All We Can Say (Tracy Chapman)

While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby.  She gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger... 

 -Luke 2

Here they are, the usual characters, ushered into our consciousness on this day, as we hear once more the story of travel-weary parents-to-be, lowly shepherds, glorious angels, kings, wise ones, various farm animals and, of course, the babyGod. They remind us that God comes, once more, to be born among us; among the weak, the powerful, the ordinary, the violent, the fearful, the cynical, the innocent… among us.

In the stables of our lives- the lowly and cold places, the messy, chaotic places, the unsuitable and unexpected places-God emerges.  Through the voices of these familiar characters God proclaims, into our time, hope that makes us unafraid, peace and joy that reach out across creation, and Love that has come to save us all.

What can we do on Christmas Eve, but agree?  In today’s song, Tracy Chapman infuses the familiar Christmas hymn with the beautiful and gentle refrain of “Mmmhmm.” What more can we say as we stare again into the manger’s soft light, as again we are embraced by a love that is bigger than we understand? What is left but our awe and a quiet “Yes,” “Let it be so,” or “Mmhmm”?

The wondrous answer to our broken Advent cries of “Come, Lord Jesus,” God’s answer of Love, rushes with possibility all around us. As Shawna Bowman, pastor at Friendship Community Church, writes, “God’s expansive love bellows ‘yes’ through eternity… and it joins us where we are. It is magnified by our own yes – our willingness to love in the same way God loved - to live hard into love in the midst of our messy human god-filled lives.”

So, this Christmas Eve may our spirits answer back "yes." As we spiral again around the luminous mystery, may we dwell in the wonder of the moment when God, in whom all things hold together, became a small baby and reached out to embrace all things in the hold of grace. Yes, we say together, Love has come. Mmhmm, Love has come for us all.

Holy One, let us meet you tonight, in wonder that unfolds and opens our souls and in Love that sounds our depths and echoes through our very being.

-Lindsey