For several years now the bilingual Children`s Liturgy at 4 pm on Christmas Eve has been growing in popularity. It is very much a service for families with young children but we have found that grandma and grandpa and other seniors like to come. It is ideal for anyone who does not want to venture out for the late and long midnight mass.

Every year we seek out a child under 6 months of age to be the baby Jesus. This year, for the first time, we have had difficulty finding one. I suggested to Wanda that we use a puppy! She thought not. In view of this year`s difficulties, it was decided at staff meeting this week that we should be planning for next year. After all, planning is our job. So I am putting out an appeal now for next year`s baby Jesus. Twelve months should be enough notice. If anyone is interested, please make an appointment with the rector.

In our gospel readings we are about to enter into what is sometimes referred to as the birth narratives. The birth stories about Jesus occur in only two places in the Bible - in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Today we start with Matthew`s account. In the brief passage we read today one of the notable features is Mary's choice of the name Jesus for her child. For Christians the birth of Jesus is the reason for the season, as they say.

In the vast Christmas culture which has grown up over the centuries, a curious and intriguing mixture of religious and secular stories, symbols, and music, other names have also become associated with Christmas. In fact, Clement Moore, an Anglican priest in New York city about 100 years ago, penned for his children his classic poem Twas the Night Before Christmas and so invented what has become the North American Christmas complete with Santa, reindeer and elves. Those Anglicans just cannot be trusted to stick to the gospel story! Moore's names for Santa's reindeer have become synonymous with the Christmas. I doubt very much if Fr Moore had any idea of just how influential the language and imagery of his poem would prove to be.

Lets see, how many of the 8 reindeer can you name: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Bitzen. Subsequently two other names were added- one by Gene Autry in his Christmas song Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And the other name, Fireball, I'm not sure by whom. That makes 10. But some claim that there are really 11 named reindeer. Does anyone know the eleventh name? She was the one who called Rudolph names. Her name is Olive:

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose
Olive, the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names.

I would contend that Olive is the only one whom we know for sure was female. Some have said that all the reindeer were females since the female reindeer and not the male keep their antlers in winter. However, no where in Clement Moore's poem does he say that the reindeer had antlers. I would advance that since revelation ( Moore's) Santa is a fair and thoughtful type, he would have chosen an equal number of male and female reindeer.

In every culture, the naming of a child is an important event. No doubt all of you, at some point, have heard of a proposed name for a child, and said -to yourself or possibly out loud- what kind of a name is that! That was precisely the reaction of my grandfather when my parents chose my name. My grandfather, exclaimed, "Garth, that`s not a name!". He always called me Mike and so I grew up with most people in town calling me Mike.

The name Garth just didn't fit in. In my maternal grandfather`s geneology everyone was a Robert or a John. And on my father`s side they were Williams and Edwards. In fact, when my father was born there were so many Edward Bulmers in town that one was called "long Ed" and the other "short Ed" This was to distinguish them from "old Ed" and "grandpa Ed"

Well, this was not to be a problem for Jesus. Indeed, both John the Baptist and Jesus were given names which set them apart from their ancestry- a development of great significance in that culture. They were given names which identified them rather as the bearers of a future destiny. When Elizabeth named her newborn John instead of Zechariah, after his father, great consternation arose, they said, "None of your relatives has this name". And when Zechariah's tongue was loosed and he concurred with the name choice of Elizabeth, his wife, the biblical text sums up the general comment on the matter, "What then will this child become?" "For indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him"

And in the case of Jesus, the biblical text in Luke`s gospel says of the child Jesus, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David" ( Luke 1:32).

These descriptions of John and Jesus simply confirm for us what we all feel, almost instinctively, at the birth of a child- or for that matter, the birth of any creature be it a puppy, kitten, or goldfish:: the future is open with new possibilities. Every new creation opens the way for new possibilities.

Not every child born into this world will be described in holy books or revered by countless generations of people. But every child born into this world is born with a divine destiny- an embodiment of godliness and goodness.

One of the aspects of the birth stories of the gospels which comes to us with particular power in our age is that the birth of Jesus was described as having a cosmic significance. The wise men from the east were led to his place of birth by nothing less than a star. Even the stars are influenced by this humble birth. This birth changed the course of the stars! This is not hyperbole, it is fact. Everything living is interconnected. Nothing happens at one end of creation which does not affect the other.

From an historical perspective the birth of Jesus would change the world forever. It would give rise to the Jesus movement and then the creation of the Christian Church with its huge impact on western civilization. Christianity would develop a distinctive understanding of the nature of reality enshrined principally in the doctrine of the trinity. This is the idea that within the oneness of God is a dynamic of loving relationships which in religious language we have traditionally called Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The further exploration of this fundamental relational nature of God in recent time has led many to use other terms to describe the same divine interaction- and one such description at the beginning of this sermon I used in my invocation. I began by saying, "I speak to you in the name of the Mother, Lover, and Friend." Such alternative words remind us of a fundamental truth: the divine energy which sustains creation cannot be contained in any single human conceptualization. God is more than Father, or Mother, or Jesus, or Buddha, or Holy Spirit. We use these words to point beyond themselves to an indescribably reality bigger than anything we can name.

We religious folk get into trouble when we equate the words about God with the Word of God. Some people even go so far as the maintain that the words about God from within one religious tradition are the only authentic ones. Surely if we do not abandon this religious tribalism we will perish.

The Word of God is a living, dynamic, ever- changing force, the words about God are human creations, frail instruments to carry such a burden of meaning and importance. That is why, in the Anglican tradition, the first gospel to be read at the Christmas service is not the narrative story about the birth of Jesus but the gospel of John which begins with this declaration:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus was a manifestation of this Word which was from the beginning and is God. Jesus was an embodiment of this Word. Jesus was a co-creator with this Word. The fullness of God was found in him.

And this fullness is within us as well. We are not a different kind of species from Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was truly human, not a genetically modified and superior model of humanity. The difference between you and Jesus is not in your genetic makeup or even in your call; it rests in your response to the fullness within you.

That, I would assert, is the principle message of the Christian faith. The very Divine Word embedded in the person of Jesus, whom we call the Christ, is embedded in each of us. Far from being miserable worms we are the bearers of hope and the creators of the future. Like Jesus, we know that we are not all-powerful and always feeling able to bear such a hope in our lives. This is merely to acknowledge that we are not the master planner but rather the workers in a task which far exceeds both our personal and collective energies and imaginations.

But that does not change the fact of the absolutely amazing potential which is within us. We can release or we can stifle it.

The Season of Advent challenges us to look forward to the coming of Christ-again. Where should we look to see this emerging Christ? We should look within ourselves. The divine energy is with us. We are made in the image of God.

Let our hearts well echo the response to our psalm this morning, "Let the King of glory in" and we might add, "let the King of glory out!"

That is the great work and hope of our lives.