This is the sermon I preached at both St. Andrew's & St. Peter's today (22nd December - 4th Sunday of Advent).
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So, are you
ready for Christmas? Are you prepared – or do you feel like there's
still loads to do?
Well,
however you are feeling about Christmas today, take a few moments to
relax. Maybe close your eyes. I'd like us to use our imaginations for
a bit. Imagine it's tonight – you've had a busy day, what with
church this morning, then rushing to get dinner sorted so you can
come back at 4 'o' clock for the Parish Christmas Celebration, then
dash to St. Peter's at 7pm for the Traditional Lessons & Carols.
You've had a glass of mulled wine and too many mince pies afterwards,
and now, you're ready for bed. You drift off into sleep - and
something happens.
An
angel 'appears' – how does that happen to you? A voice in your
head? A sense – a feeling – a physical presence..? However it
happens to you, this is a real possibility – it's
happened to plenty
of others before.
The
angel brings a message. You've
recently found out something
about somebody who you care for deeply – something that indicates
they have broken the law, and hurt you in the process. You've
decided
to cut off your ties from them, but in such a way as not to expose
them to shame & humiliation – at least, as best as you can.
Yet this messenger says you
are to stick by this person – not in spite
of what they have done, but because what they have done is actually
the right thing, no matter what others say. The
explanation
of the situation, of how it is really ok, is
impossible - or at
least you think is
impossible - and God wants you
to be part of it.
What's
your gut reaction as I say that? He wouldn't ask me! He couldn't
ask me! I would do anything for God (but I won't do that...)
It's
interesting that Matthew chooses to tell this part of the story from
Joseph perspective, unlike Luke who explains it all from Mary's
angle. Joseph
isn't
involved in the conception of Jesus at all, yet Matthew makes him
centre stage – why? Well, partly because, through Joseph, Jesus
becomes part of the house of David, thus fulfilling the scriptures
and adding weight to his being the promised Messiah. But more so, it
is to emphasize a particular human response
to God's word which Matthew sees as essential to Christianity.
Luke
emphasises Mary's response to the angel – the response of a
young woman, promised in marriage & old enough to know where
babies come from, who knows
what is expected of her when she is wed... and the consequences of
what happens to girls who are seen to have done such things before
they are married Yet
she is somebody who
is innocent enough,
possibly naïve enough,
to trust the angel’s words, to
accept them wholeheartedly, and
to allow
God's will to be done to her.
Matthew,
through Joseph, focuses on the active
part of the human response to the incarnation. Three times Joseph
is given instruction by an angel in a dream, and three times he must
do something in
response to the message. In this instance, it is to take Mary to be
his wife and ensure the child is named Jesus. Later, he is told to
flee to Egypt to save Jesus from the slaughter of the innocents, and
finally he is told to return to Israel – each time, he obeys,
seemingly without hesitation. But
Joseph
was just a man – and I imagine there must have been times it all
seemed too much. When they were travelling
to Bethlehem for the census & he was having to nurse his pregnant
wife. When he could not provide proper accommodation
for the woman he loved, and had to witness her go through
the agonies of childbirth in
a dirty stable.
Yet
he chooses to stay faithful, to believe, as the
Queen of Hearts does in Lewis
Carroll's Alice Through The
Looking Glass, at least six
impossible things before breakfast.
So
this coming week we celebrate
the birth of Jesus, and the
point when those impossible things became possible. And at that
point, the story begins
again. Go into any shop, pub,
café
& chances are the usual Christmas pop songs are blasting out –
which is nice, except when they've had the same CD on since November!
But, love or loathe them, maybe they are worth a second listen. You
see, I think Slade were on to something. “So here it is, Merry
Christmas! Everybody's having fun! Look to the future now, it's only
just begun” sings Noddy Holder. And if we turn away from the
commercialisation & celebrate a true Christmas – by which I
mean observe Advent as a season in itself & celebrate Christmas
over it's intended 12 days - then Christmas Day does indeed mark the
point where we should celebrate the birth of the Saviour of the
world, God's Word made flesh, Immanuel, God with us – then look
to
the future which has, indeed, only just begun. If we dare to allow
Christmas to be a new beginning, if we welcome Christ
into our world, either
again or for the first time, and let him use us, inspire us, even
love us – then it will be a truly new beginning.
Just
as Mary's life was changed by her encounter with the angel, by
welcoming Christ into her, and by sharing him with others, ours
can be too. Her's
is a very human story – and yes, there
appears to be times when she was
scared of the repercussions this would have for
herself & the family -
for example, when she and his
brothers & sisters go to intervene
when he is seemingly out of control (Mark
3:31-35).
She's his mother – she
wants to keep him, and the family, safe. But her overwhelming
attitude is that of sharing him with the world – as a baby in the
manger with the shepherds,
as a young boy with the magi, at the temple with Simeon
and Anna, etc.,
etc.,
because she knows who he is. She trusts. She believes. And she knows
it is important for the world to know that. She even encourages him
to do his first miracle, at the wedding in Cana.
Just
as Joseph's
life was changed by his encounter with the angel – by getting on
and doing what God had called him to do, despite the social stigma it
would bring, despite the danger, the challenge, the cost to his own
ego... ours can be changed too. Jesus
ends the Sermon on the Mount by saying “Not everyone who says to me
'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who
does the will of my
Father in heaven (Matthew
7:21).
Paul
also challenges
us, in his letter to the
Romans, declaring our Lord
is the one “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to
bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the
sake of his name; including ourselves who are called to belong to
Jesus Christ.”
Dare
we let Mary's story
inspire us to let Jesus in, completely in, to let him turn our lives
upside down, and to share him with those around us? Dare
we let Joseph's story inspire us to go out on a limb for Jesus, to
put ourselves in a counter-cultural, vulnerable place for He who came
into this world to save us?
Christmas
doesn't end with the birth of Jesus – it begins. Christmas starts
with Christ. Are we ready,
really ready, for Christmas..?
