Marilu Thomas, “Wonder and Joy”

Merry, Merry Christmas! What a joy to say this morning. The last time we were in this sanctuary on Christmas Day 2019, which seems too long ago. So welcome! Welcome to the place where we celebrate the welcoming the God of the Universe to earth as a baby. Welcome to the place where you are always most welcome.

Before the gospel was read, we heard the question of the day in the hymn, “What Child is This?” Surely that is our question as we gather this morning. Why would a baby, born half a world away, millenniums ago have anything to do with our life today in Charlottesville? Our human thoughts can never fully grasp the miracle of this day nor would we really want them to, for any God we could fully understand would be no God at all.

This child is the fulfillment of many prophecies made of a King that would make all things right, would live and die as one of us, and leave his Spirit to guide us and love us. One of those prophecies is the Isaiah text today that says: For a child has been born for us, a son given us; authority rests upon his shoulders and he is named, Wonderful Counselor. 

These two words—Wonderful Counselor-- encapsulate our need of Christmas 2021. 

The word Wonderful has been so overused in the age of advertising that we would not recognize it’s origin. It has been used to describe dish soap, pistachios, juice, toothpaste, dog food and a thousand other products. We have no reaction when we hear this word because it has lost its context. The original meaning of the word Wonderful is, “an extraordinarily hard to understand thing,” “full of wonder, “inspiring delight,” “a deep sense of awe of something that is extremely good.” This is the very word used to describe the miracle of Christ’s birth, not the miracle of a clean dish or white teeth. It is an extraordinarily hard thing to understand that the God of the Universe, the Creator of the planets and the stars, became a human baby to communicate His great love for us and understanding of our life. It would be akin to becoming an ant to understand the hardships of being an ant. The fact that this happened can fill us with a deep sense of awe that something extremely good has happened for our world and for our lives.

Isaiah tells us that we have lived in a land of deep darkness—and on us a light has shined. Many people at this time of year, especially this year, are wondering when the light of Christ will shine on them specifically. We have had many disruptions in our lives this year, which can lead to feelings of darkness and the desperate need of light. Where can the light be? My experience is that God does not solve all of our problems, but rather walks with us through them The light breaks through in very simple moments. 

The other day, my husband noticed that there was a group of male cardinals gathered on our back porch tabletop. Not just one or two, but about 6 bright red cardinals, talking to each other. Some sort of Cardinal Convention. I did not see this myself, but because I believe so much more is happening in our world that we can see, I also believe those cardinals had a heavenly purpose. They do not question God’s creation nor wish to be another kind of bird or animal. They revel in their cardinalness. They see the sun come up in its glory every morning and the moon rise at night as our great lights and give God glory with song.

The other meaning of wonderful is joy. We are not strangers to joy, but we have an uneasiness with it, as if there will be a price to pay. That is the wonderous part of Christmas. Christ paid the price for our joy because we, who believed we were beyond redemption, have been redeemed. Remember the Christmas Carol, Joy to the World? “And wonders of His love”—we are wonders of His love. Heaven and nature sing—even and especially when we can’t sing. The very rocks cry out with joy that the loving creator of the Universe came here, born through the pain of labor for love of us.

Wendall Berry wrote, “Remembering that it happened once, we cannot turn away the thought, As we go out, cold, to our barns, toward the long night’s end, that we ourselves are living in the world it happened in, when it first happened.” We are living on the same earth where Christ was born as the light in the darkness and will continue to be infused with the wonder.

The second word that describes this Child is Counselor, which has come to mean a coach or mentor, a therapist or psychologist. Although those are all perfectly legitimate uses of the word, it does not give us the fullness of the heavenly description of our Lord Jesus Christ as Counselor. The Hebrew used for this is one who gives our life purpose and direction, one who conspires for your good. This Christmas, more than most Christmases in our lives, we need Jesus to be our Counselor. Jesus’ wisdom and guidance is the tether of our souls to heavenly purpose and why God came to earth to guide us out of frenetic chaos into peace. You were created for a purpose and the Holy Spirit gives you direction through the maze of self into the freedom of peace. We can breathe easier knowing Christ is conspiring for our good.

I would like to close with a reminder of the momentous nature of this day in human history by quoting a Christmas Carol from the Western Isles of Scotland, where it was said that the earth glowed to the Christ Child at his birth. (The Isles of Scotland existed then and would know) :

Ere ‘twas heard that his foot had reached the earth

Heard was the song of the angels glorious…

Glowed to him wood and tree,

Glowed to him mount and sea,

Glowed to him land and plain,

When that his foot was come to earth. Amen