Christ Episcopal Church
July 8, 2012
Christmas in July
The year our son Slocomb lived in Ecuador, Don, Caldwell and I left here on Christmas Day to visit him. Late Christmas night, we flew into Guayaquil which is right on the equator at sea level. Even late at night in late December, the temperature is in the 90's and the humidity is oppressive. Christmas was the last thing on my mind as we made our way through the humidity to get to the hotel van. But the hotel lobby was brightly decorated with Christmas lights and other non-snow related Christmas decorations. I have to say that sweat and Christmas are not two things I generally experience at the same time.
I was reminded about our Christmas in Ecuador this week as I was at Procter Camp, along with three of our younger Christ Church members. I was the chaplain for 4th and 5th grade camp, and during the afternoon activities I pretty much got to choose what I wanted to do. Sitting in the arts and crafts barn, doing nothing more strenuous than putting beads on a string and chatting with campers, had about the same effect on me that sitting in a steam bath might. At night, even back in my air-conditioned room, the thought that today we would be celebrating Christmas at Christ Church just felt plain weird.
Our theme for the week at Procter was "Thy kingdom come." As the chaplain, my job was to teach about the theme in worship each morning and at campfire each night. The parables seemed like a good place to start, so we talked about a mustard seed, a lost coin, yeast worked into bread, seeds scattered on the ground, and so on. The children really understood how Jesus’ parables take common things from Jesus’ time and use those things to make the Kingdom of God come alive for his listeners.
Because Jesus used things that were common in his day to explain the Kingdom of God, we decided to do the same. So, we talked about how some of the Procter games are like the Kingdom of God. At Procter, every game ends in a Procter tie, so everyone wins. At Procter, from what I can tell, every game is incomprehensible, so we talked about how you don’t have to completely understand the game to participate fully. At Procter, everyone gets a turn to play. We also talked about how orange dream sickles and ice cream sandwiches are like the Kingdom of God, but I will leave those details to your imagination.
Each morning, a different cabin got to put an object into a plain brown bag and bring the bag to Eucharist. Whatever was in the bag, I had to turn into a parable of the Kingdom of God. I think the counselors take more delight in this activity than the campers, although this year I got some creative things that probably really did come from the campers. How is this mother of boys supposed to make a parable of the Kingdom of God out of a Barbie doll? So I said "Tell me about this doll," and got some very helpful answers. Barbie has been around for a very long time-longer than most of us can remember. Barbie has many different talents and can do many different things. Over the years, Barbie has changed. And so on, until we came up with a parable that reminded us of the parable of the mustard seed- the way we experience the Kingdom now is not the way we will always experience the Kingdom, and a reminder that in the Kingdom of God everyone has many gifts and talents to offer.
So today, with both parables and Christmas in July on my mind, I wonder if Christmas in July itself can be a parable of the Kingdom of God.
For starters, you’ve heard me say innumerable times that Christmas in July reminds us that the Christ Child comes to us at unexpected times, in unexpected ways, and in unexpected places. We sing the Christmas hymns and hear the Christmas story when the temperatures are blazing hot, with little preparation, and when no one else on planet earth is celebrating Christmas so that we can experience the startling and jarring power of the birth of God’s child in our midst. Even though we have celebrated Christmas in July for many years now, every summer when I hear the first strains of "O Come all ye faithful," I am little unnerved, quite frankly. The Kingdom of God takes us by surprise and not necessarily when it is convenient.
Secondly, Christmas in July offers us the chance to share a bit of that Christmas surprise with those around us as we take Christmas cookies out into the community today and later this summer, socks and underwear into the schools. Every year we receive at least one thank you note from a person or group who was really moved that we brought them cookies as part of our celebration. Christmas in July reminds us that, as Christians, we are called to make the Kingdom of God a bit more of a reality for others.
But here is what I really wonder. I wonder if we hear the words of the angel to the shepherds differently in July than we do in December. The angel says to the shepherds "Do not be afraid." And the shepherds swallow their fear and leave their flocks to find the Christ Child lying in the manger. In December, when it is cold outside and not only the church but the whole city is decorated, I hear those words and feel comfort and hope at coming to this place and greeting the Christ Child here. In December, we do offer gifts of baby food for the baby Jesus and hungry babies in Springfield. We also adopt a school and provide gifts of much needed school supplies. So our focus is not entirely on greeting the Christ Child here, but on Christmas Eve, at least for me, the focus is on the Christ child being born in my own heart and greeting him in this place so that I can swallow my fear and go into the world to serve Christ there.
On Christmas in July, I hear the words of the angel to the shepherd differently. I hear the angel say to the shepherds-"Do not be afraid. The Christ Child is not here in the fields where you are comfortable and know what you are doing. The Christ Child is in Bethlehem, where you are not comfortable and do not know what you are doing. Swallow your fear and go there." Which the shepherds do.
The parable of Christmas in July, weird and uncomfortable as it might be, reminds us that the manger is not just here, where we greet the Christ Child and are comfortable and know what we are doing. The manger is also, and perhaps primarily, in the world around us-in those places where we take cookies and socks and underwear-in those places and others where we are less comfortable and less likely to know what we are doing. Today, when we hear the angel say to the shepherds "Do not fear," perhaps those are words of promise as we are sent out of our comfort zones and into the situations and places where we will be greeted by the Christ Child upon our arrival.
Amen.
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