01/05/2025 ~ Second Sunday after Christmas Day; Jeremiah 31:7-14 or Sirach 24:1-12; Psalm 147:12-20 or Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21; Ephesians 1:3-14; John 1:(1-9), 10-18 ~ 01/06/2025 ~ Epiphany of the Christ ~ Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12.

VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1045425289

Cultural Noise

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of Herod, astronomers from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born ruler of the Jews? We observed the star of this child at its rising, and have come to pay homage.” — Matthew 2:1-2.

I recently read a 30 year old book, a biography of the song writer Irving Berlin. I got it at Twice Told Tales, the used book outlet of Curtis Library. My bet is even if you don’t know who Berlin is you know his song White Christmas associated with the 1954 film of the same name. But the song was first heard in the 1942 film Holiday Inn.

In that film there was an introductory verse to the song most people don’t know about. These are the words of that rarely heard introductory verse: “The sun is shining, the grass is green, / The orange and palm trees sway. / There’s never been such a day / in Beverly Hills, L.A. / But it’s December the twenty-fourth,— / And I am longing to be up North—” Then you get: “I’m dreaming of a White….” You know the rest of it, right?

Berlin, a New York City guy, felt trapped in Beverly Hills writing songs for movies, reason enough to dream about a white Christmas back home. But seriously, how many people over the age of about— let’s call it 50— really want a white Christmas?

We had a white Christmas this year but my experience is while people may dream about it, they don’t want to shovel snow or travel on hazardous roads. A white Christmas is simply a cozy cultural fantasy, something which makes us feel warm and fuzzy.

Berlin actually cut that introduction from the published version of the song. It’s very hard to find. Hence, the fantasy is prolonged. But equally, I think the our culture’s noise tries to obliterate the fact of the introduction’s existence since the fantasy, itself, is warm and fuzzy.

Cultural noise is fascinating to observe. A fantasy like a white Christmas is benign. But fantasies— things which are false— are too often not benign. Indeed, cultural noise can invite us not to think about what we hear, not to think about what see, not to think about what we read.

We hear a lot of cultural noise at Christmas time, especially around the Nativity stories. I’m going to list some cultural myths most people accept as Biblical fact, but are not; none of these so-called facts I’m about to recite— not one— are found in Scripture.

Jesus was born in the midst of winter. A star lit up the sky when the angels appeared. You heard me name this one a couple weeks ago: when appearing to the shepherds, angels sing.

A star illuminated the path of the shepherds to the stable. Shepherds were acceptable folks in polite society.

The animals gathered to see the baby. The role the innkeeper played was very pivotal. (An innkeeper is never mentioned.)

Some cultural assumptions we buy into are gender based and gender biased. The shepherds, the Magi, that nonexistent innkeeper were all… men. Says who?

Turning to the Matthew story, there is more cultural noise. The Magi and the shepherds gathered at the same time and same place to see Jesus. The Magi arrived right when Jesus was born, when Jesus was still an infant.

The Magi traveled on camels. The Magi were kings. The Magi were from the orient, whatever that means. The names of the Magi were Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. There were three Magi, no more, no less, three. (Slight pause.)

Again, none of that list I just recited is in Scripture— none of it. It’s just not there. All of that is cultural noise, things made up which the culture teaches as truth. Each of these so called facts is unsupportable given what actually find in the Bible.

Further, Matthew and Luke are two very different stories, written at different times, addressed to different audiences. The culture mushes them together, adds falsehoods, lies. When we block out cultural noise the record in Scripture, not the noise can become clear. (Slight pause.)

This is from the Gospel known as Matthew: “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of Herod, astronomers from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born ruler of the Jews? We observed the star of this child at its rising, and have come to pay homage.” (Slight pause.)

Question: is the birth of the Messiah meant as a message for all people, everywhere? (Slight pause.) One of my favorite Christmas carols is Carol Our Christmas. Not often heard in the Northern hemisphere, the carol is about how Christmas is experienced in New Zealand, where December is in the middle of the Summer. It will be our closing hymn today.

Now, I confess I am not immune to cultural noise. I sometimes get overwhelmed by it. That hymn from New Zealand helps cleanse me some of the noise since it makes it clear Jesus was born for all of us, not just Northern Hemisphere types. That carol helps me concentrate on the reality of the Messiah not the cultural noise which clutters the landscape at Christmastide. (Slight pause.)

The most important theological issue raised by the Feast of Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany is obvious. Who is Jesus?

Perhaps what we need to consider is the celebration is important not because of the birth, itself, but because of Who Jesus is. The stories in Matthew and Luke, not the made up cultural myths, answer that question. Jesus is the Messiah.

Specifically, a messianic claim made in Luke is the Messiah will be announced to the poor and outcast, since shepherds would have been among the poor and outcast. And a messianic claim made in Matthew, because the Magi are not Jewish, is that the Messiah is not only for the Hebrew people but for all humanity.

To be clear, the Luke and Matthew stories are littered with angels, shepherds and Magi. I don’t want to eliminate those details. They help the stories come alive.

But the details are not the message the stories intend to convey. Indeed, the point is not even that a baby is born. The point is the Messiah is among us, present to us.

I want to suggest once we try to filter out the culture noise we add to the Nativity stories we can readily see the very presence of Jesus illuminates the real meaning of the stories. And what the stories say is simple: Christ lives. Christ is with us. Because Christ is with us the continuing work of God lives. (Slight pause.)

All that leaves us with an interesting choice. We can choose to simply and only feel warm and fuzzy about the cultural overlays we place on the Nativity narratives. Or we can choose to recognize the point is that Christ is present to us, walks with us and the work of God is placed in our hands.

The presence of Jesus says the covenant is real and the invitation to love God and neighbor is our calling. All that leaves an obvious question: what current cultural noise, things our society insists on, prevents us— prevents us— from loving God and neighbor right now?

What do I feel warm and fuzzy about? Personally, I feel warm and fuzzy about the reality of the Christ, the reality that we are invited to participate in the work to which God calls us. Amen.

01/05/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is a précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “I have nothing against warm and fuzzy but not when it invites me to stop thinking. God does not ask us to check our brains at the door of the church. If we get overly distracted by cultural noise we have checked our brains at the door. Paradoxically, we also need to identify the cultural noise in Scripture, clear away the cobwebs embedded in that cultural noise to discover what Scripture might tell us. Another paradox: it may be easier to identify the cultural noise in Scripture than in our own culture since it can be fairly easy to identify cultural noise in another society. But our own culture surrounds us with noise and that makes the noise much harder to identify. But again, we are not invited to check our brains at the door.”

BENEDICTION: Let us go in joy and in hope in peace and in love and in light, for the one who has made covenant with us is present to us. God reigns. Let us go proclaiming God’s love and God’s light. Amen.