FROM THE PASTOR
Lift Up Thine Eyes
On Christmas Eve in the Year of our Lord 2023 we are not at peace. War and death rage on in Gaza, Ukraine, with ongoing conflict in Burma, Sudan, Ethiopia and elsewhere. Hate crimes and acts of bigotry mar our public life. Our imminent election season divides us and scares us. Our welcome of our migrant new neighbors is touched by resentment and fear. We In our country, in our world, in our lives, we are not at peace on this Christmas Eve of 2023.
And yet we have this story, which means to pull us together and give us peace. We are like the shepherds in the field, terrified at this strange reality of heavenly hosts that suddenly appears before them. This story comes to us in our fear, and beckons us to hasten to the new thing, marvel at a homeless little family, see God’s love for everyone because of this baby, and be transformed. So this Christmas, in this world in which we are not at peace, I want to focus on the song the angels sang to terrified shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to all.”
There is a classic Norman Rockwell painting about Christmas…People trudge by St. Thomas Episcopal Church at 5th and 53rd in Manhattan. Christmas is in the background-trees, lights, decorations. The church sign proclaims, “Lift Up Thine Eyes,” and the people march right past the sign, eyes glued to the ground.
Lift up thine eyes. In this time where we are not at peace in the world in which we live Jesus comes to heal and teach, not divide us. We can identify with the shepherds. They, like us, are everyday ordinary people. Along with the shepherds who are minding those for whom they have responsibility (their sheep) God confronts us with a proclamation that is both terrifying and wondrous. That multitude of angels, the heavenly host, filled the sky and overwhelmed all sensibilities while also relieving the shepherd, and us, of their fear.
Lift up thine eyes. This story, at bottom, exemplifies the mystery of a world in which we have been called to move toward one another rather than to build walls. We have been called to accept both our terror and our joy because all of it is known to God. We are rightfully awed by the prospect of promised peace and harmony because all around us we are not at peace and cannot see a path forward. The vision has to come outside our own sensibilities; it comes from angels who are messengers of the Author of creation.
Lift up thine eyes, hear the angels proclaim peace, and then with the shepherds come with haste to the savior who is in the manger. There, Jesus is swaddled in warmth, in the safety his parents provide. Because of Jesus newborn fragility, he is dependent on those who care for him. He becomes one of us, all of us—infant, young adult, middle aged, or elderly—who need the care of family and neighbor and to be swaddled by the love of God, the peace that passes all understanding.
This year, when it seems there is no peace….Lift up thine eyes.
Stephen Paul Bouman
