Christmas + We are family! + 2022

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M. Campbell-Langdell

All Saints, Oxnard

(Isaiah 62:6-12; Psalm 97; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:(1-7)8-20)

 

Good morning and Merry Christmas! Today I am reflecting on the theme “We are Family!”

Earlier this year, some researchers in Oxford, England released a human family tree. It is extraordinary to look at the chart and see how humanity developed over millennia and how we are connected and related. Researchers reinforced that the African continent has some of the greatest genetic diversity due to being the starting place for many genetic variations prior to the development of eight other regional genetic branches.[1] It is nothing short of amazing to think about how we are truly all family.

And yet, as Christians, there is a sense in which this concept is nothing new. We teach that God came and dwelt among us. God pitched a tent among us, living with us in the person of Jesus Christ. As Eugene Peterson’s the Message version of John 1:14 goes:

“The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.”

True from start to finish. The Word became flesh and blood, as we hear in today’s reading from Luke, and in coming among us, Jesus reminded us who we truly were to each other. Family. He called us siblings and reinforced that those who listened to him, who related to his words, were related to him! He did, as many have pointed out, give some attitude about his biological family seeking him out to control him, but that just tells us that if Jesus could deal with family drama, we can too! He also taught us about chosen family.

God pitched a tent with us in Jesus. Some people have called the moment of the incarnation, of Jesus’ coming into the world, a moment of the greening of all of creation. I love to imagine that. The point at which God touched the earth illuminated everything, like green spreading across a barren landscape, like a house with Christmas lights being turned on. From drab to wow!

Wow! Christmas comes and we don’t just rejoice because a baby is born. Although that is super cool. We give thanks because in Jesus we are all adopted into one family. Perhaps we all, as the scientists have shown us, already a part of that family. We just didn’t know it.

Glowing lines of family connections spread throughout the earth. And we don’t just feel the connection with human life, although that is what the scientists are studying here. But we feel connected to animal and plant life. Just think of all the people in the greater LA area mourning P-22, the mountain lion. A solitary creature who, through prowling around populated areas, walked into many hearts. Local indigenous groups have asked for his body to dedicate it the Creator in a special blessing ceremony. Because they feel the connection between the mountain lions and other sacred animals of the area and their tribal lineage.
We are all one human family. No matter where we go, God chooses to pitch a tent with us!

This week I saw this in action in a different way. A former parishioner has moved to the South and was struggling trying to find an affirming congregation. So, I called an Episcopal Church local to her and point-blank asked if they accepted LGBT folks. Not only did the person say they were an affirming congregation, but she gave me her number – I happened to talk to the Junior Warden! And she asked me to give it to my friend. Without knowing her, she is welcome. As she should be. And we get to live that out in Christian community every day.

By letting everyone know that, no matter where life leads you, you are welcome. You are accompanied by God. And your family of faith is alongside you- sometimes in the form of new community even when you relocate, and sometimes in former communities reaching out across the miles to help. Because we are family!

Never forget that you are not alone. In this complex and wonderful creation, we are family. A chosen family. We are adopted members of Christ’s family, Christ who came into the world to save us all. See, your salvation comes! We have become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And we are related with the family of things. Let us rejoice and welcome all, knowing that we are loved and welcome too. Let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of the isles be glad.

Amen!

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