The Manger in our hearts

Christmas Eve Homily (December 24, 2009)

(This is my first Homily as Deacon, written in English but delivered in Mandarin)

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. All our preparation and waiting has finally come to its climax and indeed we should rejoice for Today is born our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord! Even if we receive expensive and precious gifts from our loved ones, nothing can top the greatest gift we are given by God, His only Son.

Look at our nativity house here, maybe it is just a beautiful decoration for us. For some of us we may immediately recognize its theologically sound representation: the Alpha, Omega, the Word made flesh. Outside the church is another nativity house, beautifully made and depicted a more familiar scene we often hear, read or watch: Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and their sheep, and the wise men. Which ever do you prefer both tell us of a real and life changing experience: Mary’s Fiat, Joseph’s silent obedience, the shepherds awakening, the wise men following of the star. Everyone’s experience is unique yet everyone is led to Jesus. The ways of preparation differ in time and degree yet each way is directed to the manger.

We can examine our life’s experience too. We may have had a lot of ups and downs, or maybe at this moment we are so relax and free, but do our experiences lead us to know Jesus?  Do we see ourselves being part of the manger? Do we experience the joy of after having gone through highs and lows we finally see the fruit of our labors? The answer to each of these questions is very important because if we want our rejoicing to be complete and long lasting it must be born out of that experience with Jesus. A child was born in a manger; the Word was made flesh precisely because He willed to dwell among us, Emmanuel – God with us. This is indeed a very Good News because whether our life’s experience is good or bad we are assured that we are not alone in the journey and we have hope of a safe destination.

My friend and I took us a week to make the two nativity houses. It took us hours to plan, even long hours to build them. We spent money for materials, transportation and food all for one clear purpose: we want to build, not just a manger, but a beautiful and meaningful manger for everyone to appreciate. In our own lives we too spent a lot of our time and effort in building our careers and ambitions in life, sometimes to useless endeavors, yet we forget to build our own beautiful and meaningful manger. We easily give up and thought it will never be done or we rushed on building it just for the sake of pride or for the sake of just having one. The building of a beautiful and meaningful manger lies on the clarity of goal. The beauty and appreciation of our experience lies on the manger we built in our heart.

Have a beautiful, joyful and blessed Christmas everyone!