picture of four people on an airplane, so she asked Larry, which story are you illustrating? “Oh, that’s Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus on their flight to Egypt.” But who’s the fourth person, Larry? Asked Ms. Dixie. “Oh, that’s Pontius the Pilot.”

     To say that God is with us is to say that God stepped into our humanity so that we might step into his divinity. It means that God is not a distant deity but a God who draws near to us-shares our joys, our sorrows, our ups and our downs, who opens heaven to earth and earth to heaven. This is the beauty of the incarnation-the invisible God made visible through the birth of a fragile baby and who speaks the word into our silence and inspires us to make creation anew every single day.

     Oscar Wilde, an Irish poet once wrote these words “You don’t have to love someone for their looks or their clothes or for the fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.” The song that I hear is one of a king, a priest and a prophet who loves you and I unconditionally, came into our world as a baby, made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf and empowers us to sacrifice, to make room, to let love overflow in our lives and to bring to life the glory that lives in us.

     May you hear the song that invites you into God’s deeper relationship of humble obedience, joy, peace and love. A song that ushers in the new beginnings that we know is possible. Merry Christmas, my beloved. May this night be the beginning of everything for you.

Amen.