THE DANCE OF DELIGHT^[1]

AN ILLUSTRATE-YOUR-OWN CHRISTMAS SERMON

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Genesis 1:1-5

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Isaiah 9:2-7

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness - on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest… For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.

For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood

shall be burned as fuel for the fire.

For a child has been born for us, an heir given to us; authority rests upon this One’s shoulders; and the Child is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Creator, Ruler of Peace.

The Child’s authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace - established and upheld with justice and with righteousness from this time onwards and for evermore. The zeal of the God of hosts will do this.

John 1:1-5, 9-12, 14, 18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was in the beginning with God. All things were made through the Word, and without the Word nothing was made. In the Word was life, and the life was the light of all.

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true Light, which enlightens everyone, was in the world and the world came into being through the Light; yet the world did not recognize the Light. The Light came to what was its own, and the Light’s own people did not accept it.

Yet any who did accept the Word, who believed in that Name, were empowered to become children of God... And the Word became flesh and stayed for a little while among us; we saw the Word’s glory - the favor and position a parent gives an only child - filled with grace, filled with truth.

No one has ever seen God; it is the Only Begotten, ever at Abba’s side, who has revealed God to us.

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

PROLOGUE

Since about 2001, I have written a Christmas Story Poem, that is, the Christmas Story in rhyming meter. Yes, I write a different one each year, though it’s a goofy sort of thing to do. For some reason, I enjoy it.

This is the 10th in a 15-year personal tradition. In 2015, when this sermon was first presented, I invited the Sunday school children of Peace Lutheran Church, Plymouth, MN, to illustrate the story as it is shared here. We then projected their drawings on the screen, as I read the book to those who wanted to come forward and see the story in its book form, on the pages. You might invite all members of your congregation to contribute a drawing, then share it as suggested, in-person, or share it online on whatever platform you use.

This iteration is offered free of charge, but the author must be credited in all publications and productions - across all media platforms - when it is shared. Permission is not granted to publish or distribute this manuscript beyond your congregation or worshiping community.

As it was in 2015, my prayer is that this feel like a storybook telling of one of our most important stories. You might invite your worshipers to enjoy, sit back, close their eyes - take a nap if that’s what they need most!

Otherwise, enjoy the congregation’s illustrations and hear this story in a whole new way:

CHAPTER 1

THE DANCE ERUPTS

Once upon a time - a long, long time ago -

before there was Christmas, before there was snow -

an eedy-peedy pin-prick, smaller than an ant’s toe

was bursting with, “yes”, with no room for, “no”.

That eedy-peedy pin-prick: a mere speck, super small;

too tiny to be seen, in fact, barely there, at all;

that itsy-bitsy whatchamajigger - not a billionth-of-an-atom tall -

that whos-a-ma-Higgs-boson was potential in a ball.

We might call it an “idea”, a hope, or a spark

Breathed by Divine longing into consummate dark.

That beautiful blackness - that void so stark -

Like a womb, held the promise of Love’s first quark:

And then came a Word - like a Song, we might think -

A single Word, ‘Light!’, made that tiny Higgs blink.

Well, that soft little hum gave the cosmos the wink

And suddenly bright filled up dark to the brink.

When that one Word was crooned, form spilled out with a clatter:

a BANG so resounding it resulted in matter -

all the stuff of the universe broke out in a splatter!

And scrambled and jostled and spread - skitter-scatter.

As atomic gas hustled about in a race;

While all-that-could-be waltzed around into space;

While gravity thought about forming a ‘place’;

Dark wrapped up light in eternal embrace.

And, oh, what a joy! What a jolly fun jig!

Two became one: dark was zag to light’s zig.

Here was the promise bundled up in the Higg:

A polka reflecting a future quite big!

“Yes!” said the Singer, “This is something so dear!

My dream is begun in this dancing, right here!

This is the course of the future I’ll steer:

Opposites weaving without any fear!”

CHAPTER 2

THE DANCE OF CREATION

Thus we inhale and exhale; the tides ebb and flow;

Seasons burn hot, and then they dump snow.

Dry seeds spring sprouts for a colorful show -

Life leads to death, but then death makes life grow.

For countless millennia, balance filled where we live.

Antithetical pairs were corroborative.

Until that one moment, determinative,

when humans ate fruit, most pejora-ma-tive.

CHAPTER 3

THE DANCE IS LOST

Though God became sad, we did not resist

And soon everything, everywhere, got on the list:

white became “good”; black was “bad” - that’s the gist.

The dance is forgotten; divisions persist.

We gave up on balance and closed our eyes tight,

Refusing to see or to walk with Love’s sight.

We created a world ruled by fear and by might

As we cling to the labels we call ‘wrong’ and ‘right’.

If given the choice we’d all leave in a trice

For this land of grim gloom is not very nice.

It grips at our hearts with fierce hands, like a vice,

squeezing out love, leaving shards cold as ice.

Our dance, we can tell, has gone flipperty-flop,

we’re limping a one-legged Lindy sad-hop.

We race all around to feel worthy, “on top”;

but we can’t feel much joy, and we fear we can’t stop.

But where can we find the grace to let go

of all of the hatred and junk that we “know”?

Where can we glimpse God’s dream so we’ll grow

beyond “good” and “bad”, into “is”, into flow?

CHAPTER 4

HOPE SPRINGS

Well, as it turns out, God’s helpmate, Sophia -

the Wisdom of God - sparked another idea,

which would, it was dreamed, be a whole panacea:

an elixir for all that would come about via...

...another black midnight, an abyss of potential

God found in a girl who seemed inconsequential.

Like the Higgeldy-bose, with her soul deferential,

Young Mary’s womb bore the cure, most essential.

God’s cure for division is like hide-and-seek:

Inviting us all to find the great in the weak

Like a Christmas gift luring us to take just a peek,

We find Divine Glory hid in beings quite meek.

By coming to earth through a womb (once deemed “wrong”),

on a dark, silent night (amidst squalor and throng),

being born as a babe (who was not very strong),

God reversed all our opposites, and restored our dear Song.

A Baby, you wonder, well, what’s the big deal?

One eedy-peedy Baby won’t be able to heal

all this broken confusion, all this pain that we feel.

How can one itsy Baby draw us into the reel...

...of Love that has always been God’s dream defined?

Can a babe really open us, heart, soul, and mind?

Yes! Light swirls in Dark so in death we will find

a new life of dancing with all God designed.

By putting to death our good/bad expectations;

by humbly embracing light and dark situations;

by welcoming people from all of the nations

this Baby has shown us the way of salvation.

Like magi of old, we see a star of great hope

for folks hanging on at the end of their rope:

topsy-turvy, God’s tipped us, so down is now up:

“Yes”, again fills the world, though there’s still room for “nope”.

CHAPTER 5

THE DANCE - REJOINED

The Light shines in darkness and is not overcome…

nor is Dark defeated, but budges over, some,

to make room for its partner, its opposite, its chum -

the one God brought to it to dance to the drum;

to the beat of Divine laughter and angelic cheer,

as we celebrate Christmas, the Light coming here:

we humbly give thanks as Love wipes away fear

of all “others”, like shepherds, who long to be near.

For here, in God’s manger, we - all of us - belong.

Here there’s no judgment of who’s right and who’s wrong.

Here, in the Dark, we’ve been held, all along.

Here, as we dance, as Light sings us Love’s Song.