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Frosty or The Blessed Virgin?                                            Christmas Eve, 2010

And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

                                     Luke: 1: 46-55

The other day I was standing in line at the Riverside Post Office and I overheard a conversation that Holly, our delightful and multi-talented postal clerk, was having with the person in front of me. A person who, like me, was there to purchase stamps.

"I'd like some Christmas stamps," the customer said. And Holly responded, "Well, you have two choices. Do you want a Snowman or The Blessed Virgin?"

Frosty or The Blessed Virgin Mary? Now there's a question that can snap us to attention on this night before Christmas.

Let me be clear. I have nothing against Frosty the Snowman - or any other snowman for that matter. As I've said here before, I'm not particularly bothered by the "secularization" of Christmas. The holiday is part of our culture, and we're not going to change that.

So if people want to plop blow-up snowmen or Santa Claus dolls on their front lawns - or stick snowman stamps on their Christmas cards, for that matter - it's fine with me.

And the truth is, I'd much rather see people greet their neighbors with a cheerful "Happy Holidays," than ignore one another altogether.

But, postage stamps and blow-up ornaments aside, it is The Blessed Virgin - and clearly not the Snowman - who embodies the central truth that causes us to celebrate tonight. In fact, of all the symbols that define the season, none is more important than the image of Mary holding the infant Jesus in her arms.

We Christians share a lot with other religious traditions. Our hope for peace on earth, for example, is shared by faithful people everywhere. As is our focus on the love of God and neighbor.

At Christmas, though, we tell a story that is not shared by other religions.

It's a story that is uniquely ours, and what a story it is. We'll read it in a moment, as we do each year at this time. It's about a poor young woman, from an oppressed race, living in an occupied country, who, with her fiance, is driven to the road and to homelessness by a decree from the same King who is oppressing her.

It's a story about a woman who can't find a room in the local inn, and so gives birth to the hope of the world in an animal stall. It's a story about angels heralding a child born in poverty, and a bunch of smelly shepherds becoming the first to witnesses the event of his birth.

As CNN Radio Anchor Jim Ribble is fond of saying, "You can't make this stuff up."

Why would anyone introduce a King this way?

Think about it. God, in all of God's wisdom, chooses this scenario: God chooses to become incarnate - to become human - as a baby born to an unwed mother who is so poor she needs to wrap her child in bands of cloth and lay him in a feeding trough.

Why? Why would God choose this path? Why not arrive like a typical King? Why not sweep in on a chariot of Gold? Or appear sitting on a jeweled throne?

There is only one answer, and the answer can be found in the words of the same poor, teenage mother who brought Jesus humbly into the world.

When Mary first became pregnant - and first realized what was about to happen to her - Luke tells us she recited the words of a song. A song we have come to call the Magnificat. Mary's song proclaims a powerful message. A message about a world that was about to be changed by the birth of the child inside her womb:

"My soul magnifies the Lord," Mary sang. "He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty."

"A new world is coming," she sings, "one in which the poor and the lowly will triumph over the rich and the powerful."

Sometimes it feels like we will never see that new world. The powerful remain on their thrones, and the hungry remain . . . well, hungry. Yet, you and I are called to live and pray - and on this Christmas Eve, we are also called to sing - as if this new world were right around the corner.

Frosty or the Blessed Virgin? As far as postage stamps go, it really doesn't make much difference. When I got to the front of the line, the other day, I actually bought some of each.

Thankfully, though, The Blessed Virgin, on that "Night that Christ Was Born," made all the difference in the world.

Welcome, brothers and sisters, to our celebration of that night.

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