Christmas 2012

Christ is born. Christ is born. We have spent

40 days preparing for this day, fasting, praying,

meditating upon the coming of the Creator to

His world and fulfillment of everything that

Israel and the Jews believed. And now we are

here to celebrate this day. Sometimes I wonder,

after it's done, the celebration is done, how

much of Christmas, how much of Nativity has made

an impact, how much the cross has made an impact

in our life, how much the resurrection has made

an impact, or the teaching about the Trinity,

or the two natures of Christ, divine and human.

Because until those things are very well established

in our souls as not just teaching, but as a way

of life, The Christian life and our relationship

with Jesus will seem very external to us. On

Christmas, yes, we offer God something as the

wise men did. We offer him our life. But we also,

before we can do that, have to come to him to

be reborn continually, spiritually. We have to

then, as the wise men... went around Herod at

the end of that story. We have to learn how to

go around our sins and our passions. We have

to have Christ born in us anew, not just a Christmas.

But every time we come to church, this is our

constant prayer, I want to tell you a story.

It's not very Christmassy, but I feel compelled

to tell you this. It was about the year 305.

in a well -to -do city of Asia Minor called Nicomedia.

It was an imperial city. And the Christians,

by that point, had grown. There were many thousands

and thousands, over 20 ,000 Christians in the

city of Nicomedia by the year 305. And persecutions

had pretty much stopped in other places. of the

empire. But a new governor, just like you read

in Genesis, a new pharaoh came who knew not Moses,

who knew not Joseph. A new governor came with

instructions to stamp out Christianity, the Nazarenes

in Nicomedea, because they would not offer incense

to the Roman state gods. and therefore they were

unpatriotic and could not be relied upon. They

were subversive. They were atheists because they

wouldn't accept the gods. And through the month

of November in that year, Christians, important

Christians in the city government were rounded

up and they were given a choice, the usual choice,

offer incense and be put to death. Or it will

give you a more important position in the city.

Much more power, much more prestige. If you will

only, you don't have to believe, if you will

only offer to the gods. But they wouldn't. So

Christians were being killed. On Christmas Day,

in 305, Christians were celebrating, Orthodox

Christians were celebrating the nativity in the

church. Thousands of them, because it was a very

large church in this place. Unusual, but it's

true. And as they were celebrating the liturgy,

the governor told his soldiers to stack up wood

all around the outside of the church. And if

they had a megaphone, a bullhorn, they would

have said, come out or we're going to burn you

down. And the Christians knew that they'd come

out. They would be killed anyway because the

last threat of a worldly tyrant is death, right?

That's all he can do to you. Jesus said, don't

fear those that will kill the body, fear those

that will kill the soul. And the bishop in the

church cried out to the people. He said, brothers

and sisters, Let us take this God -given moment,

this opportunity, to pray as the three children

did in the furnace, to offer glorification to

our God. Praise Him, sun and moon, stars and

light, frosts, ice, rain, waters, people. And

they began the divine liturgy. And the wood was

stacked up outside the church, and the fire was

started. And everyone received communion. It

took five days for the church to burn down. And

it is said in the life, in the Synaxare, the

lives of the saints, that by the end of that

week, not just because of the fire, but because

of the persecutions earlier, 20 ,000 Christians

had perished. And when the faithful that were

hiding came out and they walked amidst the ruins

of the burned -down church, they didn't smell

the stench of human flesh, but they smelled sweet

-smelling myrrh. I'm telling you this story not

because it's anything like Jonestown and that

crazy thing in Guyana where everybody drank a

poison Kool -Aid. No one was planning to be a

martyr that day. I'm not telling you this story

because it's some kind of cult story to show

you how terribly weak we are. I'm telling you

this story to be inspired that when we come into

the church, we are coming to praise the God who

redeemed us from that kind of cruelty, that kind

of injustice, that kind of horror of this world.

Because he is the God of love. He is the God

of justice. He is the God of abasement and humility.

Those who sang in the church, who partook of

communion, they sang the glories of the Lord

who would redeem them. They said, let us make

necessity of death a virtue and become martyrs

for the Lord. And we celebrate their memory on

the 28th of December every year, although they

perished on Christmas Day. I tell you this, this

story, so you can evaluate your own love of God,

your own love of worship. If now we were threatened

with this church burning down, I would probably

say, my goodness, we've just spent $7 ,000 on

that. Let's go out and just save the day here.

But you know what? Tyrants and those who hate

God destroy the whole thing. You can't join their

side. You can't be on their side. If you are

not with me, Jesus says, you are against me.

So let us always be with Christ. never afraid

of anything in this world. I want to read you

now a short hymn Father Michael handed me because

it's relevant to what I just said. Rejoice, O

faithful! Make ready for the feast of the birth

of Christ. The King of kings comes to live with

his servants. You see, whether we live or we

die, We are with the Lord. Behold the most wonderful

mystery. The cave will become heaven. The virgin,

the throne of God. The manger, a room where Christ,

the Savior, will be laid in swaddling clothes.

When you look at the icon, the fresco of Nativity,

you see Christ, swaddling clothes, wrapped just

as he would be, laid in a cave after he was taken

down from the cross. Already we see the prefigurations

of why he came, not just so the angels could

tell us the news, but so that he would come to

die and rise and raise us up with him. Come,

people, slow of heart. Cast away the veil of

sin that lies upon your heart. Recognize the

Maker who comes to dwell among us. Let us make

ready to praise him and say, Blessed art thou,

O Lord. God of our fathers, praised and glorified,

and supremely glorified into the ages, for Christ

is born. For Christ is born. Let us all sing

with all our soul and with all our mind. Let

us sing.