Scripture: Luke 2:1-11; Isaiah 9:2; Luke 1:46-53 Series: 2022
A Christmas Eve meditation framed by one recurring question: is reality flat (a thing is only a thing, we are only cells and cosmic dust) or overflowing (each moment is sustained and made meaningful by God’s love)? Pruitt grants that the materialist account is not wrong but limited—it fails to describe the grief, joy, and longing we actually experience. Through Isaiah’s light in the darkness, Mary’s revolutionary yes and her Magnificat, and the ‘turtles all the way down’ anecdote of infinite regress, he argues that Christmas answers the question: not turtles all the way down, but a God who created everything yet refuses distance, entering human flesh as a child to overcome the gap between creature and Creator, heal brokenness, and make our love and dreams point to an ultimate future when all shall be well.
Illustrations: turtles-all-the-way-down, john-green-novel, bertrand-russell-russell, 3am-nights-10pm-calls, star-of-bethlehem-planets
Christmas Eve
Luke 2:1-11
Is our world flat or overflowing? A flat world is about how we understand what is true or not. It means a thing is only a thing. A chair is only a chair. A moment is only a moment. History is in the past and may give us tips to our present but it is only in the past. We are not our past or our present. We are, individually, the sets of cells and organs which make up the body and take up the space in which we occupy. We can be described in other ways, but those ways are extraneous.
Is our world flat or overflowing?
Isaiah says that “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;”
How many of us have walked in darkness without seeing a light? All of us who have had moments of darkness eventually realized that those moments were not eternal, and moments of darkness assuredly do not feel flat. When you are in grief or feel lost or depressed, if someone tells you it doesn’t mean anything because we are all simply cells in the universe evolved from cosmic dust, that doesn’t make you feel better.
And they’re not wrong. The problem with a flat world is not that it is in error but that it is limited. It doesn’t describe the reality we experience. We can be evolved from cosmic dust and still grieve. And we can grieve not only as an evolutionary development for the perpetuation of the species but because we miss people who are gone. Our emotions can be chemical reactions and also be emotions. Is the world flat or overflowing?
Mary is not the kind of figure found in ancient stories. She is young and a woman. The most amazing thing about Mary is not that she becomes pregnant but that she says yes to God. But it is also amazing that she becomes pregnant. It is also amazing that Joseph still loves her and believes her. More than one thing can happen at the same time.
And Mary sings a revolutionary song. The magnificat is not a simple prayer but an acknowledgement that the powers that be need to be shaken and thrown out. God scatters the proud, she sings. God brings down the mighty from their thrones, God exalts the humble. God fills the bellies of the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. Yes!
Should you live for something more than yourself or should you just live for yourself? Should you eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you die? Or can you imagine a more just and beautiful world and think that that matters? Do you ever cry when you hear of the tragedies of others? To you ever weep for joy when you hear of parents reunited with their children.
Your joy and sorrow and grief and laughter and friendship and hope and comfort and anger. Those 3am nights with your kids and those 10pm phone calls from friends crying uncontrollably because their spouse left them, those matter because the world is not simply the sum of the cells and atoms moving around.
Or maybe we think the world isn’t flat and the earth is moving on the back of a turtle. There is a story of told of William James, that takes place after a public lecture he gave.
“Your theory that the sun is the centre of the solar system, and the earth is a ball which rotates around it has a very convincing ring to it, Mr. James, but it’s wrong. I’ve got a better theory,” said the little old lady. “And what is that, madam?” inquired James politely. “That we live on a crust of earth which is on the back of a giant turtle.” Not wishing to demolish this absurd little theory by bringing to bear the masses of scientific evidence he had at his command, James decided to gently dissuade his opponent by making her see some of the inadequacies of her position. “If your theory is correct, madam,” he asked, “what does this turtle stand on?” “You’re a very clever man, Mr. James, and that’s a very good question,” replied the little old lady, “but I have an answer to it. And it’s this: The first turtle stands on the back of a second, far larger, turtle, who stands directly under him.” “But what does this second turtle stand on?” persisted James patiently. To this, the little old lady crowed triumphantly, “It’s no use, Mr. James — it’s turtles all the way down.”
Turtles all the way down is a wonderful John Green novel about grief and mental illness. It is a clever retort of Bertrand Russell in “Why I am not a Christian”. It is a shorthand for an infinite regression which challenges the idea of the question. If it is impossible to answer the question where did everything come from, then should we ask it?
But this gets back to my first question this evening the question most beautiful answered by Christmas. Is reality flat or overflowing? Is the world all that seems to be from the most neutral position or do I have a place and do my experiences matter? Am I a collection of atoms or Wilson Pruitt or more radically, can I be both?
Is the universe turtles all the way down or is there a God who created everything, a God that cannot be described materially, and yet a God who refuses to maintain distance. A God who hears the cry of the weary. A God who sees God’s people walk in the darkness. It is not turtles all the way down because each moment and level of existence is sustained by the God who is love. We see this at Christmas that God became human and flesh. And our moments of love and joy and pain. Our histories and stories. Our past and present and future are not simply dust in the wind. Each is pregnant with the song of love that is God’s love for you. And the star of Bethlehem can be two planets aligning and can be a sign that God loves you. You are not foolish for dreaming of a world healed of pain. You are not foolish for desiring an end to your own pain. You are wise to dream and God dreams with you. You are wise to take joy in the people of your life.
The God who created everything is not waiting around for us. Instead, God enters our life through the flesh of a child so that the infinite distance between creature and creator can be overcome. So that the brokenness and darkness we see can be healed. So that the joy and happiness we feel can point to something more than momentary and fleeting bliss, it can point to our ultimate future when all shall be made well.