A Labor of Love

A Christmas Reflection preached by The Very Rev. Terri C. Pilarski December 24, 2007

Outside a snow storm was raging. Thousands of snowflakes twirled through the air, tossed by the wind, some slamming in to the ground, others landing as if with a sigh of relief, eventually covering roof tops, sidewalks, and streets.

Inside a woman lay in a warm hospital bed while her two companions sat beside her. The woman was in labor, preparing to give birth to twins. All through the night and into the early morning the three sat quietly talking.Every five minutes or so the laboring woman would begin to breath deeply. Then another woman would take her hand and coach her through the contraction.

Breath deeply, let your mouth open, relax.

The contraction would pass. Gradually the conversation would begin again. Round and round from story to story the other two women remembered their own birthings; how they labored through the night to bring their babies into the world.

Christmas music played in the background, adagios, slow and peaceful. It was a holy night made all the more serene by the warmth of the indoors and the beauty of the snow outdoors and the gradually progressing birth.

The mother labored for 30 hours. The babies were born naturally with little medical intervention. The women, her coaches, labored with her, Their bodies remembered the sensation, the urge, the urgency to push. It was as if their muscle memory could be transferred to her helping the process along.

The first baby took about 30 minutes to birth. The second baby became distressed, her heart rate dropped from 140 to 66. Birthing her quickly was now a matter of the baby’s health. But the mother did, three pushes, and the second baby was born.

The images of that night and the process of birthing these babies into the world will remain with me a long time. It was an amazing experience of self-less giving – the mother who gave so much of herself to maintain a pregnancy through two episodes of pre-term labor, months of bed-rest and medication…and now, the ultimate giving, the birth of these healthy babies.

A labor of love.

The timing of this birth makes it poignantly clear to me what another mother was going through to birth her baby into the world, a mother who lived 2000 years ago. A mother who did not have the convenience of a hospital and trained medical staff. A mother and a father, who according to the story, were not at home, and would not have had the security of family and familiar birthing coaches. The father had to be her coach and doctor and husband all at the same time.

And she, labored through the pain and fear and the hope – all on her own energy. No one reminded her to breath. No one taught her how to push. No one to assured her that she could do it; just as they had. It’s a miracle the woman in the stable was able to birth the baby at all…

A miracle, the gift of life…a labor of love…

In recent weeks on Sunday morning we have heard the story of this baby, this mother, and this father. Of a woman willing to take a huge risk, saying yes to God. A woman who was strong and brave and sure of herself. The Greeks call her Theotikos, the God-bearer, Mary, the mother of God.

And we heard the story of Joseph, a compassionate man also willing to take the risk, to follow God’s vision of life and love. And now, tonight we hear the story of the birth, of God being born into the world as the infant Jesus, the Incarnate one.

As Episcopalians we are particularly grounded in the Incarnation. For us the salvation story begins here, in the idea that God came to live as one of us. Without that act of being born the rest of the story would be meaningless – here would be no life lived, no model of loving others, no death, and no resurrection, no ultimate act of love.

The birth had to happen first.

The story begins with the experiences of the parents - their love for one another, for the baby, and for God, and then continues into the life lived by child of God.

Tonight we focus most particularly on the birth, on the laboring mother, the supportive father, and the baby.

We can find some very rich imagery within this story to help us understand our lives and God’s love for us. In many ways God is like the mother, laboring to birth us.

We believe that God has created us and therefore has hopes and dreams for us. God yearns for us like a mother waiting for the birth of the baby. And God labors with us, pushing us, gently until we are born into the life God desires for us.

How many of you have ever had the feeling that God was guiding you?

And God nurtures us in life, like a father who offers love and support. But God will not do this on God’s own. In the Incarnation we learn that God desires our active participation. God wants us to embrace the life given to us. Embracing our lives means that we live fully in the image of God, loving as God loves.

God loves with a broad sweeping generous love – in pouring out God’s self in the person of Christ God offered God’s love to all humanity,

to you,

to me,

to the people down the street,

and to the strangers across the way.

God’s love for all.

Like a mother who labors equally hard to birth all her children. Like a father who provides for all his family, God loves each of us for being who are.

And then asks that we do the same.

Some people think of this in a kind of warm and fuzzy love – but if you have ever really tried to love as God asks, to love all people with compassion and respect, you quickly find out just how difficult this is. Difficult to love that crabby person who butts in front of you. Difficult to love that person who cuts you off on the highway. Difficult to love that person who lives a life style different than yours, one that might be questionable…

and we can’t always do it.

But we are asked to try.

At one point Jesus sums up all 613 commandments found in the Bible with these words: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength, and with all your soul. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Because God has lived as one of us, God knows this is not easy. God knows we will labor hard in trying.

But God knows it will be a labor of love.

And in that labor is the miracle of life itself.