Have you ever noticed that Christmas Mass is usually uncomfortable? As a priest, I have celebrated perhaps over fifty Christmas Masses and I have celebrated in big and small places but I have noticed it is uncomfortable. In some places, it was uncomfortably cold because they forgot to put the heat on. Most times it is uncomfortably packed. There are many people who are uncomfortable with the liturgy, like, “When did they change that also with you thing to and with your spirit?” Not in this holy parish, but in other places, sometimes the regulars are grumpy because someone has taken their seat and they always sit there and now the guest has someone uncomfortably staring at them. Don’t look around because sometimes people have to uncomfortably stand the whole service. I have seen some who were comfortably drunk and therefore making others, especially their family members, uncomfortable at the Mass. Sometimes we got into a fight before the Mass because sometimes it is hard to get everyone there early, or at all. Sometimes we feel judged for being here because we are not following Church teaching or had a divorce and are now single instead of with our families. Sometimes we are uncomfortable because the priest is talking about something and we are uncomfortable and it doesn’t seem like he has a point and you wonder how long it will go on.
My point is that this seems to me a very key part of the mystery of Christmas – we are uncomfortable yet we are all here. Just as two thousand years ago in an uncomfortable, smelly stable God sent His son into the world and He was adored by the lowly and the mighty but mostly by the lowly, the shepherds and common people. We all know that the phrase, “Were you born in a barn?” is not complimentary; neither was a stable a cute, cheerful place. It was a dive. It was full of “it” and animals. Jesus not only came to a messy stable but you might be interested to know Jesus had a messy family. He had prostitutes, murders, adultery, incest, all it in His family line. Why oh why did Our Lord, maker of Heaven and earth, choose to enter into the world there, attached to a line of often pretty messed up people?
Maybe this analogy will help. Have you ever visited a person who was a terrible housekeeper? Were you worried that they would criticize you when they visited? No, you were not because you knew what their place looked like. So it is with Jesus. He came into an awful place and from a crazy family so we should not be afraid to bring Him into the mess that is each and everyone of our lives. You might look around yourselves and think all these nice, shiny people here are perfect, everyone has their perfect lives not like mine. But the truth is we are not. We are all broken and disordered. It is actually a good thing that we are disordered because you and I would not need Him if we were not. Tonight, we are celebrating that someone is here who can fix and journey with us in our problems and our brokenness. Sure, we might be uncomfortable for many reasons, but we can have great joy tonight because the things that we are ashamed of, annoyed by, terrified of all have an answer. That answer comes to us in a little baby boy named Jesus.
Jesus is a great baby because He has all the things that make a baby great and none of the challenging things. What are the good things? He is accepting of anyone’s love and wanting to give love. He is open to all. He is not prejudiced or racist. He does not care about disordered lives or smelly people. He is really here to let you know that you are loved and there is a place in each of our lives for Him. What are the greatest desires of your heart right now? Do you want to be loved? Do you want to be accepted? Do you want to be free from guilt or shame or illness or addiction? Do you want to be special or cherished? Do you simply want food, to be in better shape, to be at peace and not have a crazy hectic life? Do you want to get rid of your worries and anxiety? Come to this cute little baby who is also God and who will not turn you away. He who will stare intently at you as though you are the only person in the world because He came into this world only for you.
Yes, this is an uncomfortable night where we encounter the one who can truly comfort us, who can journey with us. He who left Heaven to be with us so He could take us back there. Do not fear this child but once again put your trust in Him. When you meet Him and spend time with Him you will find out He is behind every desire of your heart. Not only that, but we will find when we find Him in our desire the anticipation of the desire is actually fulfilled, unlike our merely human encounters. Let’s, for example, explore getting drunk. Why do you and I do this? It could be for a few reasons. Our lives our hectic and we sometimes need to forget it all and just have a break, even if this break may have serious consequences. Or maybe we want to be accepted and everyone is drinking. Or hey we can feel freer if we drink. So here are desires: we want to be free or forget about our problems or we want to be accepted. Here is the way to get this without the hangover and the embarrassment of the Facebook photos and comments the next day – what you are looking for is Jesus. You can take your problems to Jesus, your busy life that is running you down, and He will Guide you through them if you just sit and pray and allow Him to be there. He will show you how to navigate through it all and your life will all of a sudden be not as busy and more fulfilling. If you drink because you want to be friendly, first find a friend in Jesus and then you can go from there to find real friends that like you. Every one of our desires, even the most basic desires, can only be fulfilled in Jesus. This is why He came. It may be uncomfortable to say, “Jesus, I need you in my life.” You may fear what He will destroy in your life when you say yes to Him but you will find He will simply love you first. It is funny, we think so far ahead when we think of a relationship with Jesus but we don’t think very far ahead with other relationships, like ones with drugs or alcohol or with a lot of human relationships that we know will be terrible for us. With those, we are willing to plunge in. Let us return to Him, embrace this little Child, who is truly the desire of our soul.