Christmas Eve Mass & Homily 12–24-09
Readings: From the Midnight Mass, the best–Isaiah 9, 1-6; Psalm 96, Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord; Titus 2, 11-14; Luke 2, 1-14.
Isaiah: author, date, subject–
Author: Isaiah is one of the three great OT prophets along with Jeremiah & Ezekiel. This is partly because of the size of the work, 66 chapters, but even more so because Isaiah is so beautiful and influential in the Christian story.
There are really three Isaiahs, chapters 1-39, 40-55, & 56-66. How do we know? Simple. Different styles of writing, different vocabularies, different slants to the message.
Date: 1 Isaiah, our selection is put together ca. 700 BCE. 2 Isaiah, ca. 500 BCE; 3 Isaiah, ca. 400 BCE.
Subject: As always, there has been predictions of doom & destruction. This passage, however, is the flip of this. Listen for words like rejoicing, making merry, joy, peace, a God-hero Child is born.
Source: Bishop John Shelby Spong
Where is the God-Hero Child?
This past fall Gloria Eshelbrenner got married in Seattle. She is Richard & Carol's daughter. Rosemary & I got invited to perform the ceremony, beautifully located over water at a yacht club.
Rosemary & I went on the Monday before the wedding so that we could visit the city, which was the first time for both of us in Seattle. A great city. Just do not look at the weather forecast today and for the past 4 weeks.
One morning we walked down hill into the center of town and went into a Starbucks, what else, just across the street from the Pike St. Market. It was a marvelous old corner location with a high ceiling, mirrors on the walls, and wood paneling. Must have once been a bar.
We got our lattes and went looking for a place to sit. There were the usual tables & chairs and also groups of four leather easy chairs squared before wooden topped coffee tables. All were more or less occupied.
One square, fortunately had only one person, a late middle aged woman. The woman wore bulky clothes without much color, a shawl over her shoulders, a stocking cap on her head, a coffee on the table in front of her, she was slouched and she was asleep. I thought she must be a street person come in to take a nap & a coffee.
There was no other place, so we decided we would give it a try, as long as she did not smell.
We sat and began to enjoy the lattes when the woman, now on my left side, stirred and reached for her coffee. I said something like, "Good Morning," and we began to talk.
Turned out she was far from being a street person. She was just getting off of work at an animal shelter, where she was the nighttime attendant. We had not chatted for more that a few minutes when out from under her shawl and coat a little head emerged. It was a little Chihuahua dog, very friendly and sleepy. We spent probably a delightful half an hour talking with this Seattle lady and her little dog.
I had done it again, folks, judged the book by the cover. Whatever I thought she was in the beginning, she turned out to be a special blessing and gift to me & us.
Where do you find these people blessings, these god-hero people?
Picture 1: Christmas Eve, 2009
Picture 2: Mass begins with Kevin helping
Picture 3: The Nativity Drama
Picture 4: The McGraths, Terry & Joy, Morgan & Tyler
Picture 5: The Community Rectory in Snow, Christmas
