Redemption

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal

December 24, 2023

Christmas Eve

My grandmother was a great collector of S&H Green Stamps. For those of you who were born after 1975 or so, Green Stamps, or their cousin Gold Bond stamps, were the precursor of the current redemption programs such as bonus points, frequent flyers miles, or cash back. Whether Green Stamps or frequent flyer miles, the principle is the same: the more you spend, the more stamps or miles you earn, which you can redeem for various items, travel, or a rebate check. In my grandmother’s day, life was low-tech, so when she went to the grocery store she received 50, 10, or one point stamps based on how much money she spent and which store she was in. The stamps were dispensed by a machine that had a dial like a rotary dial phone, another relic of the past. The stamps had to be licked, and then they were put into a collection book that had 24 pages. When all the pages were filled, at 50 points per page, the books could be redeemed for household items and other things. I know this Green Stamp trivia because my sister and I took great delight in licking Green Stamps and sticking them in the redemption books, and our grandmother took great delight in figuring out what to get with her Green Stamp books at the local Green Stamp store. So far as our grandmother was concerned, she was getting things free, regardless of how much money she had to spend in the process.

Tonight, we celebrate the birth of the Savior and Redeemer of the world who comes to us as a baby and is greeted by shepherds and angels.  But whenever I hear the word "redemption," or "redeem" or "redeemer," despite my years of theological education, my mind goes immediately, not to Jesus, but to Green Stamps. Redemption is a pretty cut and dried process by which we save up something we earned until we have enough points or stamps to redeem them and claim something we want. The theology of Green Stamps would then be something like "if we are very good, and earn enough points in our lifetime, we can redeem those points at the end and claim eternal life."

Fortunately, the theology of Green Stamps is not the theology of Christmas. The theology of Christmas is that redemption is the very love of God bursting into the world in a new way.  Tonight, instead of instructions about how to earn enough points to merit redemption from sin and death, we hear the story of the birth of a baby at an inconvenient time, in an inconvenient place, to unwed parents who are probably a still a bit baffled about how all this came to be, complete with a great light display and singing angels, and some shepherds who leave their sheep to their own devices and to go visit this newborn baby. What does this story have to do with the redemption of the world?

First, we learn that redemption is nothing we can earn, no matter how many points we try to save. From the story of Gabriel’s visit to Mary announcing that she has been chosen to carry the Christ child, to Mary’s visit to Elizabeth and the recognition of the child within Mary by Elizabeth’s unborn child, to the events of Jesus birth, the primary actor in this story is God.  The gift of God’s redeeming love is God’s work, not ours, and a gift, not anything we can earn or save up for.

Secondly, God’s redeeming love breaks in on us in the midst of our everyday lives. Mary and Joseph were traveling to Bethlehem to be registered, presumably for the purpose of paying taxes, when Jesus was born. The shepherds were tending their sheep when the angel appeared to them out in the fields. No meals had been planned, gifts purchased, or special events organized. The Christ child was born in the midst of people doing ordinary things. But that does not mean that everything stayed the same. In the Christmas story, the shepherds did return to their sheep, but they did so glorifying and praising God. Mary, no doubt exhausted and a bit confused by her strange visitors, treasured the words of the shepherds and pondered them in her heart. God’s redeeming love is an extraordinary gift that we experience in the midst our ordinary lives, but that love also changes our lives in ways we cannot predict or control.

Lastly, God’s redeeming love is not a private matter. The story tells us that the skies lit up and the heavenly host sang out the news of Jesus’ birth. The message of the angel was one of great joy for all people. After visiting the newborn Jesus, the shepherds "made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them."  The story of Jesus’ birth calls us to be witnesses to God’s redeeming love. 

Christmas is the celebration that, in Jesus, God’s redeeming love has burst into the world in a new way.  That love will transform our lives, our ordinary lives, just as that love transformed the shepherds and Mary.  That love will be revealed not just on special occasions, but as we go about our everyday lives.  That love not only brings us comfort and peace, but spills over so that our whole lives can speak to the love and work of God in the world, not just in the future but now. "For to you is born this day" in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord."

Amen.