The Big Effects of Small Things

PROPERS:          CHRISTMAS 1, YEAR A      

TEXT:                LUKE 2:1-20

PREACHED AT ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL, MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2022.

 

ONE SENTENCE:        Small things that escape wide notice can have a dramatic influence on our world.

 

            It is amazing how seemingly small forces can have dramatic influence on our lives.  It’s also amazing how monumental events become insignificant and insignificant events can become monumental.

 

            My mind goes to largely invisible forces influencing our lives.

 

            We all are familiar with Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity – a theory he described in a paper he wrote while a Swiss patent officer in 1905.  That theory and his subsequent writings described the large physical forces which control the cosmos – gravity, planets, and other such things.

 

            But I suspect that few of us are familiar with quantum physics – the submicroscopic forces which animate the world which underlies our existence. I can truthfully say that I do not understand its many applications and implications – such as the vibrating strands of string theory – but I know that these tiny, subatomic forces make us and our world what we are. They mold and form the atoms and molecules which create everything that we are and encounter.

 

            Small things have big influences.

 

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            Events, too, can have long-term effects – even when they are small.

 

            In 1744, an English composer premiered his English oratorio to an audience at Covent Garden in London.  He had previously composed Italian operas, and this oratorio was an early foray into English music.

 

            His concert was not well-received.  Its reviews were mediocre. Although his oratorio was scheduled for six performances in the next year, he was forced by the lukewarm reception to reduce the number to three. His musical offering had been received underwhelmingly.

 

            Contrast that reception with the Beatles’ more than two centuries later.

 

            Yet that mediocre reception was not the final word.  The small event became much larger. Today, Handel’s Messiah is being performed around the world.  It is a staple for Christians of both Christmas and Easter.  We cannot hear the Hallelujah Chorus without knowing precisely what it is.

 

            I feel the same way about a small part of that work – the Pastoral Symphony.

 

            From a seemingly insignificant event a massive influence emerges.

 

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            Think of major events in world history: D-Day, the fall of Rome, the Battle of Hastings, the Eruption of Krakatoa, the Russian Revolution, the Salk Vaccine, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Reagan and Gorbachev in Reykjavik, the Bubonic Plague. Maybe even Alabama’s national football championship, or Auburn’s national football championship.

 

            All of these were major events.  They sent ripples out through world history. But ultimately those ripples receded. The effects diminished.

 

            Now, think of a contrast with this night.

 

            In an insignificant part of the world… in an occupied country… in what was a tiny, remote village… in a crude stable… prompted by a census that history does not record… a man and woman, recently married, 150 miles from their home… welcome a newborn child.

 

            The world did not notice. It is not found in world records. But that small moment… half a world away… became the pivot point for human history.

 

            It is because of that event that tonight much of the world is celebrating.  That tiny village is the epicenter of Christian devotion.

 

            And none of us… no, not one… can say that we have not been affected that that small event in history. And by that moment, we have all received grace upon grace.