Dial 'F' for Fear

This was my sermon for St. Andrew's evening service last Sunday (27th April). The readings were Daniel 6:1-23  & Mark 15:42-16:8.

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Right, your starter for ten... who said “the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself”?

(That's right) Franklin D. Roosevelt, at his inauguration as the 32nd President of the United States, on Saturday March 4, 1933. FDR took swore his oath with his hand on his family Bible, which was opened to 1 Corinthians 13. Interestingly it remains the oldest Bible ever used in an inaugural ceremony, published in 1686, and was written in Dutch. Roosevelt came to power while the USA was in the grip of the Great Depression, which he himself blamed on bankers and financiers, the quest for profit, and the self-interest basis of capitalism (sound familiar?) He brought about a major realignment of American politics, as well as instituting unprecedented programs for relief, recovery and reform.

But this isn't a lecture in American politics. Yet fear is a motif in both our Old and New Testament passages this evening. The last line of Mark's gospel – as any of the text after 16:8 is most likely written by a different author looking to tie up the loose ends of Mark's account – tells us “terror and amazement” seized the two Marys and Salome; so much so that “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

Mark's knack of portraying the very human failings of the ordinary men & women who were the first followers of Jesus thus continues right to the end of his Gospel. If we look through the book as a whole the lack of faith, the propensity to misunderstand, the fear and confusion of the disciples is laid out for all to see, and given it is believed by some that the source for Mark's information was Peter himself, it's almost comforting to see this is what the disciples interaction with Jesus was like. To think that Mark doesn't hide the fact that these followers, who had been with Jesus for such a long time, had remained to the point of his death and beyond, disobeyed a direct instruction from what appeared to be an angel maybe makes some of our failings seem less terrible.

Then again, they would have had good reason to be afraid. The body was missing – the authorities would not be happy, especially if they started telling people Jesus wasn't really dead! And now the religious leaders had shown they weren't beyond killing off the odd troublemaker, on false charges, for deviating from their view of God, it would be their lives on the line. Does that possibly put some of our fears over talking about our faith into perspective?

Our Old Testament passage gives a different take on this. Daniel knows that praying to anybody or anything except the king is a death sentence. Yet he openly continues to pray, three times a day, knowing full well he will be seen & condemned. He sees his commitment to God as more valuable than his own life, and refuses to hide his faith, even to the point of death. Obviously in this case it works out for the best – Daniel survives, his persecutors are punished and King Darius makes a decree that all his subjects should “tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.”

Fortunately for us we are not in the same danger as Daniel or the three women at the tomb. In Britain, however uncomfortable it can feel to identify ourselves as a Christian we do not live in fear of our lives for proclaiming Christ as Lord & saviour. This week we have seen this in action. The Prime Minister makes a public statement on his view of the faith of this country, and his own personal beliefs. Some others disagree with him – so they write a letter saying they think he's wrong, and the press debate it for a week.

In contrast, in the Central African Republic this week alone two priests were killed, four others briefly detained and a number of villages were attacked by ex-Seleka fighters. In Syria, a Christian school was bombed.

Hanna, a Christian living in Damascus, explains:

“There is a Christian school, a private one. We know a lot of people in that school, some children from our area also go to school there. Yesterday, when those kids went to school, gathered at the square like they always do, a mortar fell in their midst. Some friends passed by the school and saw how parents and teachers were carrying their wounded children out of the school, dripping with blood. How they were running to the hospitals in panic. For me, as a mother and a teacher, I can hardly bear to imagine what these people must be going through right now. Twelve people lost their lives in that school yesterday, most of them children from the elementary school. Many more of them have lost arms and legs or have other injuries.”

How do we respond to stories like this – and we must, as these are our brothers and sister. Our friend FDR explained the 'fear' he was talking about – the “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes...” Do we feel, like the women at Jesus tomb, paralyzed by the enormity of the task? Are we scared that we cannot do anything to help those being persecuted, or that we won't be able to explain how we can believe a Jewish man who died a criminal's death almost 2000 years ago can make a difference to our lives today!

Yet the women did pass on the message, eventually – the other gospels point to this, and without the news of Jesus resurrection we would not be sitting here today. The task is enormous, but Daniel shows us the way to approach any impossible task – prayer. Constant, unceasing prayer. Prayers of thanks for the comparative safety of our lives, prayers for the world leaders who have the ability to make a difference in these situations, prayers for the individuals suffering daily. To help with this, I've got a copy of the charity Open Doors World Watch List for you to take away. (See below) Read it, use it in your prayer time, and come back and talk to me if you want to know more.

Sometimes prayer is hard – sometimes all we can do is turn up & say “Lord, help me to want to pray!” And prayer can be scary, as it's a conversation, and you never know what God's going to say. But I know prayer makes a difference – you only have to look at the last few months of my life to see that. Daniel knew prayer made a difference, and was unashamed of it. So let us pray for those who are persecuted for their faith, and for those leaders who have the power to make the difference in these situations. Let us pray that David Cameron will put his recently declared faith into practice in his party's policies, so that Archbishop Justin's remarks that "even as the economy improves, there is weeping in broken families, in people ashamed to seek help from food banks, or frightened by debt" – that crippling fear again - will become a footnote in the history of our country.

1 John 4:18 tells us “perfect love casts out all fear.” We are privileged to have access to the source of that love – so my prayer is that we all can find the courage to live like Daniel, glorify the Father like Daniel, and show the whole world that great Easter gift of perfect love – in the name of Jesus Christ who lived, died and rose again for the whole world, including me & you, and through the power of the Holy Spirit who moves in us & through us. Amen.

 

 

That sinking feeling...

This is the sermon I preached at last night's Tuesday of Holy Week Eucharist. The readings were Isaiah 49:1-7, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 and John 12:20-36.

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There is an oft-told story of a clergyman who decided to go on a sailing trip. After a few days on the high seas he ran into trouble – a massive storm swirled about him, and before he knew it his ship was struck by a huge wave, and he lost consciousness. He awoke to find he was floating on a small piece of wreckage, adrift in the ocean, utterly alone & helpless. 

    “Lord, I have dedicated my life to your service,” he prayed.  

    “Please save me!”

Just then, a sailing boat, about the same size as his had been, came into view.

    “Climb up!” cried the lady on board.

    “No, it's ok,” said the clergyman, “the Lord will save me!”

An hour later, a large ship appeared alongside him.
    “I'll throw you a rope and pull you up” called the captain.
    “No thanks,” came the reply, “the Lord will save me!”
Two hours later, now suffering from severe exhaustion, the sound of rotors caught the clergyman's attention. A helicopter hovered overhead, and the pilot hailed him.
    “Don't worry, I'll send down the winch.”
    “No, it's fine, the Lord will save me!”
Finally, the clergyman could hold on no longer, slipped beneath the waves and was drowned. Standing at the pearly gates, he was furious.
    “I gave you all I had in that life, why didn't you save me!” he fumed.
    “What do you mean?” replied God, “I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you want!!”

Ok, so it's a bad joke. But sometimes, if we're honest, we can feel a bit like our hapless clergyman. If God wanted to be heard, why can't he just speak to me directly – really get my attention, instead of making me guess at the ordinary being symbolic. However, in our gospel reading, God does just that – and we see a similar and equally human response to that of the clergyman - they turn the exceptional into the mundane.

Jesus has just made his triumphal entrance into Jerusalem; the crowd who saw him raise Lazarus from the dead are following Him, and the Pharisees even remark “the whole world has gone after Him!” – confirmed when Greeks turn up to see Him. Then He begins to talk about how He is to die – hard to grasp things that don’t fit in with the people’s ideas of the coming messiah, or even a great rebel leader.

Finally He gives glory to His Father and, suddenly, the voice of God rings out, affirming Jesus and His mission. Imagine this for a moment – a voice from heaven, declaring the words of this man to be true. They all turned up to see a miracle, and now one has occurred…

BUT it isn’t the miracle they wanted, a spectacular feat they can gasp at – so they pretend it didn’t happen. “Its just thunder!”

Do we ever find ourselves dismissing events that don’t fit our own agenda? Do we miss the miraculous occurrences, those out-of-the-blue moments as we don’t like what we hear, or are too preoccupied with what we think should be happening? Do we close our eyes to the possibility God is speaking to us?

We can run the risk of doing the same with the story of Jesus' passion – we know the narrative so well we can almost skip through it, let the pain and the blood and the nails pass us by as we anticipate the joy, the celebration, the chocolate of Easter day. The miraculous happens right before our eyes – the Christ is crucified, the dead man rises – yet we miss it in the rush. And as Paul tells the church in Corinth, and continues to tell us today, this truly is the key to the whole story. Paul was an expert Jew; his persecution of the church was motivated by his Pharisaic conviction that, by definition, a Messiah who suffered death must be an impostor; something not just confirmed by his being found guilty by the authorities but, seen through Deuteronomy 21:23, confirmed by God - “anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse.”

But Paul’s conversion experience revolutionised his religious convictions. His descriptions of life in Christ radically reinterprets the tradition of the sacrificial death of Christ by reversing the very conviction we just mentioned, speaking of Jesus' death not as God’s curse but the redemptive centre of God’s judgement and love for a lost world.

The phrase “…but we proclaim Christ crucified…” from 1 Corinthians 1:23 should possibly be translated either “a Christ crucified” or “a crucified Christ,” as to translate simply “Christ crucified” seems to lose some of the force of the point Paul is making. To put his words in their original context, if “wisdom” conjured up ideas of achievement, success, and the path to honour and esteem in the 1^st century traditions, the cross of Christ would be seen as it’s polar opposite. To renounce all power of your own and to place your trust in the action of 'an Other' is contrary to all that the “Greeks” or gentiles understood about the path to success, making it foolish indeed. Similarly, if “signs” are understood to mean a reversal of Jewish political fortunes a humiliated Messiah would certainly be a huge stumbling block.

So Paul is addressing both Jews and gentiles on the equal footing of them both being self-styled ‘critics.’ However, to those Jews and Greeks who have been called, he says, the cross of Christ is the thing which conveys God’s strength and wisdom. Paul reminds them that God’s foolish wisdom has been demonstrated in their own experience, as they have embraced the gospel solely on the basis of God’s call, not due to their own intellect, power or status. In fact, Christ has become for them their “wisdom from God” and, underpinned with a quote from Jeremiah 9:22-23, their boast may now only be in the Lord.

The death and resurrection of Jesus are absolutely basic to Paul’s faith. His whole letter to the Corinthians is written as a means of helping them to understand the ‘foolish wisdom’ of the cross. Failure to grasp this absurd gospel, this story of a crucified criminal, appears to lay at the heart of the problems in Corinth, where Paul’s converts had not begun to see that good news based on a cross carried certain implications about their own lifestyle. You see, to keep your social standing in Corinthian society you had to participate fully in the main communication methods of the day, which involved sacrificial meals. Therefore, to be seen as an “atheist” or “impious,” by rejecting meat that may have been sacrificed to idols, could lead to rejection and loss of standing.

One reason the Corinthian church didn't receive the social exclusion experienced by its sister church in Thessalonica was possibly because the leading converts deliberately “played down” the offensiveness of their faith. But their failings gave Paul the opportunity to expand on the tradition he had left with them, and proclaim that those who accept this “shameful” gospel, and who are willing to identify themselves with Christ’s crucifixion and dishonour will receive, not earthly reward, but the promise of “strength that works through weakness and the joy that transforms pain.” Sharing in the death and resurrection of Christ is all part of Paul’s understanding of Jesus solidarity with humanity. Although the members of the Corinthian church continue to share in the weakness of Adam in this life, Paul maintains that, on the last day, they will exchange the likeness of Adam for the likeness of Christ.

But this is not just a historical document – Paul's words, inspired by his knowledge of God's kingdom, speak just as much to us today. How easy is it in our ever-so clever post modern society to keep quiet about our foolish faith, under the onslaught of the 'wisdom' of the age, the continuous stream of self-help, self-reliance, insular me-ness that we are told is the only way to get ahead.

How much safer, simpler, more sensible, to blend into the crowd like a chameleon instead of challenging the norms of our society. And I'm not really talking about those issues the media claim we as Christians are only interested in – fighting about what women & homosexuals can or can't do – but what Christians should be interested in – things like giving a voice to those trapped in poverty, those marginalised by virtue of where they were born, those kept downtrodden to maximise the profits of those who already have more than they could ever need. This is part of the call in the passage from Isaiah, the messianic figure being “a light to the nations, that [God's] salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

And the people who followed Jesus in our Gospel reading were drawn to His light – indeed, he declares Himself to be the light after the voice has spoken, and in John 8:12 He declares He is “the light of the world.” Yet they were put off by His message, even the miraculous affirmation, as it didn’t fit.

You see, when we experience the light, we are also challenged to show that light to others. To show this sacrificial, life-changing, world altering love to all we meet, even to those who we don't know! Yet too often we ‘hide our light under a bushel’ when we need to let God’s presence shine out from us! We can dismiss the everyday miracles instead of seeking God’s word through them. Those small acts, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that can add up to a big difference. Of course, if we let the light shine out, we need to be willing to back it up by listening to God’s word for those around us – allowing the prompting of the Spirit to illuminate the lives of others.

And that's the challenge for us tonight, this week, this year – are we willing to put ourselves in the position of the three others in the story of the clergyman – the sailor, the ship's captain & the helicopter pilot – and go where the Holy Spirit leads us to save those adrift in this world. The church isn't a rest home for saints – it's a lifeboat for sinners. Our job is to get people into the lifeboat, and then let the light of Jesus guide us all safely home. Yes, this path is costly - it needs work, and time spent in prayer and reading the scriptures, to have a hope of getting anywhere – but compared to the price Jesus paid to give us the chance, I think we can cope. And that is perhaps the greatest of the everyday miracles – we have the gift, the ability, to spend time with the architect of our faith, God's own Son Jesus Christ, who lived and died and rose again for each of us in here tonight, and for every single person out there too. We can talk with Him, read with Him, allow Him to help us. Such simple things, so easy to take for granted, yet truly miraculous and life changing. God does want to speak to us – and wants to speak through us. We just have to watch, listen, and follow the light.

Book Review: Lost Sons

If like me you enjoy reading, then be warned – you will get through this book far too quickly!

Anybody who has come across Michael Sadgrove's previous titles, or indeed his blog, knows he has a gift for crafting eloquent, flowing work, and Lost Sons is no exception.

The book focuses on male characters of the first two books of the Pentateuch, exploring the relationships between fathers and sons (and in some cases, brothers) and skilfully using them to give an insight into the passion of Jesus.

 

The first thing that strikes you is it is an unashamedly male book. This should not put you off – as Michael's publisher notes, “women as well as men are genuinely interested in 'masculinities' and the relationships men have with one another.” One charge that has been levelled at me in the past is Christianity, and Jesus himself, have been “feminised” over the years, focusing on “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” and hurriedly brushing over the more masculine aspects of his life – the physicality of his profession before his three years of ministry, the fire with which he spoke of the kingdom and challenged the authorities, the turning over of the tables in the temple, his sharp response to Peter when he tried to talk him out of following God's plan, etc. This book looks unflinchingly at male relationships in a patriarchal society, and speaks strongly into the lives of those of us who are sons and fathers. The relationships discussed are dysfunctional, challenging, and will strike a chord with many male readers – speaking into our own “passion narratives” and challenging us to honestly reflect on life as a male in the 21^st Century. However, I believe they will also speak to those mothers and daughters who watch, love and ultimately walk alongside the men in their lives, offering good insight into the male psyche without straying into self-help, “Men are from Mars” territory, as well as offering plenty to reflect on in their own lives and relationships.

Each section has a theme related to the life of the man in question – The Cursed Son: Abel, The Bound Son: Ishmael, etc. – and, in their own right, each gives a wonderful insight into the context of the tale in the Hebrew Bible, and leads the reader to ponder what meaning the stories were intended to convey to their original audience. More than this, however, Michael skilfully draws out the parallels between each of these lost sons and the lost Son, Jesus himself. “Was there ever a child as lost as Jesus?” he asks.

As I cantered through this book, I found at every turn a phrase, a reflection, that struck chords with my experiences of manhood, of sonship, and of being a father. Some ran deeper than others, but in each was the realisation that, as the incarnate Son of God, Jesus had experienced these things too – and moreover had taken them to the cross with him on my behalf. This, for me, is one of the subtle keys to this book, gently suggested in the first introductory chapter:

“The child is a symbol and metaphor of the self. The lost child in story, poetry and art is

often an image of a lost part of ourselves.”

The chance to view not just these biblical characters but also the architect of our faith through the lens of 'lostness,' to be almost given permission to explore feelings and emotions attached to times of weakness, abandonment, heartbreak – those little-boy moments when we just want to cry out, the desperate-dad moments when all we want is to fix it but need to let go – helped me reflect on these key male relationships.

 

I should add these reflections were nuanced by the timing of my reading. In the midst of having our newborn daughter in hospital for major surgery I decided to read this while travelling back and forth to the RVI on the Metro, and finished it having moved in to the hospital to be with her. The impact this had on my 3 year old – my only son – was noticeable; his main source of male company, let alone his Daddy, was no longer around. He clung to me while I was there & broke his heart when I left, adding a depth of emotion to Michael's words. However, there was also comfort to be found,
particularly in the “Lost & Found” nature of Jesus in the final chapter.

This book will stand much re-reading and, despite Michael deliberately avoiding psychoanalysing the stories in question, the conclusions he draws from the text give an excellent framework for reflective thinking about our own condition as lost sons (and daughters) seeking to deepen, strengthen or re-establish a relationship with our eternal Father. I can also see the book making a very effective lent course for a men's group (he said with half an eye on next year).

Overall a well constructed, beautifully written and highly accessible book which I recommend most highly to all.

(For a peep inside, look it up on Amazon)

A thought for Fairtrade Fortnight

This was originally written as a piece for the February 2014 edition of the Monkwearmouth Parish magazine. Thought it was apt to share it today!
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For me, February has come to mean Fairtrade Fortnight. This year it runs from 24th February - 9th March, and I find it a good time to explore the principles of Fairtrade & ask some difficult questions of myself. Now some of you may feel the urge to immediately flip the page – you may think Fairtrade produce overpriced, or of poor quality, or just view it as not really any different from the other stuff on the shelves. You may feel that, if somebody has a job, they should be grateful. You may even believe that, as everything is so much cheaper in the developing world, the money they get goes a lot further – that they should try surviving in modern Britain on a low wage or pension!

If you do feel like that - I understand! All I ask is you please bear with me for a few more seconds.

 

You see, I know that for some reading this the cost of Fairtrade goods is a stretch too far – if you live off the Tesco value range, or only buy those goods that work out the cheapest through special offers or promotions, it becomes much harder to support or buy Fairtrade, as it is rarely the cheapest product on the shelf (though if you do spot it on offer, please take the chance – remember the story of the poor widow in the temple!¹) However, for the rest of us, who buy our favourite brand regardless of the price because we “only get an ooo with Typhoo” or whatever, then we can use our resources to support Fairtrade and make sure that the people working to bring us the goods we enjoy are not exploited.

A bit of context. After World War II the links between individual countries financial well-being & that of the world economy deepened as new technology, especially in transport and communication, opened up the world markets. People in the “Global North” - i.e. people like us - got used to cheaper, more abundant food, clothing and lifestyle products; but while our material wealth increased, so did the divide between the rich and poor. This led to what has been described as the “race to the bottom,” in which corporations looked around the world for the lowest cost human labour and set about “exploiting” them for profit. Fairtrade is rooted in the Christian response to this.

The theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez sees sin as “the ultimate cause of poverty, injustice, and the oppression in which persons live.”² He describes poverty as a “scandalous condition” in the Bible, and contrary to the will of God. Terms such as poor, weak, bent over and wretched are not only expressing degrading human situations in a descriptive manner, but are used as a form of protest; God taking a stand, made explicit in the “vigorous rejection of poverty.” Throughout the Bible the way poverty is described expresses God's indignation, as does the description of the cause of poverty: the injustice of the oppressors.³ Passages such as Job 24:2-14, Amos 2:6-7 and Isaiah 10:1-2 show this, alongside numerous Old Testament passages condemning fraudulent commerce and exploitation, the hoarding of the lands, corrupt courts, slavery and unjust governance. He also draws on the rules laid out in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, as well as passages from Exodus, to show God’s desire to avoid poverty becoming established among his people.⁴

Some of you may recall a talk I did on James 5:1-6 at Harvest time. In it I noted that for us, here in 21st century Sunderland, it is easy to skate over this kind of passage. We may not think of ourselves as rich, and probably don’t think of ourselves as people who hoard up gold and silver. But perhaps there is a challenge to all of us here that we need to take seriously.

For us, the fact James was writing to Christians, rather than godless, ‘evil’ people, is important. We may not think that we exploit, condemn and murder people, but if our choices support a system that does, then James appears to argue that we are implicated. Whenever we buy basic products like tea, coffee or chocolate that are not fairly traded, in a sense we have colluded with, and contributed to, unfair payment of workers and – in some cases - child slavery. In James' eyes, this isn't an option for a follower of Christ. For him, to turn a blind eye to this shows support such regimes, and makes us as bad as the rich oppressors.

The Fairtrade movement gives us Christians a framework to explore the concept that being poor is “a way of living, thinking, loving, praying, believing, and hoping, spending leisure time, and struggling for a livelihood.”⁵ Looking at scripture from the point of view of the oppressed gives weight to Fairtrade principles such as the “development of people to achieve their God-given potential…the fair and equal treatment of women and men” and the desire to “protect the interests of children.”⁶

So, however rich or poor we feel today, we are called to live in solidarity with our brothers and sisters across the world – to show “the free and unmerited love of God for every human being and especially the poor and forgotten…a key element in the message of Jesus.”⁷ Don' forget, the Bible has over 250 verses speaking on the proper use of wealth, and over 300 highlighting the response God requires from His people towards poverty and injustice (compared to, for example, less than half a dozen talking about the supposedly 'big' issue of homosexuality!)

I know how generous the people of this Parish are. As I said in the opening piece to this magazine my family & I have experienced this generosity first-hand over the last couple of months. So what I'm saying here isn't a hard message to hear – you could say I'm preaching to the converted! It's really just an encouragement to use the choice many of us have about how we spend our money.

The ultimate goal is for all trade to be fair trade – but this won't happen unless average people like us show we'll choose products that are fairly traded over ones that aren't.

So next time you’re doing your shopping, and especially over Fairtrade Fortnight, could you to take a few extra moments to consider the workers who have made the products you’re buying. Maybe use the time to prepare for Lent, which begins on the Fortnight's final day? Instead of giving up something, why not try swapping it for a Fairtrade alternative?

Are we brave enough to sacrifice a little more of our comfort to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God?⁸

1 Mark 12:41-44, Luke 21:1-4

2 This quote is from Gustavo Gutiérrez in his book “A Theology of Liberation,” (SCM 2001) P74

3 See “A Theology of Liberation,” P258

4 For example Deuteronomy 24:19-21, Leviticus 23:22, Exodus 23:11, etc. See “A Theology of Liberation,” P260

5 Quoted from “A Theology of Liberation,” P11

6 See http://www.traidcraft.co.uk/about_traidcraft/what_makes_us_different/principles

7 Quoted from Gustavo Gutiérrez, “On Job: God-talk and the suffering of the innocent,” (Orbis Books 1987) Pxiii

8 Micah 6:8

Christmas Presence

Here's an (attempted) written version of the all-age talk I gave during the Christmas Day Eucharist at St. Andrew's. It was a bit looser & more ad-libbed than this, but the key message was the same...

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Who managed to open their presents before coming to church this morning? Did you get anything nice? Well, I didn't get the chance, so I brought mine with me – would you mind if I opened them now?

This ones nice & big! It's... a jumper & hat.

Hmm. I try to get excited by clothes...

Well, onto the second one. The label says “Merry Christmas – thought this would help you clean up your act!” It's...shower gel! I'm always a bit worried if I get this kind of things - are they trying to tell me something?!

Ah, last one – and it's such an unusual shape! I wonder what it is...a torch! Is this some kind of wind-up? Oh, here's a handle – it's a wind-up torch...!

Do you ever feel like the presents are more exciting when you don't know what they are? Don't get me wrong, these are great presents & I'm very grateful for them, but when they were wrapped up& hidden they held so much mystery & promise, and now I know what they are that's all gone.

I wonder how the shepherds felt when, after all the excitement of the angels appearing and filling the sky, they got to the stable? Maybe they had in their mind the kind of nativity scene we've seen around us over the last few weeks (or months) – glowing halos, a fluorescent, radioactive glowing baby, more angels? Instead, its likely they a very ordinary young couple: travellers, homeless, relying on the generosity of others to have a roof over their head, huddled together with a very ordinary looking little baby...

Perhaps they were disappointed at first glance. The wrapper had come off, but the gift seemed so much less exciting. And yet, when they saw the family, “they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.”¹ The true worth of the gift of Jesus was not the outside appearance, but what his birth meant – and still means. God with us. The promised saviour is here!

The gifts I just unwrapped might not look exciting, but what do they represent. Maybe the hat reminds me of Jesus with me in my thoughts – his Spirit guiding my prayers – his comfort and his peace when I need him most?

The jumper could be Jesus in my heart, helping me to love the stranger, the poor, the refugee, the homeless – people existing just as Jesus did in his own life, on the margins of society.

The torch could remind me Jesus the light of the world, a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. This one never runs out of power, you just keep winding it – Jesus light shines for ever!

And the shower gel...well, maybe this reminds me that Jesus would go on to die on the cross for me, and for you, to wash us clean from our sins “not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”²

The best present any of us have got this Christmas is Jesus. His love is a gift for today, tomorrow and the rest of our lives. We shouldn't just clear him away with the left-over turkey, or pack him up with the baubles until next year. He is willing to be with us every day, not just at Christmas – and that's a gift that money can't buy.

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1Luke 2:17-18

2Titus 3:5

♪ ♫ So here it is... ♫ ♪

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..?

Tomorrow's Sunday

Here's my debut article for the Sunderland Echo's 'Tomorrow's Sunday' column - published 14th December 2013.
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Tomorrow is the Third Sunday of Advent, and many churches will be lighting a pink (or rose) coloured candle on their wreath. This candle always stands out against the dark, penitential purple candles in the other three spaces, drawing the eye when the whole is unlit. This is only right, as traditionally the third candle represents Joy – Joy that we are now closer to Christmas, Joy at the impending celebrations of the birth of Jesus, Joy that the wait will soon be over.

However, amongst all the busyness and stress that our commercialised Christmas now carries with it, it can be hard to find that Joy, let alone time to appreciate it. We get so weighed down by the pressure to make Christmas 'perfect' that we miss the point; so concerned with buying things to show we care we fail to show the people around us how much we value them.

So this Sunday, why not take a few moments to stop, draw breath and be still? Maybe pray if you can? Look around at what you have achieved, the stuff you have accumulated and ask if you really need to do more. Allow yourself to be thankful for what you have, and pray for those who are less fortunate. Then help your friends and loved ones do the same. Like the rose candle blazing in the darkness that surrounds it, let the love of Christ fill your heart with his joy, and his peace, as you prepare to celebrate the most special of birthdays.