Above is the traditional Sunday of the Resurrection greeting. It is very hard to prove in a tangible way. This does not deny the truth of the experience. Truth after the splitting of the atom is much more than what was narrowly defined as truth in the Enlightenment. Truth then and for some today was just what we could perceive with our senses. The human experience of reality includes the perception of our five senses plus much more.

The breakdown of matter beyond its basic particles of atoms and the discovery that indefinable energy is the basis of all things, has contributed to a fuller meaning of human reality and its appropriation. Humans experience a larger spectrum of reality beyond the five senses. Therefore, humans are more artistic when it comes to experiencing and understanding truth.

Resurrection is about energy. St. Paul talks about the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead. This is what Michelangelo painted in the Cistine chapel, the spark of God in the finger of God, energizing humanity as God creates. St. Paul in the Letter to the Romans understood this power as filling every nook and cranny of this world.

You and I existentially know this energy. Look at the testimonies of sin, death and new life in our mortal existence. For me personally I have been saved from physical death four times. I am still being saved from ways I continue to fall short in my daily life.

The ability to live through and transcend the daily challenges of our mortal lives is existential empirical proof that there is a tangible inherent power present in this world. This power makes us powerful and therefore able.

Thus we who believe can respond appropriately:

We cannot fool ourselves that that there is nothing wrong with us. We cannot fool ourselves that all our wrongs are not our fault and lie somewhere else.

Shakespeare seems to identify a truth about humans. In the play Caesar, he locates where our faults are to be found- deep within ourselves. We fall short; we are less than we are because of what is deep in ourselves.

Lent is the 40-day period in our church's calendar before the Sunday of the Resurrection, commonly called Easter (Esther) after the pagan goddess of Spring. The church for the purpose of reflection on our faulty natures sets this period aside. This reflection, a dark period, ends with the light of Christ coming into our lives. This light is power to recreate and sustain us in this life.

The apostle Paul said: All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. Sin is understood as broken relationship with God. Without God there is neither life nor living. The outcome of sin is death. In death we are unable to be righteous in our relationships towards our neighbors. This is why there is unfairness and violence in the world.

Let us in this period look into ourselves, discover our fault and cease being less than we should be.

The eighth psalm says this about us as humans:

8:3	When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;
8:4	what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?
8:5	For you have made him a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor.

During this Lent we can reflect and recapture our place as a little lower than God.

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for responding to the invitation by God and the church to come and worship. Worship is our goal today as we celebrate the birth of God among us. The center of focus is the manger scene, more explicitly the Christ-child Jesus. We have come to gather with others- to worship- to respect.

MEDITATION

If worship is our goal, the point of our gathering this day, then meditation is not out of place. I want to encourage you, the called of God to take a few moments and ponder the Christmas story. What a wonderful story. What a marvelous story. Simple yet profound but Pregnant with meaning.

1. THE CHILD
   
   As we come to worship a child we are challenged to respect the needs of the child in this world. The Christ- child challenges us to awaken to our responsibility towards the vulnerable, the weak, and the defenseless. We are called to do this as individuals. We are called to organize against systems and structures that sustain situations that perpetuate need and harm against humanity.



2. GOD IS RELEGATED TO THE STABLE
   
   The facts are that the Christ-child, being of royal lineage, is born in the annex where the animals were kept in winter. By this act God identifies with poverty and the poor. The Christ- child challenges our sensitivity and awakens our responsibility to those who are poor.

APPLICATION

I want to encourage you to meditate on the full story about the Birth of God in the Bible. There is too much there.

This day I want to challenge you in your response to the weak, the downtrodden, the poor. The true message of Christmas is easily lost in a world so bent on just stimulating the economy.

The message of Christmas is that we are called to worship and respect. This explained is worship God and respect, that is, pay attention to the needs of neighbor. Here is a song that will help.