I’m going to begin today’s sermon with a grammar question. Merry Christmas. 

But first, a little review. You remember what a noun is, right? It’s a word used to describe a person, place, or thing. And how about a verb? That’s a word used to describe an action, occurrence, or state of being. 

So here’s my question: Is Christmas a noun or a verb? 

For most of us (and multiple sources on Google) Christmas is a noun. It’s the commemoration of Jesus’ birth. So we say things like, “How was your Christmas?” I suspect we’ve all asked or been asked that question over the last six days.

But how many of you in the last six days have asked or been asked this: “Are you christmassing?” Or this: “Where, with whom, and how have you christmassed?” Any one? No one. Me either.

Why don’t we ask those kind of questions? And what would it be like to think of Christmas more as a verb than a noun? I think the christmassing question is at the heart of today’s gospel (John 1:1-18) The Word becoming flesh and living among us is the verbing of Christmas. 

We are so accustomed to and comfortable with Luke’s version of the Christmas story – Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem, angels announcing good news of great joy to the shepherds, Mary giving birth to Jesus, the child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger – that it’s hard to think of Christmas as anything other than a noun. 

So what now? What happens after the child is born, the angels return to heaven, and the shepherds go back to their flock? That’s when Christmas as a day, an event, a noun ends and all we have to say is, “How was your Christmas? 

But like I said in my sermon on Christmas Day, “Christmas doesn’t end with the birth of Jesus any more than having a child ends when you get home from the hospital.” Maybe that’s why every year on the First Sunday after Christmas we always hear today’s gospel. It’s our reminder that Christmas is a verb and there is work to be done. 

There’s a lot of action happening in today’s gospel – existing, being present, relating, creating, coming into being, living, testifying, light coming, light shining, light enlightening, receiving, believing, becoming children of God. The image or metaphor St. John uses for all this acton is the Word becoming flesh and living among us. 

What do you hear in that? In whom is the Word becoming flesh? 

Most of us hear about the Word becoming flesh and living among us and probably assume it’s about Jesus. I don’t disagree with that. After all, we see Jesus enfleshing the Word of God throughout his life; embodying forgiveness, love, mercy, peace, gentleness, hope, healing, nonviolence, wisdom, compassion, generosity. That was his way of being and living. 

So I do think the Word became flesh in Jesus. But what if that is not unique or exclusive to Jesus? What if Jesus isn’t the only one in whom the Word became or can become flesh? What about you and me? Have you ever considered that the Word can and even desires to become flesh in you? Maybe that’s what it means to christmas. 

Maybe Jesus is the image, the pattern, the archetype of what the Word become flesh looks like. And we look at that image and follow his life so that we can recognize it in ourselves and one another. He is our way, our truth, our life. He personifies who we are and who we can become. 

In his poem “The Work of Christmas” Howard Thurman puts it like this:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among [people],
To make music in the heart.

Howard Thurman calls it “the work of Christmas.” St. John calls it the Word becoming flesh. I call it christmassing. In case you are wondering, christmassing is the present participle of the verb to christmas. 

How many of you have ever used the verb to christmas? Is christmassing a new word for you? 

When I was in school and would learn a new word the teacher would ask, “Can you use that word in a sentence?” That’s my question to you this morning.

What does christmassing look like in your life today? What does it mean for you to christmas?

So here’s your homework. Write five sentences using the verb to christmas. Describe how you will christmas. Don’t, however, write them with pen and paper. Write them with your life. 

Merry Christmassing. Merry Christmassing.  

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Image Credit: Photo by McKenna Phillips on Unsplash.