Go Tell It on the Mountain
Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills, and every where. Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born.
I usually complete my Christmas shopping early in December. This year I ended up shopping the week before Christmas. In spite of the higher prices, stores were packed. As I interacted with surly customs and waited on long check-out lines, it seemed as though Christ was MIA: missing in action. Telling people about Jesus keeps Christ in Christmas. When we engage in Christ-like acts of kindness, patience, and forgiveness we incarnate Jesus by bringing God with us and showing God to others. Talking about and demonstrating how God saved, accompanied, and empowered you reminds you and informs others that Jesus is the reason for this season.
Witnessing to the Good News, does not require an extensive knowledge of Scripture. Being evangelists does not mean the person who listens to you must confesses Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Building the kingdom of God is not the same thing as increasing church attendance. Building God’s kingdom, being evangelists, sharing the Good News is about what we do and say. The prejudice, intolerance, and xenophobia of Christians discourages people from attending worship or joining a church. What Christians say and do outside of church matters this day and every day.
When we bear witness to what God is doing for us, people are moved. They are moved to recognize their doubts, fears, struggles, and losses are serious, but need not be terminal. When we share who God is and when we describe how, when and where we encounter God, people are moved. They are moved to want what we have, experience what we feel, and understand what we know. They are moved to seek the “peace of Christ that passes understanding.”
I was a hospital executive at Episcopal Health Service for 14 years. Two of the 5 departments I supervised sponsored a program called Adopt -a-Family. These departments secured names and wish lists from the neediest patient households. The lists were given to congregations in the Diocese of Long Island and departments in the hospital to shop for, wrap, and label the gifts requested. During multiple trips 2 twenty foot panel trucks picked up gifts from churches serving as drop sites in Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk. The gifts were brought to a hospital meeting room the size of this sanctuary. The donors placed the gifts for each family into contractor sized trash bags. The bags completely filled the room. When the patient families came to pick up their Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanza gifts they shed tears and expressed their gratitude. Over and over recipients said, “I know there is a God, because people who don’t know me care about me and my family.” The people who shopped for, wrapped, and delivered gifts brought the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
Years ago, during a marriage preparation session the groom asked me why I became a priest. The groom and I had attended the same high school. The groom expected me to do what our classmates had done: attend college and grad school; land a high paying job; buy a house in the suburbs; and then juggle marriage, children, and career. He asked, “what led you to give all that up?” I asked him if he remembered our mutual friend who died shortly after graduation. He responded saying, “he would never forget Mark.” He told me coping with Mark’s death led him to drink and do drugs. A nearly fatal accident caused by his impairment compelled him to enter recovery. I described how Mark’s death impacted me. I talked about my grief and depression. I told him that just as I began to emerge from my depression, a college friend died. This second loss ‘pulled the rug out from under my feet.’ I did not know how to go on. There were days when I did not want to go on. Each time I came close to giving up someone showed up: the college chaplain inviting a group of us to his home for dinner; a dormitory advisor knocking on my door with popcorn and soda in hand; and my parents driving the 130 miles to my college to stop by for a visit. The actions of these people was like mana from heaven. They fed me until I was able to tend and feed my own spirit. As the paralysis of grief and loss lifted, I a realization dawned. I told the groom that the care I received and the sadness I endured with the help of others, were demonstrations of God’s love. I needed to share my experience. These experiences were mine, but not for my private consumption. I became a priest, to tell people that nothing could separate us from God’s love. Emmanuel, God with us. God will always be with us.
You can give a gift that will never wear out or rust. You can find the courage to describe how, with God’s help, you survived disaster. On FaceBook, TikTok, or in a text message, you can tell someone about the times when Jesus lifted you up after you had fallen down. When we talk about the times when Jesus laughed with us and cried with us we bear witness to the Good News with words that remind us and others Jesus is the reason for this season. When we engage in actions that build the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven our work keeps Christ is in Christmas. Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills, and ev’rywhere. Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born.
