Once Upon A Time in Bethlehem

First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Christmas Eve ~ December 24, 2005
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.
[Texts: Isaiah 9:2-7/Luke 2:1-20]

“In those days a decree went out from Emperor August that all the world should be registered…” The beginning of the Christmas story sounds a lot like “once upon a time.”  E. H. Gombrich oberves that, “All stories begin with ‘Once upon a time” as he begins A Little History of the World.  And so it is, all stories – including ours – happened once upon a time. This is a night and a time when we get together with family and friends and we tell those stories. We laugh and we cry. Sometimes we even hurt as we remember those once upon a times that have made us who we are. I think that’s why the Christmas story is so compelling, why we tell it year after year, and why it speaks to us in its simplicity. Because once upon a time in Bethlehem is our story, too

As Gombrich says, “Behind every ‘Once upon a time’ there is always another. Have you ever tried standing between two mirrors? You should. You will see a great long line of shiny mirrors, each one smaller than the one before, stretching away into the distance, getting fainter and fainter, so that you never see the last. But even when you can’t see them any more, the mirrors still go on. They are there, and you know it. And that’s how it is with ‘Once upon a time’. We can’t see where it ends. Grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather . . . it makes your head spin. But say it again, slowly, and in the end you’ll be able to imagine it. Then add one more. That gets us quickly back into the past, and from there into the distant past. But you will never reach the beginning, because behind every beginning there’s always another ‘Once upon a time’.” And so it is, two thousand and five years later, or so they say, we gather in a place very distant in time, culture, and geography from Bethlehem – and yet we’re there. Why? Because the new beginnings that are deep within that story that tie with the beginnings in our own.

Some might think that because the story begins with a ‘once upon a time’ that it’s a fairy tale – something of the fabulous or the impossible. They might look at Luke’s reference to Augustus’ degree which, for some reason, no one can verify ever occurred and then question whether or not there is any real history in this story. But, history at that time wasn’t written the way we write history now and so we can’t really question the historicity of what Luke presents, because there are other documents and other sources that do corroborate other things he writes. It also challenges us to think outside the box of our experience – God seeks to interact with us in a new and a powerful way. God wants to identify with us and that is more than the stuff of a “cute story,” or something nice for children in costumes to act out. It’s something that is meant to change how we look at ourselves and look at our world.

I’ve been thinking about this for weeks because of a phone call we received in response to a mailing we sent. This year we sent a mailing around to all the homes in our Wauwatosa zipcode with a lovely picture of the church on it, a greeting, and a list of our Advent and Christmas activities. Shortly after it was delivered we got a message on the answering machine that would have curled your hair. A ‘gentleman’ – and I use that term loosely – swore into the phone telling us what a “load” (and I’ll leave the rest to your imagination) Christianity is and that we’d better never send another card to his house or he’d come vandalize our building. Peace on earth, good will to men, indeed!

After I got over my initial anger at his lack of civility, I hurt for that man. I wondered what he had experienced that gave him this impression. And the more I thought, the more I let my mind play over the centuries of Christianity I began to see just why he felt the way he did. You see, he reacted the way he did precisely because most Christians – people who say they believe – treat this story like it’s just a fairy tale. It’s something nice, it’s wishful, but it’s not real and then they live their lives in just that manner – as if it weren’t real. A non-Christian said it best, Mahatma Gandhi, “Christianity hasn’t failed. It’s simply never been tried.”  That’s why that gentleman reacted the way he did – because Christians far too often don’t let the story play out in the reality of their lives, as it was meant to happen.

The story, however, is real and we have to put ourselves back into the long line of once upon a times that will draw us back into the midst of the story and the life-changing transformation that it can bring. At the heart of the story is God’s will to relationship. The whole story of the Bible is about God seeking relationship with humanity – with that which has been made in God’s image and likeness and thus has a Divine spark deep inside. What we celebrate tonight, as theologian Nathan Mitchell points out, isn’t primarily a birthday, “but the beginning of a decisive new phase in the history of God’s hunger for human companions.” God, to use the language of Emeril, “kicks it up a notch” on that long ago night in Bethlehem, entering into our world as one of us.  The once upon a time in Bethlehem is the story of God’s descending to us and the beginning of our ascent to God. And it all takes place in a stable in an obscure Judean town.

The once upon a time, this story that has taken up countless pages of writing by scholars, preachers, and skeptics over the centuries, is about the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…” It’s the story that Paul writes to Titus, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly . . .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 who are zealous for good deeds.” See the point here? The light shines not on a lovely stage to illuminate a story, but on a people who need to see their way out of a dark place – a place cut off from the real relationship that gives meaning, depth, and hope to life. The story is told so that we might be transformed, made different, changed so that our lives might reflect God’s life. Once upon a time in Bethlehem lets us know that the possibility, the reality of that transformation is within our grasp – because God has become one with us, so that we might become one with God.

I think this transformative element, so easily overlooked, is the reason why so much good music and literature has been produced about once upon a time in Bethlehem. Think about the lovely carols that we sing, the choral music which uplifts and delights us, and then listen past the melodies to the words. Let’s look at just a couple of them, shall we? One ancient Latin hymn, written by Prudentius in the fourth century, sings:  “Of the Father’s love begotten/Ere the worlds began to be,/He is Alpha and Omega,/He the source, the ending he,/Of the things that are, that have been,/And that future years shall see,/Evermore and Evermore//Oh, that birth forever blessed,/When the virgin, full of grace,/By the Holy Ghost conceiving,/Bore the savior of our race,/And the babe, the world’s redeemer,/First revealed his sacred face,/Evermore and evermore.” There is the doctrine of the Incarnation in a nutshell – the mystery revealed – God with us and God for us.

Phillips Brooks wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem” after visiting there in the eighteen sixties. It’s a lovely poem and set to an equally charming tune, but the fourth verse makes the point we too often forget: “O holy Child of Bethlehem,/Descend to us, we pray;/Cast out our sin, and enter in,/Be born in us today./We hear the Christmas angels/The great glad tidings tell;/O come to us, abide with us,/Our Lord Emmanuel.” The birth long ago, once upon a time in Bethlehem is to happen in our lives, in us, today. That’s where this story is different, because while it happened once upon a time, it continues to happen whenever and wherever we open ourselves to the reality of God-with-us.

If we look to literature there are countless stories inspired by once upon a time in Bethlehem, but the man who made Christmas in so many ways, was Charles Dickens. His “Christmas Books” The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, The Haunted Man, and best known to us A Christmas Carol are all stories of transformation and of hope. They all speak to the possibility of our humanity actually living up to its potential to love and to care for others – as God meant us to do. All you have to do is to look at the experience of Ebenezer Scrooge and the transformation that takes him from “Humbug!” to one who “kept Christmas well” to see the enduring power of the story that inspired it. We can change and we can grow – if we open ourselves to do it and in that possibility is the story of Christmas.

Once upon a time in Bethlehem should, then, point us to what God has called us to be. This is what Leo the Great preached to his people in Rome back in the fifth century and, like once upon a time, his words still ring true today. Leo said, “No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no one free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice – seeing the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad – receiving the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage – being summoned to life. . .Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom.” Tell the story, but more importantly, live it – and let it live through you. Remember your dignity and that it all began once upon a time in Bethlehem.

Merry Christmas and God bless us, every one!

Pray with me, please:

Wonderful the dignity you bestowed, O God, on human nature when you created it; more wonderful still its condition when you recreated it. Grant, we pray, that as Jesus Christ, your Son, stooped to share our human nature, so we may share the lot of his divine nature. Through that same Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit has shared one life and kingly power, one godhead, from all eternity. Amen. [Leonine Sacramentary/early Sixth Century]