Christ. The reason for all seasons.

We’ve got a 30-foot inflated snowman across the street. He lights up from within, but not just light. He looks like he swallowed a discotheque from 1978. He is awesome. People are stopping to take pictures with him. Perhaps he is the very image of Advent. You see him and you know it must be getting close to Christmas, right?

A common phrase we hear this time of year and that we might repeat is, “Don’t forget the reason for the season.” On the surface that is a reminder to the world – and to ourselves - not to lose the point of Christmas, the birth of Jesus and all that he means, is the midst of the commercialization of Christmas. But it’s not just the commercialization. It’s all the good stuff, too.

The run up to Christmas is a season of giving, of generosity, of re-bonding with our families and friends, of feasting and feeding others, of making special efforts to bless others in any number of ways. We must not forget the reason for all of that, too. We must not lose the birth of Christ, the person of Jesus, among the virtuous aspects of Christmas.

And it goes much deeper than that. As we see the vaccines come online and roll out, have you taken note of the prioritization of the early doses? These miracles of modern medicine are not being doled out in a purely pragmatic way. Logic might say we should attend first of the smartest or most productive of us – as survival of the species might indicate. Nor are they rolling out like seats on an airliner, to first class then business and coach.

There are any number of ways that we might expect our society to administer this vaccine. What we have chosen, without rancor or politics, is to roll it out first to those most at risk, people on the front lines fighting this virus and nursing home patients. That’s not very capitalistic. It isn’t very socialist, either. It isn’t very efficient. It is caring. It is compassionate. It is very, “Love thy neighbor,” to the point of putting thy neighbor ahead of thyself.

We must not forget the reason for that season, and for all seasons. C.S. Lewis called this the “good infection.” But, even as the world is racing to understand the source of the very bad infection of COVID, it seems prone to forget the source of this good one. We have an opportunity to remind the world of the source, the light of Christ, animating of our best impulses, and thereby to share the Gospel. There is a clear, historic reason for the season that a matter of reason as well as faith.

Dr. Francis Collins led the Human Genome Project which mapped our DNA in great detail. It took six years to plan the project and an international team of researchers 14 years to do it. Since it was completed in 2003, it has served as the basis for much of the quantum leaps forward we’ve made in medicine these last 17 years. He is also a Christian.

He describes his faith as having been built on two main pillars that emerged from his honest, scientific inquiry into the existence of God. He was an atheist who decided to explore faith, which I suppose then made him an agnostic.

One main point was that he noted scientific truths that pointed to God. For example, immediately with the “Big Bang” came gravity. If, as Dr. Collins describes, the gravitational constant was a little less, matter would not have gathered as it has. If it were a little bit stronger, it would have pulled back into itself. Such phenomena are best explained by the existence of God.

The other pillar is moral. He could not resolve the human condition, the fact of our moral sense coupled with our incessant moral failings - from individuals to every level of human community and organization. Why should we have morals at all and, having them, create a common set and follow them completely? That creates a real problem which, having surveyed the world’s religions, he finds is uniquely resolved in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the light of the world.

(You can watch Dr. Collins relate his story here: https://youtu.be/HaEQyNeaFZs)

Chapter one of John’s Gospel carries us quickly all the way from the Big Bang to the appearance of John the Baptist on the bank of the Jordan. Think of the billions of years God took to form the universe, our solar system and planet, to develop life and human beings, then thousands of years for humanity to develop to this moment of hailing the arrival of the resolution to our fundamental moral problem: the sin that infects and afflicts us continuously.

This resolution is coming in the person of Jesus Christ. We find that he is not just the reason for this season. He is the reason for all seasons. As John put it in the verse immediately before our passage today, “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:4-5) It is this light about which he says, “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”(John 1:9)

Sometimes we look back impatiently on how long we’ve been waiting for Christ’s return, but look how much he has influenced the world over these 2,000 years. But think about how long it took to get to Jesus. We must not tire of waiting for his return, especially when we can see there is yet progress to be made in the world and within each of us.

I marvel at the complacency many people have with their faith. It often appears to be the one area that people just assume that whatever they think is fine. I mean, they’ll search or research just about anything else, looking for reviews on TV shows, movies, games or restaurants or really anything or service we buy. We turn to apps for directions, recipes - for anything and everything.

But God? Well, people often don’t want to discuss that, so, whatever. If John the Baptist is right, if the Apostle John is right, if the Apostle Paul is right, if Francis Collins is right then we’ve got a much bigger issue than remembering Jesus is the reason for the season.

We are being continuously confronted with the enormous interest of the God who created everything in the person of his only son, Jesus Christ. That Good News quite literally overwhelms everything else. This is about the light he is shining into the world and in and through each one of us. God wants you to radiate that bright light of Christ as though you had swallowed a discotheque! People should want to take pictures with you because you shine so bright. This is especially important in dark times. It seems as though we all agree that 2020 has been a terribly difficult year.

Paul gave the church in Thessalonica specific instructions on living that strengthen us while we await the ongoing completion of Christ’s work. The first group really belong in a bucket together because they each build upon each other to build us as individuals and as a community of faith. Knowing Christ and loving him is the great comfort in all times, especially difficult ones. If you want to see his light in a dark moment, praise him. Rejoice in him. Pray to him. Give thanks to him. If you do any one of those three, the others immediately follow: Rejoice. Pray. Give Thanks. It’s all one bucket.

Then he turns to another set that belong in a different bucket, one to be avoided and emptied repeatedly. Don’t quench the spirit. Don’t despite the words of the prophets. If you read something you don’t like, wrestle with it and hold fast to what is good! Abstain from every form of evil. Those can work on each other to press a downward spiral. Quench the spirit and you won’t like the prophets and you’ll be very tempted by the evil alternatives to true joy.

For many of us, especially those suffering particular grief, turning to the good bucket is our best impulse. And for many of us, especially those actively seeking faith and understanding, the first steps may be turning away from the bad thoughts and habits that drive us down.

But in any case, as we approach celebrating his birth and anticipating his coming again, let us remember that the true confrontation is coming face to face with Jesus. He is the light of the world. He is life. Rejoice!         AMEN