Long ago, before the advent of shopping malls or Santa Claus or even Christmas trees, Christmas was a holy day, a feast day. And like all feast days in the ancient Church, Christmas began with the ringing of bells for the service of Evensong or Vespers on the preceding day. The worshipers would then gather to celebrate the birth of Christ with a holy feast, the Feast of the Nativity. But the only food they would eat at this high and holy meal was the bread and wine of Holy Communion, the body and blood of Christ our Lord. Then, when all had received the sacrament, the presider would stand before them and dismiss them with a blessing.

In those days, the last words of the communion service were always the same: Ite missa est ~ three Latin words meaning, “You are dismissed” or “You are sent.” As the years went by, worshipers began to refer to the service of Holy Communion by those last three words. Eventually the sacrament came to be known simply as the Missa or the Mass. So the Feast of the Nativity became the Christ Mass. This holy season we now call Christmas began in the Church, at the table of our Lord.

It seems odd that the birth of Jesus was first celebrated with the Lord’s Supper. For the holy sacrament speaks of sacrifice and suffering, even of death. And yet, Communion is the perfect symbol for what took place on that holy night in the Bethlehem stable. For just as God’s presence is made known to us in the breaking of ordinary bread and in the blessing of ordinary wine, so the gift of God’s presence was revealed to all the world in an ordinary stable among ordinary people. Likewise the chalice, a common earthen vessel, held the sacramental wine ~ the blood of Christ ~ which is the very symbol of Jesus’ life and love given for us. In the same way, the manger, a common feed box, held the One who came to bring life and love to all ~ the Word-made-flesh, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, “God-with-us.”

The common cup of Holy Communion reminds me of another vessel. It, too, is a common, ordinary, earthen vessel. And yet, like the manger of Bethlehem and the Cup of Life, it carries a great and wonderful treasure. You are that vessel. And the treasure you carry in your heart and life is nothing less than Christ himself. Through your loving kindness and care for others, you bring to them the gift of life and love. You are a channel of God’s grace, a living reminder of Christ to others. +

“May our faith be as daring as dreams. May our hopes be as bright as Bethlehem’s star. And may the coming Christ find in our hearts both a welcome and a home.”