WEBVTT 00:00:07.419 --> 00:00:11.619 So overjoyed to greet each of you with this festal 00:00:11.619 --> 00:00:18.600 greeting and deeply honored that I am able and 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:23.019 given the privilege to read the Christmas sermon 00:00:23.019 --> 00:00:27.760 of His Eminence Archbishop Bennett. This is what 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:31.260 he wrote. In the name of the Father, and of the 00:00:31.260 --> 00:00:35.179 Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We're here 00:00:35.179 --> 00:00:38.939 this morning to commemorate one of the most important 00:00:38.939 --> 00:00:43.740 pillars of the Christian faith, Christ. The pre 00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:47.219 -eternal word of the Father is born today in 00:00:47.219 --> 00:00:52.000 Bethlehem, the city of David. He upon whom the 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:57.039 angels dare not gaze enters the womb of the Virgin. 00:00:59.609 --> 00:01:03.689 that means for a moment. Think about what this 00:01:03.689 --> 00:01:07.670 is. Her womb becomes more spacious than the heavens 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:11.310 because he whom the heavens could not contain 00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:16.769 is contained within her womb. God, who brought 00:01:16.769 --> 00:01:22.069 the world into being out of non -existence, who 00:01:22.069 --> 00:01:26.709 created time, enters today on this feast day 00:01:26.709 --> 00:01:31.930 into the world. Into history. Into human history. 00:01:33.629 --> 00:01:38.549 We're surrounded in this beautiful temple. With 00:01:38.549 --> 00:01:41.269 images which give evidence of this mystery. For 00:01:41.269 --> 00:01:44.810 he who cannot be described the creator. Accepts 00:01:44.810 --> 00:01:47.010 to be described by taking on the flesh of his 00:01:47.010 --> 00:01:52.530 creatures. He who created Adam. Becomes a son 00:01:52.530 --> 00:01:57.319 of Adam. The king of kings is born. Not in a 00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:01.040 glittering palace, but in a cave. He rests not 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:08.259 in a bed, but in a manger. But why? Why has he 00:02:08.259 --> 00:02:13.919 come? Why has God emptied himself into the form 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:17.479 of one of his creatures? He has taken on the 00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:21.740 flesh of Adam for no other reason but to die 00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:26.219 Adam's death, our death. To descend into Sheol, 00:02:26.379 --> 00:02:29.560 into death itself, into the grave, and reach 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:34.300 out and give Adam and his descendants life. See 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:36.599 this beautiful fresco of the resurrection of 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:39.259 the descent into Hades. That's exactly what we're 00:02:39.259 --> 00:02:43.300 seeing, what he says here. Christ reaching to 00:02:43.300 --> 00:02:47.080 change the very nature of death from, if you 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:51.840 will pardon the pun, from a dead end into a pathway 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:56.180 of life. This is the second pillar of our Christian 00:02:56.180 --> 00:03:00.500 faith, Pascha. These two events are firmly connected 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:03.400 and are reflected in the gifts of the Magi. They 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:09.419 brought him gold because he is a king, frankincense 00:03:09.419 --> 00:03:13.699 because he is God, and myrrh because he has come 00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:17.800 to die. Christ the giver has become the gift. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:23.889 The giver becomes the gift to give life. The 00:03:23.889 --> 00:03:26.629 gift of life to the whole creation, to everyone 00:03:26.629 --> 00:03:32.069 and all things. Through Adam, death entered into 00:03:32.069 --> 00:03:36.069 the world. But through the second Adam, Christ, 00:03:36.090 --> 00:03:42.009 life is restored. And we give gifts. So we give 00:03:42.009 --> 00:03:43.909 gifts at this time of the year in remembrance 00:03:43.909 --> 00:03:47.889 of this great gift of God to us. Let's all as 00:03:47.889 --> 00:03:53.039 Christians be mindful of this reason. Our culture 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:56.639 has forgotten the reason for the season by creating 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:01.300 an alternate mythology. In the ancient world, 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:04.819 in the ancient pagan world into which Christianity 00:04:04.819 --> 00:04:08.419 emerged, there was a celebration called the winter 00:04:08.419 --> 00:04:11.400 solstice, the time of year when the days became 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:15.719 longer with the sun, if you will, conquered the 00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:19.680 darkness of winter. It was a great celebration 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:23.519 in many pagan cultures, a bacchanalia, an orgy, 00:04:23.579 --> 00:04:29.860 and all of those things. And in the Roman celebration, 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:34.639 there was a custom of exchanging gifts. The Christians 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:38.220 baptized this pagan celebration, choosing December 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:41.240 25th to recall the birth of Christ. You will 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:43.800 hear in the Tiberian of Christmas that we sang 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:49.050 a reflection of this. O Christ our God, has shown 00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:52.870 to the world the light of wisdom. For by it those 00:04:52.870 --> 00:04:56.149 who worship the stars, the magi, were taught 00:04:56.149 --> 00:05:01.670 by a star to adore thee, the sun, S -U -N, that 00:05:01.670 --> 00:05:04.910 which keeps coming in and out today, of righteousness, 00:05:05.089 --> 00:05:08.209 and to know thee, the day spring, the orient, 00:05:08.430 --> 00:05:11.069 the east, the place where the sun rises, to know 00:05:11.069 --> 00:05:15.110 thee, the orient from on high. O Lord, glory 00:05:15.110 --> 00:05:19.189 to thee. And the fathers of the church were not 00:05:19.189 --> 00:05:21.930 afraid to baptize this pagan celebration of nature, 00:05:22.089 --> 00:05:26.670 to give it a Christian context, the Feast of 00:05:26.670 --> 00:05:30.230 Lights, because they saw in nature itself witness 00:05:30.230 --> 00:05:34.329 to the nativity of Christ. As I said last night, 00:05:34.449 --> 00:05:40.350 quoting the prophet, the world is covered with 00:05:40.350 --> 00:05:49.759 the knowledge of God, as much as the sea. There 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:51.920 are those who reject this baptism of a pagan 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:56.180 celebration. For example, the Jehovah Witnesses. 00:05:56.920 --> 00:05:59.920 But they also reject the fundamental doctrine 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:02.980 that Christ is both divine and human, God and 00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:06.759 man, the theanthropos, that he became a human. 00:06:08.220 --> 00:06:11.879 Unfortunately, our culture is dechristianizing 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:15.279 Christmas. Doing the reverse of what the early 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:17.839 church fathers did by taking the symbols of this 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:21.579 major Christian feast and emptying them now of 00:06:21.579 --> 00:06:25.459 all its meaning. We see this in the commercialization 00:06:25.459 --> 00:06:29.300 of Christmas. So it's very possible to celebrate 00:06:29.300 --> 00:06:33.620 Christmas without any reference to Christ. We've 00:06:33.620 --> 00:06:39.199 slowly and subtly perhaps accepted this mythology. 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:43.649 The church prepares us in a different way. than 00:06:43.649 --> 00:06:50.410 the world. Mythology of Santa Claus. The mythology 00:06:50.410 --> 00:06:55.129 of Rudolph the Red -Nosed Reindeer. To replace 00:06:55.129 --> 00:07:05.689 the virgin, the magi, and the manger. An orgy 00:07:05.689 --> 00:07:08.730 of gift -giving has pushed aside any reflection 00:07:08.730 --> 00:07:11.329 of God's great gift of salvation and the gifts 00:07:11.329 --> 00:07:15.490 of the magi. I heard a TV commercial where they 00:07:15.490 --> 00:07:18.110 started singing, God rest ye merry gentlemen, 00:07:18.569 --> 00:07:21.089 let nothing you dismay. But when they got to 00:07:21.089 --> 00:07:24.449 the part, remember Christ our Savior was born 00:07:24.449 --> 00:07:26.949 on Christmas Day, they cut out the words that 00:07:26.949 --> 00:07:29.250 mentioned Christ and just had instrumental music. 00:07:31.009 --> 00:07:33.829 Let us all be mindful of God's incredible gift 00:07:33.829 --> 00:07:37.790 to this season, to us. His gift. We may be swimming 00:07:37.790 --> 00:07:42.389 against the current of our secular culture. Dead 00:07:42.389 --> 00:07:47.529 fish float downstream. But to swim upstream is 00:07:47.529 --> 00:07:52.089 not only possible, but it is necessary. Christ 00:07:52.089 --> 00:07:57.730 is born. And Adam rejoices. Christ is born. And 00:07:57.730 --> 00:08:02.110 death is put on notice. Christ is born. And the 00:08:02.110 --> 00:08:07.110 angels are amazed and sing, Christ is born. And 00:08:07.110 --> 00:08:11.319 the earth offers a cave. Christ is born. And 00:08:11.319 --> 00:08:15.420 the animals offer a manger for his bed. Christ 00:08:15.420 --> 00:08:21.019 is born. And the magi offer him gifts of gold, 00:08:21.100 --> 00:08:25.300 frankincense, and myrrh. Christ is born. And 00:08:25.300 --> 00:08:28.420 the shepherds offer him worship. Christ is born. 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:34.720 And all mankind offers the Virgin Mary. Christ 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:37.500 is born. Amen.