December 27, 1998
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
I’ll Be Home for Christmas
I’ll be home for Christmas; You can plan on me.
Please have snow and mistletoe And presents on the tree.
Christmas Eve will find me Where the love light gleams.
I’ll be home for Christmas If only in my dreams.
These words by Kim Gannon and set to music by Walter Kent in 1943 were a special gift to the many thousands of American men and women in the service during World War II. Bing Crosby recorded this tender ballad and sold over a million records. My father probably heard it when he was with the U.S. Army in Germany. Your fathers may have heard it too.
There is probably nothing more sentimental in our lives today than to be home on Christmas. Since Christmas is a deeply family oriented holiday, very rooted traditions and rituals are established to remind us of the meaning of the season. One tradition that we have in our home is to eat corn beef hash and poached eggs with orange danishes from the supermarket’s freezer cabinet! You, of course, have your own. They need not be fancy or elaborate. They can simply be “down home” like corn beef hash and poached eggs!
Christmas produces a magnetic homeward bound attraction on our hard metallic hearts. Garrison Keillor, in his book, Christmas in Lake Wobegon, describes this phenomenon like this: “You’re walking along in a shopping mall when all of a sudden a familiar Christmas tune penetrates your subconscious mind which sets off a switch in that part of the brain where memories are stored and then, gates open and tons of water thunder through the Grand Coulee. The big turbines spin, electricity flows, and we get in our car and go back, like salmon.”
What is Home?
Where we go back is home. What is home today?
- Home is Love.
From the very beginning of Mary and Joseph’s relationship as a young couple planning to be married, there was love between them. This love was so honorable that Joseph was planning to dismiss her quietly rather than to expose her to public disgrace when he first heard that Mary was pregnant. Love at home is unconditional—it is always there for the taking.
Home is Acceptance.
Just when Joseph was resolved to divorce Mary, the angel appeared to him in a dream to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The angel said, “It was okay, Joseph.” Joseph accepted Mary even though he probably didn’t fully understand. Home is the only place where you are accepted for who you are. There’s no need for pretending.
Home is Security.
Jesus was born into a time of violence. Hearing from an angel that King Herod was threatened by the news that a new king was born, Joseph got up from his dream, took Jesus and his mother by night, and went to Egypt for safety. We know how good it feels when we know someone is looking out after us. Home is security.
Home is Celebration.
In Luke, we read that following Jewish customs, after eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Home is where we practice and celebrate old traditions and create new ones; like eating corn beef hash and poached eggs.
Home on Earth is a Struggle
We want to have in our homes: love, acceptance, security, and celebration. But we know that it isn’t always so. Even for baby Jesus. He was not born into a stable home environment, but into an animal stable. Last week we read how this young fledging family was displaced by government regulations to return to their family town to register in a census. Today, Mary and Joseph and Jesus are put into flight once more to escape the rage of a cruel tyrant, King Herod.
What is referred to as the “slaughter of the innocents,” Herod in search of Jesus killed dozens of innocent boys in Bethlehem. This crime is so hideous that it continues to confound and confuse us even after 20 centuries of similar and periodic vicious violence and cruelty in the world. Like millions of people, we wonder how can a loving God allow the destruction of those who are comparatively innocent?
Often times, home on earth is filled with danger. And we wish that we had the kinds of guardian angels that Jesus had when he was born. Angels, like the ones who came during Joseph’s dreams to warn him of Herod’s soldiers. Many of us would like to believe that we too have guardian angels like the TV show, Touched By An Angel. And even if we do, it is quite clear that these angels cannot or will not save us from all suffering or even untimely death. Maybe their function is not to shield us from danger but to cool our feet when we walk through the flames of adversity.
Why is home on earth so much of a struggle sometimes? Why is one person taken while another is spared? Why can’t home be always filled with love, acceptance, security, and
celebration? We cannot, of course, offer a satisfactory explanation to this agonizing problem but we do have something to say to the issue.
One of Us
Some of you who attended Family Camp this past September know that I have personally produced instructional music cassettes in my car. You see, my daughter, Lauren, wants me to “be cool” by knowing all the current songs, particularly those that she and I both like. After listening to them, she will “test” me if I have learned the names of the artists and songs. This is harder than finals!
About three years ago, Joan Osborne performed a Grammy-nominated song, named “One of Us” in her Relish album. This is one of the songs on the tape. These words caught my attention. The lyrics go, in part: “What if God was one of us, just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home.” When it was being played on the radio particularly during the Christmas time, I wonder what happened to this generation of young people. It’s like a whole generation hasn’t heard about the good news that we celebrate at Christmas.
God has become one of us! God didn’t come as one who was “high and mighty,” but low as a human being and innocent as a child. God in Jesus Christ, has suffered with us and knows today the struggles of having a home on earth. We talked about wishing we had guardian angels. Yet, there was no guardian angel warning Christ of the dangers if he went to Jerusalem, where he would be handed over to his enemies and crucified. There will continue to be agonizing situations that we won’t be able to understand. How can a loving God allow the destruction of those who are comparatively innocent, like the slaughter of the Bethlehem boys? Why is one person taken while another is spared?
The only satisfactory answer to these questions of life is that in the midst of
all injustices, Jesus Christ’s resurrection is hope to all.
all adversities, Jesus Christ’s resurrection is hope to all.
and all destruction, Jesus Christ’s resurrection is hope to all.
Finding Our Way Home
Joan Osborne’s song seemed to suggest that it is God who was lost and was “trying to make his way home.” The truth is just the opposite. God became one of us in Jesus Christ. God knew that it is we who are lost and couldn’t seem to find our way home. Emmanuel, God with us means that God came to earth and took an earthly address to show us the way home.
Jesus said, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:4,5,7) When we are lost trying to make our way home on earth, it is God in Jesus Christ who is out there looking for us. It is Christ who has shown us the way home.
In last Sunday’s Chronicle (Sunday, Dec. 20, 1998 by Bob Ecker), there was a story about a San Francisco cab driver who found himself on Christmas eve driving people here and there. Most were happy, traveling to gather with friends and relatives. Growing up Jewish, Christmas always brought up a mixture of emotions for him. He had always felt on the outside looking in during the Christmas season, but that night, on a strange ride through the streets of the city, he found himself inside.
While he was eating a burrito at Mission and 30th, one of the few places that were still opened on Christmas eve, an old Chevy Nova came up silently behind his cab. It parked close, too close for his comfort, blocking his exit—a danger signal to all cabbies. You always need an exit.
A guy stumbled out and said, he was lost and needs help to find Arago St. He had a strong Hispanic accent. The cab driver asked the man, “What’s your name?” He smiled, “No names, friend, no names.”
The cabbie looked at him hard and repeated the question.
He gave the cabbie a goofy grin. “I might be Jesus,” he said.
The cabbie raised his eyebrows thinking that he was talking to a crazy man.
“Don’t worry, man. I’m not crazy.” and proceeded to take off his bomber jacket to show the cabbie that he was in the Army Airborne.
The cabbie offered to drive the man to his destination, but the man insisted that he wanted to follow the cab driver in his own car and would drive behind. He was drunk and disoriented and the cabbie knew this could get dangerous. But he figured it would be good to somehow get him off the road. He was going on with or without him.
“All right. All right. I’m turning the meter on. You follow me, close, but don’t hit me. And be careful.” The cabbie raised his voice, “Got it?”
“OK, yes, friend, yes, thank you,” he nodded. “I follow you.”
They got into their cars and slowly headed toward Alemany and snaked through some deserted Mission streets. Christmas lights glowed in the windows and the night air was silent until the man shouted out, “Over there!” He was pointing to a house on a tiny but ordinary-looking block: Arago Street. We turned into the street and amazingly he found a parking space right across the street. He parked without hitting anything and quickly started walking toward the house.
He stopped and turned to the cabbie on the dark sidewalk, “Come inside, my friend, “ he said, grinning broadly. Before they reached the top of the stairs, the door flew open, and a middle-aged couple stood there, smiling, “Thank God you made it. We didn’t know
what had happened.” The man cried, hugging the traveler, he invited the cabbie to come inside.
“This is my friend. He led me here,” the drunken companion said. “I never would have found you without his help.” He turned to the cabbie and shook his hand firmly, his hands warm and rough. “Gracias,” he said.
The cabbie refused taking his $40 fare. He thought about it for a moment. This fare was different. This ride was more than riding the pulse of the city, getting from here to there. This man needed help, and the cabbie rescued the man from who knows what.
As the cab driver drove slowly back to the lonely garage, observing the signs, the stars, the bumps, and the lights, he realized that this guy had made him feel better about the world and his little role in it. Who knows, maybe he did take Jesus for a ride that night.
Finding our way home to God’s house comes in different ways for each of us. For the cabbie on a lonely Christmas eve night, it came from a drunken stranger. It was the stranger who was lost who showed the cabbie to trust people again. He learned that in his own special way, he can contribute in making the world a better place to live. The cabbie felt God’s presence that Christmas eve night. We too can discover that the purpose of our lives is to bring meaning and wholeness to others in need. Each one of us in our own special way can find our place at home with God when we trust him with our lives.
Waverly Place
As many of you know, this is a very unique year for the Ng household. Moving clear across country has meant—lots of transitions. As each member of our family comes to visit and to “come home” like Lauren did last week, they begin to visualize and identify where we live. They begin to associate San Francisco with us. Lauren said when she first arrived, “It’s strange to see our things here in San Francisco and not in Pennsylvania.” But soon we know that the longer we are here, the more it will feel that this is home. Outside our living room window, the flashing red and green traffic signal serves both as a city subsidized night light as well as an outside urban Christmas tree! We have an address.
The Christmas story is God’s attempt to make his home with us. Jesus’ first address was not in a stable house but in an animal stable. When Herod was hunting Jesus down, his address was in Egypt. Then he went to Nazareth in Galilee because Israel was still too dangerous for him to live. It is interesting that the one who came into the world so that we might come home to God began and ended his life on earth without a permanent address.
Establishing home has to do more with people than with a place. This is not Beverly Hills 90210 but Waverly Place 94108. Our church home is the environment where we know others as we are known, love others as we are loved—a place of safety and
acceptance. When we experience the love of Jesus Christ in our families and in our church, we have a true home. Christmas is a time when our hearts turn homeward to
our families
our church family
our home with God.
Know that you are never alone or lost. You have the love of God who loves us so dearly that he came to earth to be one of us. He gave his life for us so that we may all have the same address in heaven with our Father God. Our church is a representative of God’s home on earth. It is a foretaste of our heavenly home. Welcome home, Lauren and to everyone here to God’s home!
Let us pray.
Dear Loving Father God, we praise you for your love for us that you come to earth and became one of us. You showed us through Jesus Christ how to live our lives in peace and justice even in the midst of agonizing and troubling realities. Thank you for this church home as we gather each week for a glimpse of our heavenly home. In the name of Emmanuel, God with us, we pray. Amen.
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