So overjoyed to greet each of you with this festal
greeting and deeply honored that I am able and
given the privilege to read the Christmas sermon
of His Eminence Archbishop Bennett. This is what
he wrote. In the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We're here
this morning to commemorate one of the most important
pillars of the Christian faith, Christ. The pre
-eternal word of the Father is born today in
Bethlehem, the city of David. He upon whom the
angels dare not gaze enters the womb of the Virgin.
that means for a moment. Think about what this
is. Her womb becomes more spacious than the heavens
because he whom the heavens could not contain
is contained within her womb. God, who brought
the world into being out of non -existence, who
created time, enters today on this feast day
into the world. Into history. Into human history.
We're surrounded in this beautiful temple. With
images which give evidence of this mystery. For
he who cannot be described the creator. Accepts
to be described by taking on the flesh of his
creatures. He who created Adam. Becomes a son
of Adam. The king of kings is born. Not in a
glittering palace, but in a cave. He rests not
in a bed, but in a manger. But why? Why has he
come? Why has God emptied himself into the form
of one of his creatures? He has taken on the
flesh of Adam for no other reason but to die
Adam's death, our death. To descend into Sheol,
into death itself, into the grave, and reach
out and give Adam and his descendants life. See
this beautiful fresco of the resurrection of
the descent into Hades. That's exactly what we're
seeing, what he says here. Christ reaching to
change the very nature of death from, if you
will pardon the pun, from a dead end into a pathway
of life. This is the second pillar of our Christian
faith, Pascha. These two events are firmly connected
and are reflected in the gifts of the Magi. They
brought him gold because he is a king, frankincense
because he is God, and myrrh because he has come
to die. Christ the giver has become the gift.
The giver becomes the gift to give life. The
gift of life to the whole creation, to everyone
and all things. Through Adam, death entered into
the world. But through the second Adam, Christ,
life is restored. And we give gifts. So we give
gifts at this time of the year in remembrance
of this great gift of God to us. Let's all as
Christians be mindful of this reason. Our culture
has forgotten the reason for the season by creating
an alternate mythology. In the ancient world,
in the ancient pagan world into which Christianity
emerged, there was a celebration called the winter
solstice, the time of year when the days became
longer with the sun, if you will, conquered the
darkness of winter. It was a great celebration
in many pagan cultures, a bacchanalia, an orgy,
and all of those things. And in the Roman celebration,
there was a custom of exchanging gifts. The Christians
baptized this pagan celebration, choosing December
25th to recall the birth of Christ. You will
hear in the Tiberian of Christmas that we sang
a reflection of this. O Christ our God, has shown
to the world the light of wisdom. For by it those
who worship the stars, the magi, were taught
by a star to adore thee, the sun, S -U -N, that
which keeps coming in and out today, of righteousness,
and to know thee, the day spring, the orient,
the east, the place where the sun rises, to know
thee, the orient from on high. O Lord, glory
to thee. And the fathers of the church were not
afraid to baptize this pagan celebration of nature,
to give it a Christian context, the Feast of
Lights, because they saw in nature itself witness
to the nativity of Christ. As I said last night,
quoting the prophet, the world is covered with
the knowledge of God, as much as the sea. There
are those who reject this baptism of a pagan
celebration. For example, the Jehovah Witnesses.
But they also reject the fundamental doctrine
that Christ is both divine and human, God and
man, the theanthropos, that he became a human.
Unfortunately, our culture is dechristianizing
Christmas. Doing the reverse of what the early
church fathers did by taking the symbols of this
major Christian feast and emptying them now of
all its meaning. We see this in the commercialization
of Christmas. So it's very possible to celebrate
Christmas without any reference to Christ. We've
slowly and subtly perhaps accepted this mythology.
The church prepares us in a different way. than
the world. Mythology of Santa Claus. The mythology
of Rudolph the Red -Nosed Reindeer. To replace
the virgin, the magi, and the manger. An orgy
of gift -giving has pushed aside any reflection
of God's great gift of salvation and the gifts
of the magi. I heard a TV commercial where they
started singing, God rest ye merry gentlemen,
let nothing you dismay. But when they got to
the part, remember Christ our Savior was born
on Christmas Day, they cut out the words that
mentioned Christ and just had instrumental music.
Let us all be mindful of God's incredible gift
to this season, to us. His gift. We may be swimming
against the current of our secular culture. Dead
fish float downstream. But to swim upstream is
not only possible, but it is necessary. Christ
is born. And Adam rejoices. Christ is born. And
death is put on notice. Christ is born. And the
angels are amazed and sing, Christ is born. And
the earth offers a cave. Christ is born. And
the animals offer a manger for his bed. Christ
is born. And the magi offer him gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. Christ is born. And
the shepherds offer him worship. Christ is born.
And all mankind offers the Virgin Mary. Christ
is born. Amen.