I love how the lectionary uses the story of two parents who lost track of their son during a Passover Festival as the Gospel for this Feast of the Holy Family. It does reminds us never to equate ‘holy’ with ‘perfect!’ I also like the fact this feast day is celebrated so close to Christmas for it allows us to really look at how this God Emmanuel who is with and among us – has a direct connection to our daily life and our family. What does that look like for you and your family? And how does a story of what took place on a battlefield some 100 years ago shed like on what should be happening at your table…in your home…within your ‘family church’?

1. 27 December 2015 Feast of the Holy Family Princeton, NJ
The Gospels speak very little about the life of the Holy Family in the years before Jesus’ public ministry. But I love
how the lectionary uses the story of two parents who lost track of their son during a Passover Festival as the
Gospel for this Feast of the Holy Family. It does reminds us never to equate ‘holy’ with ‘perfect!’ I also like the fact
this feast day is celebrated so close to Christmas for it allows us to really look at how this God incarnate…this
Christ Child…this Emmanuel: God with and among us – has a direct connection to our daily life and our family.
For this Feast invites to bring the crèche of Christ and the love of the Holy Family into each of our own homes…and
to see how well we are integrating the secular and the sacred in our lives. What I mean by this, is that it is all too
easy for us to separate what we do when we come to mass each Sunday versus what we do the rest of the week –
when they really are…and should be, one and the same – for it is far too easy for us to close our eyes to what is
sacramental.
The term sacramental simply refers to something that points us to God. Looking at the big picture, theologian
Msgr. Kevin Irwin defines the entire world as being sacramental for it is the locus, the place, where the incarnate
God is experienced. Narrowing that broader view - obviously our liturgical celebration this morning is sacramental
– for it is a communal act of all of us - the body of Christ – and it is one that points us to God. Liturgy is a time
when we all gather and come together around the table. It is a time that we have the opportunity to open ourselves
up in order to partake of God’s ever present grace and unconditional love…and it is a time that we are all sent forth
to do God’s work.
It is author and theologian Rosemary Haughton who writes that “liturgy is formation for transformation.” And for this
transformation to take place within ourselves and for others it can’t be limited to one hour a week. For if we stop
there each Sunday…and walk out of here, simply happy that the homily was short and mass was under an hour…
and then head to work or school tomorrow and rejoin the world that focuses on who is in and who is out and
engaging in one win-lose scenario after another – then we have missed the reason we come to Church each week.
For what we are really called to do is to take the unearned gifts and graces from this table before us and bring it
back into each of our homes so they can be woven within our family and into the fabric of our lives…for your ‘home
church’, your ‘family church’ cannot be ignored.
Keep in mind where “church” began - that up to the beginning of the 4th
century the church was located in the home.
The presiders of prayer would have been the elders of the home. And what we heard in today’s second reading is
Paul’s exhortation on how families should live and pray together – bearing with one another, forgiving one another
and above all things – to put on love. The family table they dined on to nourish their bodies was the same table that
was used for liturgy, which nourished their souls. There was an obvious connection between the family’s prayer life
and the family’s way of life.
But in 313 AD, when the Edict of Milan was signed thereby granting religious freedom, Christianity quickly rose to
become the dominant religion in the Roman Empire. With the rapid growth of Christians, “Church” was pulled from
the homes and placed in larger, public gathering spaces, owned by the government, called basilicas. But within a
short time, St. John Chrysostom saw the shift that was taking place and repeatedly urged all Christians to make
each home a "family church," and in doing so thereby sanctify the family unit. And 1,700 years later we are still
being called to make our home and our daily lives a family church. We are still being called to bring Christ, the
incarnate God into our families. We are still being called to connect this table, this altar…with the tables of our daily
lives. So allow me to share this story of a group of soldiers who did such an act almost exactly a hundred years
ago to this day.
World War I had broken out in August of 1914 – a war that was not expected to last too long. It was on Christmas
Eve of that year and the men on the western front were far from home, dug in their trenches and fighting for their
1 Deacon Jim Knipper

2. lives. And on that night the weather turned very cold, freezing the water that laid in the trenches where the men
were bunkered. But soon after night fell, the British soldiers reported seeing some strange lights on the German
side. Just a hundred yards away from their line of defense, across the battle field (called no-man’s land), a small
handful of German soldiers were lighting candles and holding small Christmas trees over their heads – illuminating
their positions. And with that, the strains of Silent Night were heard by the British – who then responded with song.
And one by one both sides laid down their arms… and one by one they climbed out of their trenches and gathered
in “No-man’s” land.
Matter of fact, so many began to gather that the commanding officers had no way to prevent this from occurring.
With that - truce had taken place that Christmas Eve on the battlefield. The Germans and the British exchanged
impromptu gifts…shared what little food they had…and prayed side by side for their families and for the end of this
war - for they agreed that this war made no sense and they all wanted to go home.
Truce and Christmas peace was created by a small group of German and British soldiers – all of whom had the
courage, the grace and the wisdom in the middle of a war, to take the Lord’s table and bring it to their current place
in life – to stand up and be counter-culture – to create this momentary peace – allowing them to bury the dead and
to share a meal on that table called a battlefield. At 8:30 on the morning after Christmas, the British and German
commanding soldiers, climbed out of their respective trenches, saluted to each other and fired 3 rounds in the air –
signifying that the war was back on…a war that lasted another four and half years…a war that saw the death of
some 10 million more people before a permanent truce was declared.
So, where in your family does a truce need to be declared? Where and when are parts of your family more like a
battlefield? It’s okay…none of our families are perfect – even Mary and Joseph had to deal with a son who went
AWOL for a few days. But never forget – all of our families are holy!
Which is why the Pope calls for the Church to be a field hospital – where wounds are healed and hearts are
warmed – because this coming year besides those times we experience joys and celebrations…we will still be
faced with personal and family hardships, disappointments and brokenness. But as Kevin Irwin reminded us – all of
those experiences – both the highs and the lows are sacramental – they are places where we will find God waiting
for us, loving us and drawing us closer to God.
Thus on this second day of Christmas we still shout Emmanuel! God is with us! So come – take those steps
necessary to connect your sacred life to your secular life…and bring the love of this incarnate God and the
blessings of this table, this altar back to your homes, back to your family church, back to your table - and to make
them a mainstay of your everyday lives.
2 Deacon Jim Knipper