About a month ago . . . one of the Church Periodicals quoted a fellow named W.R. deRijke, who is chair, we are told, of something called the “Western Biblical Foundation”; . . . one of the Church Periodicals quoted Mr. deRijke’s judgement on the choice to eliminate passages relating to economic justice and money from a new Dutch Bible translation that his foundation seems to be working on; . . . Mr. deRijke observed that, “Jesus was very inspiring for our inner health, but we don’t need to take his naive remarks about money seriously.  He didn’t study economics, obviously” (The Living Church, November 19, 2006, p. 10).  . . . Mr. deRijke is representative of the contemporary mind; . . . representative of a vast multitude of souls who think  themselves superior to the Word of God by virtue of a better education.  Who think that the Word of God is an excellent interior palliative, . . . but has no practical relevance for the technical world of medicine, civics, and business.

    But while contemporary thought has drifted in that direction, it is not a new idea.  It is the same sort of arrogant spirit that plagued the People of God two thousand years ago.  Because when the prophet Isaiah declared that,

to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

. . . when Isaiah said these things . . . the People of God were convinced that for the Lord God Almighty to do such a thing would require the practical machinery of noble birth in a palace equipped with generals and chariots and archers and footsoldiers and whatnot.  You can’t be a Prince of Peace until you establish it.  And in these days and in these times (the People of God said to one another) you establish peace by knocking heads together until the belligerents say “uncle”.  . . . Until the belligerents yield to the strength of good and practical government!  . . . And because Jesus, son of Mary, had none of these things; . . . because He lacked noble birth in a noble place; . . . because he lacked the equipment of strength and had not studied either the techniques of government or of economics, . . . well, no one need take His naive remarks about such things seriously.  Because Jesus had none of the practical and technical machinery of power, . . . it was for Him as Saint John shall tell us next Sunday, . . . although the world was made through Him, yet the world knew Him not; He came to His own home, and His own people received Him not.

    Now, you might think this a sorry turn of mind for the People of God, . . . “the Jews” Saint John calls them, . . . but the Church Herself is not immune to this very same malady of mind and spirit . . . which believes that Jesus is only good for your interior health but is inept to make a difference in your life.  . . . For instance, the introit hymn I gave to the choir to sing tonight is from the 1940 Hymnal; not from the newer version published in 1982.  The reason I did that is because the more ancient hymn, written by Johann Rist in 1641; . . . the more ancient hymn declares that

This Child, this little helpless boy, shall be our confidence and joy, The powers of hell o’erthrowing

. . . The more contemporary version (Hymn 91), for some unaccountable reason, has been revised to read, instead, that

This Child, this little helpless boy, shall be our confidence and joy, The power of Satan breaking

. . . Now, you must understand that Satan has no material power over us; . . . Satan’s power is the power to deceive.  Satan can’t change a single thing about your life, . . . but he can fool you into doing a great many things which you wouldn’t have done otherwise.  Satan is the great liar, whose deceptions are legendary.  And while it is true, as the 1982 Hymnal suggests, that the Truth that is Jesus and the truth of His sacred Word breaks the power of Satan’s deceptions, . . . that is largely an interior issue.  . . . But when Johann Rist wrote his hymn, he wrote that Christ Jesus overthrows the power of hell (“hell” with a small “h”), an archaic word that means “death”.  Jesus has overthrown the power of death, Rist says; not just the power of evil, but Jesus has overthrown the power of Death Itself!  Death has become a disciple of Jesus, ordained by God to instruct us for awhile on the subject of his specialty, but required, in the end, to bring us to stand before the Father as His sons and daughters, Children of Light!  You shall not die, even though your body will be placed in the earth; . . . you shall not die but live!  . . . The Lord Jesus Christ has guaranteed not just your inner health but your technical survival as well, . . . eternally, . . . even though He did not study economics.

    All of which suggests that the thing that Jesus has to say about economic justice and money . . . everything that Jesus has to say, in fact, . . . bears upon a reality that is beyond human vision . . . unless it is governed by what has been given to us in our Wonderful Counselor, . . . our Mighty God, . . . our Eternal Father, . . . the Prince of Peace.  . . . Everything that Jesus has to say to us is beyond the vision and comprehension of a soul that will not be simple, . . . will not be detached, . . . will not love obedience more than control.

    And because the Church knows She is not immune to the malady of the contemporary mind, . . . it is Her care to place this Festival of Christmas close to the beginning of the new Church Year.  The Church places this Festival of Christmas near the beginning of the new Church Year in order to remind Herself that everything She shall hear Jesus say over the next twelve months; . . . everything that Jesus says is a manifestation of the power God sent into the world at the Nativity of His Son, . . . which power is the power of Infancy.

    This power of God . . . this power of Infancy is three things.  First, it is simple.  For here is Joseph with Mary on the verge of giving birth, and there is no place for them in the inn at Bethlehem.  . . . God has provided no time for complex wrangling, nor has He supplied enough money for elaborate bribes.  . . . But God has provided a stable for the birth of His Son . . . and the fragrant simplicity of straw in a manger for His crib.  . . . The power of Infancy is simple.  It is also pure.  The power of Infancy does not evoke fear; . . . instead, it gives great joy.  And it liberates all people from the grasp of human depravity.  For, what does the Angel tell the shepherds living simply out in the field?  . . . She says, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all people, for to you is born this day  a Saviour, the sign of which shall be an Infant . . . lying in a manger.”  . . . And the third thing the power of Infancy does is draw the human mind to think of God.  . . . I was at a party about a week ago, and I met a man who had just that day assisted in the delivery of a child.  And his words to me were, “Father, birth is such a miracle(!); when you see it, you know it’s from God.”

    When I was priest-in-charge of Grace Church in Mohawk some years back, there walked into Church one Sunday Morning a big, muscular Biker-type fellow, complete with bandanna and sleeveless tee shirt revealing tattoos of flame, lightning and death skulls running up and down both arms.  And cradled in those massive, tattooed arms was a tiny peanut of a baby, . . . his orphaned granddaughter.  My Biker friend spoke in a quiet, gentle voice so as not to wake the baby, and he told me he had been in the Laundromat across the street when we rang the Church Bell, . . . and it reawakened his resolve that the Presence of God should bless his granddaughter’s life forever.  . . . For himself, my Biker friend had no regard; . . . he had led a life of drinking, cussing, fighting, and worse; . . . but for the sake of that infant he held in his arms, he changed his life; . . . not only on the inside, . . . but his manner of life as well.  That is the power the Lord God Almighty sent to save us from the depravity of human willfulness; . . . it is the power of Infancy.  It is a power which makes us simple, . . . pure, . . . and attentive to the loving heart of God, Whom the angels tell us looks upon us with favor.  . . . It is a power which is not only good for our inner health, . . . but it can change your life as well.  It only appears naive, . . . which is a deception of the devil intended to ruin your soul.  But tonight marks the birth of your Saviour, Who can save you from devilish deceit and make your life sacred, . . . forever; . . . if you will but remember to take Jesus and everything He says to heart . . . and ponder them, just as Mary did, . . . omitting nothing.  Alleluia!