Four colly birds

On Christmas Day, we had the privilege of worshipping at St Agnes for our annual regional service. I preached that morning about the incarnation as an ongoing event. The incarnation is the Christian belief that God became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, who was fully human and fully divine. My message on Christmas morning was that the birth of Christ, the incarnation, is not only a single moment in time but a reality God makes known throughout human history. God is born even unto us, even into this time and place. 

Marking the 12 days of Christmas is one way that we can recognize the ongoing nature of the incarnation. Christmas isn’t just one day, December 25th. It’s an entire season. In that spirit, on this 4th day of Christmas, I’d like to highlight four extraordinary human beings who, in my mind, exemplify what it means to celebrate the everyday reality of Christ’s incarnation.

The first is Good King Wenceslas from our carol this morning. Every time we sing this carol, I can’t help seeing that scene in Love Actually. The British Prime Minister, played by Hugh Grant, is going door to door along the row houses in the “dodgy end” of the fictional London neighbourhood called Wandsworth. At one of the houses, some children ask if he’s there to sing carols. He’s reluctant at first, but soon launches into a half-hearted rendition of Good King Wenceslas. Sensing that this isn’t quite cutting it for the children, the British Prime Minister gestures for his unassuming security guard to join in. The guard does so with aplomb, his booming operatic voice complete with thick Scottish accent. The children break into squeals of laughter!

Good King Wenceslas is a celebrated carol in church and pop culture. The real Wenceslas was not in fact a king, but a duke, known for his charitable acts. It wasn’t until some time after his death that the title King was conferred upon him, and later saint. The carol tells the story of the duke looking out on the Feast of Stephen (what we know as Boxing Day). Despite snow “deep and crisp and even” the duke proceeds to venture into the cold—barefoot—to give gifts to widows, orphans, prisoners—all who were facing hardship of any kind. 

Wenceslas’s good works were, of course, as the carol tells us very much in the spirit of St Stephen, who is remembered as the first martyr of the church. Stephen is mentioned in the bible in Acts chapter 6. He is a Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jew chosen by the apostles to distribute food to widows and other poor members of the growing community of Jesus’ followers.  

For his charity toward those whom Jesus welcomed, as well as his including in the faith those deemed outsiders, Stephen was ultimately stoned while a man named Saul who we will come to know as the Apostle Paul looks on with approval. 

Wenceslas. Stephen. The third person who in my mind demonstrates the ongoing nature of the incarnation, the ongoing spirit of Christmas is a man named Mark Woodley. He is affectionately known as “gay Santa.” At the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s, Mark Woodley was grieving the loss of his best friend from AIDS even while he grappled with his own diagnosis. When an ad came out in the newspaper looking for someone to play Santa at the local Macy’s department store, Mark applied and was hired. He did so well in the role, Macy’s had him back the next year. 

But, everything changed when, after a routine physical, Mark had to disclose to his employer (as you did in those days) that he had AIDS, and that he was on anti-depressants. Mark was informed that due to his anti-depressants, he would not be re-hired. What Mark and the rest of his community knew was that it wasn’t about the anti-depressants.

On Black Friday 1991, a group of people dressed as Santa protested outside Macy’s. 19 were arrested. Macy’s stood by their decision. A settlement was eventually reached out of court. Mark went on to play Santa in numerous pediatric wards bringing joy to children who needed it most. 

Good King Wenceslas. Saint Stephen. Gay Santa. What all of these people have in common is their desire to bring a message of inclusion into the world. Which brings me to the fourth and final person for this fourth day of Christmas sermon. This person is not so much a person, but a group of people. We know them in the church as deacons: Peggy, Elizabeth, and God-willing, Jenn, too. Their role is to take those first barefoot steps into the cold and isolated places of our world, and like Wenceslas did with his page, to encourage us to follow. Deacons recognize Christmas, the incarnation, as a year-round affair. They remind us that Jesus is born not just on Sundays, not just on Christmas Day inside the warm and comfortable surroundings of our gathered church community, but each and every day out in the world, especially in the people we don’t see or don’t often see. So, I leave you this morning once more with the words of our opening carol: Therefore, Christians all, be sure/Wealth or rank possessing/Ye who now will bless the poor/Shall yourselves find blessing. Amen. 

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