Christmas Eve

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve

My grandmother was a great collector of S&H Green Stamps. For those of you who were born after 1975 or so, Green Stamps, or their cousin Gold Bond stamps, were the precursor of the current redemption programs such as bonus points, frequent flyers miles, or cash back. Whether Green Stamps or frequent flyer miles, the principle is the same: the more you spend, the more stamps or miles you earn, which you can redeem for various items, travel, or a rebate check. In my grandmother’s day, life was low-tech, so when she went to the store she received 50, 10, or one point stamps based on how much money she spent and which store she was in. The stamps were dispensed by a machine that had a dial on it like a rotary dial phone, another relic of the past. The stamps had to be licked, and then they were put into a collection book that had 24 pages. When all the pages were filled, at 50 points per page, the books could be redeemed for household items and other things. I know this Green Stamp trivia because my sister and I took great delight in licking Green Stamps and sticking them in the redemption books, and our grandmother took great delight in figuring out what to get with her Green Stamp books at the local Green Stamp store. So far as our grandmother was concerned, she was getting things free, regardless of how much money she had to spend in the process.

So, whenever I hear the word "redemption," or "redeem" or "redeemer," despite my theological education, my mind goes immediately, not to Jesus, but to Green Stamps. Redemption is a pretty cut and dried process by which we save up something we earned until we have enough points or stamps to redeem them for something we want. The theology of Green Stamps would then be something like "if we are very good, and earn enough points in our lifetime, we can redeem those points at the end for eternal life."
Fortunately, the theology of Green Stamps is not the theology of Christmas. Tonight/this afternoon, we hear some form of the word "Redeem" at several points in our prayers and readings. We just prayed the words "Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge." In the reading from Titus, we heard "He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own." In our Eucharistic prayer, we will pray "We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving." On Christmas Eve, we welcome the Redeemer of the World who comes to us as a baby and is greeted by shepherds and angels.

How are we to understand the redemption that comes to us this night in the Christ child? Tonight, instead of instructions about how to earn enough points to merit redemption or salvation, we get a story about the birth of a baby at an inconvenient time, in an inconvenient place, to unwed parents who are probably a still a bit baffled about how all this came to be, complete with a great light display and singing angels, and some shepherds who leave their sheep to their own devices and to go visit this newborn baby. What do we learn about our own redemption from this stranger than fiction story?

First, we learn that redemption is an act of God and nothing we can earn, no matter how many points we try to save. From the story of Gabriel’s visit to Mary announcing that she has been chosen to carry the Christ child, to Mary’s visit to Elizabeth and the recognition of the child within Mary by Elizabeth’s unborn child, to the events of Jesus birth, God is the primary actor in this story. The angel says to the shepherds "I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." The Shepherds probably did not even know they were waiting for a Savior. They had certainly done nothing to earn the privilege of being the first to hear the news. Redemption-salvation-is God’s work, not ours, and a gift, not anything we can earn.

Secondly, redemption breaks in on us in the midst of our everyday lives. Mary and Joseph were traveling to Bethlehem to be registered, presumably for the purpose of paying taxes, when Jesus was born. The shepherds were tending their sheep when the angel appeared to them out in the fields. No meals had been planned, gifts purchased, or special events organized. The Christ child was born-redemption entered the world- in the midst of people doing ordinary things. But that does not mean that everything stayed the same. In the Christmas story, the shepherds did return to their sheep, but they did so glorifying and praising God. Mary, no doubt exhausted and a bit confused by her strange visitors, treasured the words of the shepherds and pondered them in her heart. Salvation is an extraordinary gift that we experience in the midst our ordinary lives, in the here and now, but salvation also changes our lives in ways we cannot predict or control.

Lastly, redemption is not a private matter. The story tells us that the skies lit up and the heavenly host sang out the news of Jesus’ birth. The message of the angel was one of great joy for all people. After visiting the newborn Jesus, the shepherds "made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them." The redemption of the world is not ours to do with as we please, as if we were in control of it. Redemption is a gift that we cannot control or contain, so our whole lives speak to the work of God in the world.

Rather than being something we can earn, own, and control, redemption is God’s claim on us. In Jesus, God has claimed us as God’s own, not just for special occasions, but for always, and not for our own personal enjoyment, but so that our whole lives can speak to the love and work of God in the world, and not just in the future but now. "For to you is born this day" in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord."

Amen.