Bishop Hollingsworth's Christmas Eve Sermon 2009

December 25, 2009

Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland—"Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word." (Hebrews 1:1-3a)

Not so long ago, twelve days to be precise, in the rural village of Mgombezi, Tanzania, I was given an extraordinary gift. At a late afternoon service held outside, shaded from the hot African summer sun by the east end of the church building, I and my long-time colleague, the Bishop of Massachusetts, were greeted by the people of St. Alban's parish and their exceptional priest, the Rev. Canon Joel Makame. This is the parish community which ministers to many dozens of orphans, those whose parents have been taken from them by HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, and whom we in the Diocese of Ohio have been assisting with financial support and prayers for the last two years. Father Joel is a single priest, perhaps thirty-five years old, who has discerned a call to celibacy and the monastic life, but whose fidelity to the Church and this community has kept him in Mgombezi and serving St. Alban's and the children for whom they care. He is himself the adoptive parent of four teenage boys and one girl, whom he is raising on his own.

The parish community was there in force, people of all ages, spread out on the hillside under shade trees and awning tarps. They sang in the beautiful harmonies and full-body singing of their tradition, dancing in unison and lifting their praise and devotion to God with unbridled generosity and joy. They gave us gifts of welcome and thanks, handmade fans and hats and placemats woven of straw with Swahili messages of love painted on them, and we gave them lollypops for the children, ceiling fans for the church, a chalice and paten and Episcopal Church baseball cap for the priest, and greetings from you and all the people of our respective dioceses. They were delighted with our tokens of affection, though it seemed a paltry offering in comparison to the spiritual gifts they were giving us.

The most generous and humbling gift came in the course of the service itself, when we two visiting bishops were each asked by Father Joel to baptize one of two infant girls, to bring her into the body of Christ, to claim her as Christ's own forever. They were a few months old at most, each presented by an elderly godmother or grandmother. The child I was to baptize was put in my arms and looked up at me with wide and inquisitive eyes, expressing what our Prayer Book so beautiful describes as "the gift of joy and wonder." I am quite certain I was the first white person she had seen close up, to say nothing of the first bearded face she had ever encountered.

She was so new, so innocent and blameless, so pure and yet unstained by the world, that I could imagine her small "being" almost entirely and only filled by the spirit of Christ, patiently and eagerly awaiting the Church's recognition and embrace. I felt that in cradling her I was cradling the Christ within her, and thereby cradling the very glory of God. And of course, I was. For as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews tells us so unequivocally, "[Christ] is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being." The Christ in that new, tiny, quiet, vulnerable, precious, Tanzanian child was indeed "the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being." And when her wise and caring godmother handed her to me, she spoke her name.

It was Gloria. Gloria!

"Gloria, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

"Gloria, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own forever."

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!'"

My prayer in that moment and now is, of course, that little Gloria of Mgombezi will grow up faithful and strong, to live a full and long life, contributing much to the world which God has made and loves. And my hope is that the Christ in her will grow into fullness, seeking and serving the Christ in all others whose lives her life may touch. But I know that other things will fill her life and her soul, just as they do yours and mine - fears and desires and longings and regrets and resentments and hurts and shame and sorrows and injuries and worries and wrongs–inevitable things that we put there and the power of evil puts there and life puts there. But with them will always and forever be in Gloria of Mgombezi "the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being," because that is the Christ who has come to life in her, and who has come to live in her.

This night, this holy night, you and I remember and accept again the reality that the same Christ Jesus who was born in Bethlehem of Judea to be the savior of the world is born in each of us. Just as with Gloria in the village of Mgombezi, he has come to life and come to live in you and in me, forever. In him, and thus in each of us, is "the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being." Along with our anxieties and guilt, along with our convictions of inadequacy and the over-exercise of ego by which we cope with them, along with our needs to be right and fears of being wrong, along with all our faults and frailties and the agonizing consequences of our God-given free will, is the imprint of God's very being and the vocation to manifest God's glory to the world.

God's glory. Compassion, healing, peace, reconciliation, justice, forgiveness, patience, understanding, and joy. Alongside everything else that waxes and wanes within our being is always and forever the reflection of the glory of God and the imprint of God's very being–love. It is Christ the savior, born in you. Alive in you. Yearning to grow and to serve the world through you. The glory of God, God's very being, incarnate in you. Now.

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.'"

Gloria in Mgombezi.

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

The glory of God in me and in you, forever and ever. Amen.

The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr.
Bishop of Ohio