In the name of our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
One of the things that gets better the older you get is getting clothing for Christmas. As a kid, there was nothing worse than getting socks or a pair of dress pants that you “needed” as a Christmas gift. But now, give me some nice dress socks and you’ll get an authentic “thank you.” Well, this morning we heard the prophet Isaiah proclaim, “God has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” Though we might not think of what God gives us at Christmas as being clothing, it’s the metaphor that Scripture gives us and is one that fits quite well.
The question that we have to contend with every Sunday after Christmas is what happens now? The radio stations that have been playing Christmas music for the last 6 weeks are back to playing the oldies, the stores that still have any Christmas related items have them marked down to 50% off as they’re already trying to make room for Valentine’s Day candy, and the wrapping paper now sits in the recycling bin until it’s picked up in a few days. But what about the “true meaning of Christmas” that everyone seems so interested in remembering – generosity, wonder, peace, and joy. Those aren’t things to stuff into a box in the attic for another year, are they?
See, the real struggle isn’t keeping “Christ in Christmas,” the real work of faith is keeping Christmas as the foundation of our lives. One of the worst things that Christians can do this time of year is to get sucked into the debates about historicity. Was there really a census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria? Why did Mary accompany Joseph all the way to Bethlehem, wouldn’t it make sense for a nine-month pregnant woman to remain with the rest of the family in Nazareth? How does a star attract magi from so far away while no one closer noticed it? Those might be interesting questions to ponder, but they aren’t what Christmas is about. Christmas is not about historical facts, instead Christmas is an ongoing reality.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not denying any Biblical accounts and saying that the birth of Jesus is not a historical event. It most certainly is. However, Christmas is not confined to the pages of history. Christmas is not about this really amazing thing that God did this one time a long time ago. No, Christmas is a description of God’s nature; Christmas is the revelation that God will do anything and go to any depth to be God with us and God for us.
And what I mean by saying that Christmas is an ongoing reality is that Incarnation creates the possibility of incorporation. Incarnation is the theological word that describes what we heard in John, that the “Word became flesh.” Incarnation is how we say that God, the one who created heaven and earth, the one who spoke to Moses from the burning bush, the one who split the waters and led the people out of slavery into freedom, the one who was with Daniel in the lion’s den, the one who gave strength to Esther, that very same God was born of Mary and lived, breathed, cried, laughed, walked, and died a human life. That’s what Incarnation means.
Incorporation is a related word, and it means that something becomes a part of a body. As one of the great theologians of the Church put it, “The divine became human that humans might become divine.” Through Christmas, we are brought into the story of God; we are incorporated into the promises and salvation of God. Because Jesus went low, we are able to rise high. Incarnation enables incorporation. This is the ongoing miracle and reality of Christmas, that our inclusion, belonging and incorporation into the story of God continues. God’s activity of bringing healing, freedom, and mercy has not stopped and is something that we are gifted with participating in and enjoying.
To further this point, I’m going to go somewhere you probably didn’t expect: Martha Stewart, the businesswoman, writer, and hospitality guru. She’s been in the news recently because there’s a relatively new documentary about her life, which has a Christmas shaped plot to it. Stewart was the first female self-made billionaire in the US. She built a media empire on the idea of having a perfectly perfect life. Which is, of course, an impossible lie. There are always costs to pursuing more and more wealth and chasing idols. One letter that she wrote, as her marriage was falling apartb said, “I’m sitting on plane right now, crying, and cannot believe myself. I am 45 years old, worried and lonely and hopeless. The future is a total blur.”
She was experiencing the depths and pains of humanity, the very same depths and pains that God in Jesus Christ knew and experienced for us and for our salvation. But this wasn’t yet rock bottom for her, as the story of Martha Stewart cannot be told without stop in prison. Many legal scholars say that her sentence for insider trading was a sham, intended to target and take down a powerful woman who had made some enemies on the way to the top. She ended up serving about five months and wrote from prison, “I feel very inconsequential, as if no would miss me if I never came back to reality.” We might say that she was being incorporated into the story of grace and of the Cross. The Reformation theologian Martin Luther once wrote, “The Gospel cannot come to the fore except through and in suffering.”
God, through Stewart, was able to use that suffering for the means of grace and hope of glory. She said, “I made it a priority to really try to understand my fellow inmates, and they did the same for me.” Some of them asked her to teach them about business so that they might make a new start of things when their sentences were up. So, she taught some classes and got to know others that she never could previously imagined spending time with. One inmate had made a poncho for her and that’s what she wore as she was released from prison.
I don’t know if Stewart would refer to that crocheted poncho as a garment of salvation or a robe of righteousness, as Isaiah put it, but, in effect, that’s what it was. It was a symbol of a friendship and freedom; and if that’s not what Christmas is about, then I don’t know what is. Christmas is when God comes to us and frees us from our captivity to Sin, Death, and ourselves.
Stewart’s story isn’t a perfect redemption story, because the only perfect redemption story belongs to Jesus. But Stewart has found fame and fortune again, but on her terms. Perfection is no longer the idol that it used to be, and she embraces that her story now includes brokenness and imperfection. Because when we fail, we don’t fall from grace as much as we fall into it.
Stewart notes that she lost a lot of friends when she went to prison. People who used spend time with her simply ignored her. In the documentary, there’s an interview portion where she’s talking about this and one of her new and unlikeliest of friends is there – the rapper Snoop Dogg. He reminds her that when those former friends were dumping her, that’s right when he came into her life. Maybe comparing God’s grace to Snoop Dogg is a stretch, but only in God’s sense of humor could something like that make sense. That’s how grace works – it is surprising, unpredictable, and undeserved.
Stewart was incarnated into the depths and pains of humanity in a profound way, which allowed her to be incorporated into something bigger than her as she connected with others and found grace; grace that was symbolized as a poncho made in prison and given to her to wear as she was released. On a much holier and grander scale, this is what God does in Jesus Christ at Christmas. God came into the mess of our world, suffered, and was betrayed and murdered. Jesus lived our story so that we might live his.
This is what Baptism is all about – our incorporation into the story of redemption. St. Paul writes in Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his… So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Baptism, which we have the joy of celebrating today thanks to Edie Corriher, is how we enact the reality that are clothed in Christ, decked out with the garments of salvation, and the adorned with the robes of Christ’s victory. For centuries, the Church has spoken of Baptism as being clothed in, with, and by Jesus Christ. Jesus was clothed with our flesh and incorporated us into the story of his Passion and Resurrection, endowing us with the grace, mercy, and peace of his Resurrection.
And just as Christmas does not belong in the category of history, nor does Edie’s baptism. Yes, we’ll baptize her today on a specific day and time, but her Baptism will be the truest thing about her and will, hopefully, guide her all her days. None of us have any idea what Edie’s life is going to look like – and yet we are confident that she is the beloved child of God, that she is already forgiven for the mistakes that she will make, and that she will always be loved. Edie’s dignity, because it has been gifted by God, is not something she will ever lose or have to earn. Edie will never have to prove herself because Jesus Christ has witnessed with his life and death to her belonging and incorporation into the Body of Christ. Forever and always, Edie is clothed with the love of Christ.
And our task, as those who gather here today, is to always remind her of these garments of salvation that are rightfully hers. We are to surround and nurture her faith with wonder, joy, and praise. We are to teach her the story that she is being incorporated into. When she starts talking, we are to help her to learn the words of faith: I forgive you, I’m sorry, let me help, I love you. In times of celebration and struggle, we are to remind and assure her that she is wrapped in the gracious love of God, and that will make all the difference in her life.
Of course, this isn’t only Edie’s story – it is ours as well. We can all greatly rejoice because we are incorporated into the beautiful, wonderful, and gracious things that God is up to in this world. It’s the gift of Christmas – being clothed in the love of Christ. So when you get ready to leave this church today and you put on your coat, remember that you have also been clothed with salvation, righteousness, and the love that makes all things well.
