The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa
John 1:1-18
Love Came Down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.
The hymnal 1982 is in possession of two beautiful Christmas hymns that are music put to the poetry of Christina Rossetti. Christina Rossetti’s poem “A Christmas Carol” put to music is known to us as hymn 112 or “in the bleak midwinter.” Her poem, which I just read, entitled “Christmastide” put to music is our hymn 84, of course, or best known to us as “Love came down at Christmas.”
Christina Rossetti’s life was not an easy or simple one. She was born in London in 1830, the daughter of an Italian poet, her brother Dante Gabriel a renowned pre-Raphaelite painter and poet. Christina grew herself in the shadow of her famous family but was no slouch when it came to poetry. What makes Christina Rossetti an inspiration to us today, is her spiritual faith. She, a devout Anglo-Catholic who embraced deeply the spirituality and practice of the Oxford movement in the mid 1800’s, was known to have been committed in prayer and practice. Her faith and devotion were most impressive because of the challenges of her life. Most of her life she struggled not only against the alleged abuses of her father, but also from disfiguring effects of Graves disease and eventually a number of years struggle with cancer.
It is true that her life was not easy or simple, and at the same time remarkable and renewing to receive the simply the beauty of her faith in this lovely hymn where she expresses an experience Jesus as the gift of love capable of transcending the challenges of her life. It is this very transcendence we celebrate in the mystery of the Incarnation, that is, God is with us.
St. John’s poetry rises up this day and meets Christina Rossetti’s. St. John tell us,
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.”
We have received grace upon grace John tells us, in this “Word that has become flesh”. A grace perhaps that can transcend even the most challenging things of the human experience, illness and abuse in Christina Rossetti’s circumstance, seem to be transcended and beauty emerges from the core of that being, and she calls that grace…“LOVE.” Love came down at Christmas.
If we say we allow Christina Rossetti’s words then to bring song to our lips and we join her in saying that we believe that love came down at Christmas, then what are we really saying?
I suggest that we are saying that each day we choose to believe in that which the world would sometimes have us not. Believing is about giving our heart to something. That something may not ever be discovered in an evidentiary proceeding but in a much more powerful realm. The word belief is derived from the word Credo or Creed. The meaning of which is more powerfully discovered in the notion of “giving our hearts” to something, rather than fully understanding something. I give my heart to the mystery that are the loves of my life. When I say I give my heart to my spouse, my children, my family, my friends, my fellow congregants, my fellow citizens; I do so never fully agreeing with or sometimes even coming close to understanding them. Yet I do say I believe in them, that is, I give my heart to them. When I say I believe that love came down at Christmas, I do so never fully comprehending or understanding how it this world sometimes fails to embrace justice, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and peace. My “belief” however, is that God’s very heart longs for these things for his creation. God leans heavily on the side of these things hoping to pull us along.
Everyday we have a choice of “belief,” a choice as to where we will “give our hearts.” Where will we lean? For me, I’ll “give my heart” to the side of justice, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and peace. Can you imagine a world where there was no “belief” that love came down at Christmas? this world sometimes fails to embrace justice, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and peace. My “belief,” however, is that God’s very heart longs for these things for his creation. God leans heavily on the side of these things, hoping to pull us along. Every day we have a choice of “belief,” a choice as to where we will “give our hearts.” Where will we lean? For me, I’ll “give my heart” to the side of justice, mercy, compassion
