40 Days and 40 Nights

Sermon

Lent 1

Year C

We are off to a flying start on this the first Sunday of Lent.

The readings today remind us that as Christians we are a nomadic people.  We wander around in the wilderness trying to see what God wants of us, and how we can better understand him and his plan for us.  For some of us that means physically moving, but for all of us, it means questioning and challenging, finding new ways of being.

After his baptism in the River Jordan, Jesus goes off to the wilderness to get his head straight and to prepare for the work that would need to be done –and I think this is the pattern for us all.

The inhabited part of Judea at the time stood on the central plateau which was the backbone of southern Palestine; between it and the Dead Sea stretched a terrible wilderness some thirty-five miles across by fifteen miles, it was called JESHIMMON which means the devastation.  The limestone desert swoops 1,200 feet down to the sea, very little grows there, it is covered in jagged rocks.  This is where Jesus was taken to be tempted, this was his wilderness.

I’ve thought a lot about this part of the Gospel, it must be one of the most important and sacred parts of the Bible.  In Luke’s version, we heard today, it says Jesus full of the Holy Spirit was led into the wilderness.  In Mark, as usual, the words bring a more dramatic effect, we are told Jesus was driven into the wilderness, to start 40 days of fasting, prayer, loneliness and temptation.

This account is important because, I assume, the account would have been given to the disciples directly from the Jesus himself, and if this weren’t enough, it speaks to us on a different level, it plays into our imagination and our deepest needs and desires.  We all need to find some peace sometimes, to be in a place that helps us be with God, indeed that’s what Lent is all about, our creating a little bit of quiet wilderness for ourselves, where we can fast, reflect on life, read scriptures and pray.

A Whitbread Prize shortlisted book from a decade or so ago was Quarantine, written by Jim Crace.  He retells the story in a very different way.  Along with the dialogue of Jesus, the narrative sees him as a bit of an outsider at the beginning of his ministry. 

A religious visionary, but a bit of a loner and a drifter, turning his back on the traditions and ways of the day and heading out into the Judean desert for a 40 day retreat.

As Jesus takes to his cliff top cave, in the book, Crace describes Jesus praying out loud across the valley;

"The prayers were in command of him. He shouted out across the valley, happy with the noise he made. The common words lost hold of sound. The consonants collapsed. He called on god to join him in the cave with all the noises that his lips could make. He called with all the voices in his throat."

Crace, goes on to describe the temptations, all visited upon him by humans, and all bravely resisted with what can only be described as superhuman will.

In the Gospels, the order of the Temptations differ;

The FIRST temptation in LUKE’s gospel was to turn the limestone rocks into bread.  The temptation was not just for food at the time, but the question was being asked, would you bribe people with worldly things to follow you?  This is rejected by Jesus who quotes Deuteronomy “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”. 

The SECOND temptation was on a mountain from which all the civilized world could be seen, “worship me and all this will be yours”.  This is the temptation to compromise. “Don’t set your standards so high! Bargain with me; compromise with evil and you can do more good!”

Jesus had an answer, also from the Book of Deuteronomy “Worship the Lord your God and Serve only him”.  It is a constant temptation to win by compromise. 

In the THIRD temptation Jesus found himself on the pinnacle of the temple where the Royal porch and Solomon’s porch meet, there was a drop of some 450 feet, down to the Kedron valley below.  This was the temptation to give the people sensations.  Jesus quotes Deuteronomy again “Do not put your Lord God to the test”.  Jesus saw quite clearly that by producing wonders and sensations, he would lose integrity for the message that he was to bring.

BRIBERY, COMPROMISE or SENSATION; Jesus rejected these ways of control, these ways of exercising power and we should too. 

This challenge to Christ is also the challenge to the church, and it always has been.

When we are looking back at these events, where Christ walked the earth, the other important thing we should remember is, however compelling the stories in the Gospels are, they are for us to inform our acts and prayer today.  Not just good stories.

I think it’s a pity that churches aren’t historical reenactment societies, like those people who dress up and relive Civil Wars. 

It would be so much easier to just turn up, dress up and say a few words and go home. 

However, the truth of the matter is that we are called to be the church in the here and now, building on the past, but looking to the future, we are the living Church of God, here in the centre of this community.

That means we need to listen to God, listen to the people around us, and to reflect the outrageous love of God that permeates all things, and cannot be stopped.

I’m looking forward to the future of the church, debates about women bishops, same sex marriages in church and the dozens of other things that need to be discussed.  It will be a sign that we are the church of the future.

God is challenging us to engage with the world and answer with love.  During Lent, think about your lives with God, think about how he speaks to you, and think about the person who will emerge from your own wilderness, ready to take Christ to the world.

May God be with you on your Lenten journey.

Let us pray.

As the days lengthen and the earth spends longer in the light of day, grant that we may spend longer in the light of your presence O Lord.

And may those seeds of your word, which have been long-buried within us, grow, like everything around us, into love for you, and love for people; to become a visible declaration of your lordship in our lives. 

Grant, father, that this Lent there may be a springtime for our life in Christ.  Through the very same, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  AMEN

Perseverance, Prophesy and Perception

A vicar was walking down the street when he saw a group of about a dozen boys, all of them between 10 and 12 years of age.

The group had surrounded a dog, and he was worried they were going to hurt it. "What are you doing with that dog?"

One of the boys replied, "This dog is just an old neighborhood stray. We all want him, but only one of us can take him home. So we've decided that whichever one of us can tell the biggest lie will get to keep the dog."

Of course, the reverend was taken aback. "You boys shouldn't be having a contest telling lies!" he exclaimed. He then launched into a ten minute sermon against lying, beginning, "Don't you boys know it's a sin to lie," and ending with, "Why, when I was your age, I never told a lie."

The vicar stopped and got his breath, then the smallest boy gave a deep sigh and said, "All right, give him the dog."

Today is Candlemas (which is traditionally held on the 2^nd February or closest Sunday) and is one of the twelve great feast days of the Christian calendar.  In the Eastern church, this festival is called the Hypapante, literally meaning The Meeting in Greek.

Although in some churches candles are lit, the Candlemas name really refers to the practice of the Priest blessing the candles for the year, on the day.  It is also the day that the Christmas greenery from the church is taken down and the nativity set is put away for another year.

In Robert Herrick’s poem “Ceremony on Candlemas Eve” he writes;

“Down with the rosemary and so,

Down wit the bays and mistletoe;

Down with the holly, ivy, all

Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas Hall”

So that’s the tradition!  What about the readings?  Well…

The Gospel reading for the day describes the event 40 days after the birth of Jesus, and was to complete Mary’s purification after childbirth and to perform the ‘redemption of the firstborn’, in obedience to the Law of Moses in Leviticus and Exodus.

Mary and Joseph brought their son, and two turtle doves for the sacrifice (which is what the poor did), because they could not afford a lamb, to the temple.

There they met Simeon, whom God had promised that he “should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord." (Luke 2:26)

He then prayed the prayer that would become known as the Nunc Dimittis, or Canticle of Simeon, which was a prophesy of the redemption of the world by Jesus:

"Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel." (Luke 2:29-32).
Simeon then had a prophecy for Mary: "This child is set for the fall and rising again of many; and for a sign which shall be spoken against, and a sword shall pierce your own soul too—that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35).
The elderly prophetess Anna was there too, to tell all present that the child would be responsible for the salvation of all.
I bet Mary said to Joseph “it’s like Christmas all over again!” as they are being told things about their baby.  Prophecies that have taken a lifetime to deliver, prophesies that are awesome and scary at the same time.  In the temple, surrounded by the trappings of their faith.  What a picture!
It’s a great picture – where we hear the account of the prophesies fulfilled in the temple.  But that isn’t where it ends.  In this triumph of love, this is where the work of the Kingdom starts, however  it doesn’t remain within the walls of the temple – it eventually takes to the streets – taking that reality of the prophesies fulfilled to the people – though the work of Jesus and his Disciples.
Today, however, the lesson is not from the actions of Jesus, or his Disciples, it is in the person of Simeon and his actions.
Firstly, he is a man of perseverance.  The Gospel tells us that

“It had been revealed to (Simeon) by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ”

As the years passed, it would have been easy for him to give up, but he didn’t.  The sense that we are playing the long game, is quite alien to our culture today.  People demand quick rewards, but persistence and perseverance are important attributes that the church needs today more than ever.  It is always worth the wait!
Secondly, Simeon had perception.  His time spent waiting meant he was able to see what was unfolding before him, he was close to God.  After all, the reading tells us that “moved by the Spirit” he entered the Temple Courts.  Perception comes from prayer and with that he walked closely with God. 
Not any particular prayer, not any particular way of praying, but the sense that we can throw all our uncertainties, our concerns and our confusions up in the air, and somehow, as they fall back down, God will have put them into some sort of order for us.
I believe that as he held the Messiah in his arms, the child for whom he had been waiting, he knew, he knew that God’s purpose had been fulfilled, and full of perception he said;

Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace; according to thy word.  For mine own eyes have seen thy salvation….

Maybe not in the beautiful words of the Book of Common Prayer.
Thirdly, Simeon was a man of prophesy.    He not only recognised the Messiah, he recognised his role too;

Which thou hast prepared in the sight of all people, A light to reveal you to the nations and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

This ran counter to the Jewish expectations of the Messiah, but Simeon delivered his prophesy anyway.  The shocking prophesy that the Christ was to be the Glory of the Jewish people, but also a light to reveal God to the nations!  Gentiles too?!?  Yes Gentiles too, you and me.
In the tradition of the Old Testament Prophets, Simeon’s message was shocking and devastating.  Knowing this, he told them that he was well aware that this would be a problem for many, saying;

This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed”.

The Advent of the Messiah wasn’t going to be without difficulties for many. 
The end of the prophesy is not painless, as he turns to Mary, Mother of Jesus and says,
       “And a sword will pierce your own soul too”
Today, Candlemas, is the turning point from Christmas to Easter and we move from Incarnation to Atonement.  We, like Mary, are being prepared for the journey to the cross through Lent.
It is also half way between the winter solstice and spring equinox, half the winter is over (although you wouldn’t have thought that) and the days are getting lighter.  It is a day to change pace.
Finally, Simeon is, watching the Holy family leave the temple.  God has kept his word, and this man of Perseverence, perception, prophesy can rest.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Epiphany 4

27th January 2013

The game rock, paper, scissors is also known as roshambo, it dates back to the late nineteenth century Japan in its’ present form, however there are much earlier versions, with evidence of them dating back to the Han Dynasty, 200BC to 200AD.

The game is often used as a random way of selecting something.  A bit like flipping coins or drawing straws. Two people face each other, and they put a hand behind their back as a clenched fist, they count to three, and they randomly make the shape of a rock, paper or scissors.

Paper beats rock, scissors beats paper and rock beats scissors.

If both people choose the same item, no one wins, and the hand, as it were, is replayed.

There is a World Championship, held every year, and a UK and US tournament too, and to my mind, it is the most curious, strange game ever!

I say the game is one of the most curious because there none of the items are seen as better than the others, but each is used in a different way for a variety of purposes.  We need them all.

The other curious thing about the game is that it is or appears to be really quite random.  There are people who play in the championships that suggest that you can learn to spot non-random behaviour, but on the face of it, no hand is better than another, and the whole scheme is difficult to change, and impossible to predict.

At the 1030 service, I am going to attempt to play it with the congregation at our family Holy Eucharist, because it perfectly makes a point that needs to be made about the theme of the readings today.

Human beings are not all the same either, but all of us are vital for the good of the whole.  We can neither exist nor function without each other.

John Donne, the English poet, satirist, lawyer and cleric reminded people in his Meditation XVII that “…no man is an island”.  Written shortly after joining the Anglican Church, he explores the interdependence of all the faithful.  He continues in this very meditation to write;

“... any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee..”

In his search for what he called True Religion, Donne had finally determined that we all have a place, we are all unique, and we are all equal.

Rock, paper, scissors

In his first letter to the Church at Corinth, written about 54 AD, St. Paul is writing of his belief that we are all equal and part of the whole.

“Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of one body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in the Spirit we were all baptised into one body.”

He goes on to use the analogy of hands, eyes, ears and feet, being all part of a body.

He expands on this by saying that the parts of the body that seem weakest, are in fact, indispensible.  He also reminds us that all parts of the body have a purpose.

The First Letter to the Church at Corinth really does set the standard for how we think about Christian Community, how we value others and how we understand the tasks.

Alongside the image of the body and the equal parts, St. Paul also uses the phrases.

"all things to all men" (9:22), "through a glass, darkly" (13:12), and "when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child" (13:11).  Indeed at the end of this passage 1 Corinthians 13 starts, which includes the haunting and deeply reflective phrase.

"without love, I am nothing"

These images, and the teaching that goes with it, are critical for a church like ours.  We all have gifts, we all have roles and we all have a task to play in the future as we seek to grow and change.

We use what we have not for ourselves, but to contribute to the good of others.  Whoever they may be, however different they are to us, they are equal and part of the whole…an indispensible part of the body.

When St. Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus, to the Corinthians (mainly Greeks) he had converted to the faith in the two years he stayed with them on his first missionary journey.

He knew that Corinth was a sort of intersection between Asia and Western Europe, and there was trouble!  Many nationalities passed through the region and with them they brought their polytheistic and local beliefs.  The people of the Corinthian church were all too happy to slip back to their old ways, so St. Paul is writing to remind them to keep their eyes on the prize.

Encouraging them to be imitators of Christ, he reminds them of their tasks, their uniqueness, and their value in the sight of God.

Rock, paper, scissors

Perhaps we can take a few moments in silence to think about that…and we will follow with a short reflection;

We pause to be conscious of that which makes each of us unique 



The colour of our eyes and hair and skin.

Our height and build.

The face that is ours alone.


The inner self that no-one else knows.



The abilities and disabilities that give us our potential
to create and grow as no-one else can.



The place where we live - the town or the city
the village, coast or countryside - that helps to make us
who we are.



Our interests and hobbies; our taste in music, books or fashion;
our likes and dislikes - all the things that add up to who we are.



Let us give thanks for who we are -
As individuals, each one unique in all humankind.


As humankind, where our individuality contributes to the whole.


Let us respect and celebrate our own uniqueness, and each other's too.  AMEN

A burning torch and a good party

Sermon

20^th January 2013

Epiphany 3

Year C

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.”

As I sat looking out of the window, beholding the snowy wilderness of Cyncoed Road, I couldn’t help thinking how great these words are.  I actually wanted to shout them out loud! 

What a fantastic sentence for all occasions.  You could use it when you are sat on the bus, in the back pew at the deanery conference, whilst waiting for the cashier beeps your shopping through the till in Tesco.

Anywhere really!  We should start all meetings with the phrase, and we should have a burning torch on the top of the lychgate to remind us that our faith isn’t something that can be hidden, it shines as a light to the community around us.

I can see it now! 

It’s important to have hope as Christians, we need to fight against the apathy and the sense that whatever we do doesn’t make a difference…

A Pseudoscientist from Cardiff tells us that tomorrow is the most depressing day of the year.  The 21^st January 2013 is called Blue Monday apparently, when the weather, debt, time since Christmas and the failure of New Year’s Resolutions all converge to depress us all…

So perhaps this should be our ‘battlecry’ , like one of those ‘motivational’ sayings…”For Zion’s sake…”

So that even in the deepest depths of Winter, when we have little to look forward to in Church terms, no Christmas, just the quiet reflection of Lent, we can still light a torch for faith.

Each morning we wake a miracle has occurred – we have been given another day of life, to spend as we will.  To accompany this gift of life, God has given us individual skills and abilities that we can use for good.  What do we do?  What can we do that will be useful and efficient in the building of the Kingdom of God?

We have taken small steps, and things are good.  Our New Coffee and Cake Collective is serving the community and the city twice a week.  Morning prayer is growing (even shocking me) up to six or more people meet to pray for our church, our mission and the world – every weekday morning!  And this year, we’ve got plans to accompany all the other things we do so well.

So what do we light our burning torch with?  Well, just as we start our day here in prayer, we need to fire up our hope and imagination in God’s grace.

And to top it all, the Gospel reading is the one where Jesus performs his first recorded miracle – at the wedding feast in Galilee. 

The miracle is seen as the antitype of Moses’ first act of turning the River Nile to blood.  Christ is turning water to wine. Seen through John’s Gospel, because this is the only place it appears, it is seen as one of the seven miraculous ‘signs’ by which the divinity of Christ is revealed.

In many ways this seems quite a difficult miracle to understand – One commentator suggests that;

“It is easy to see the compassion behind some of the miracles such as making the blind see or the lame walk, but was there really any need to provide an abundance of wine at the wedding party?” 

I think you know what my answer to that particular theological question is.

If the miracles of Jesus were just performed in order to provide compassion, then the answer would certainly be no, but the miracles of Jesus are given for a much wider reason, and this reason appears at the end of the gospel reading this morning,

‘He (Jesus) let his glory be seen…’

The miracles are performed not to show off, not just to be kind and help the disadvantaged, but to show the power and glory of God.

Jesus is very much here to show us how God works.  “For Zion’s sake HE is not keeping silent.  For Jerusalem’s sake HE is not resting”.

I want to make just a few observations about this miracle and about miracles in general. The first is to recognise Jesus was at a party – often Christianity is portrayed as quite dull and boring, but I don’t think Jesus could ever have been described like this. He led an active life, and was obviously very popular. As a Church we are challenged to seek out the same sort of popularity, not through compromise with the standards of the world, but by displaying the kind of love and compassion that Jesus did for the world and for its entire people. 

As Christians we cannot shut ourselves away from the world – we are called to live in the world.   I don’t think, put on earth to hide ourselves away from society as Christians, but rather to mix it up with all, who may, through our words and actions, be led into a relationship with Jesus.

This is a long-winded way of saying that as Christians, we are called to Party lots!

My second observation about this miracle – Jesus turning the water used for the purification rites into wine (probably about 120 gallons) – is not just the link with the last supper or the Nile, but symbolic of the hugely overwhelming generosity of God, through the work of Jesus. 

The wedding party had already consumed the wine, and now Jesus gives them more than they can ever drink.  Not only did they have more than enough wine, but also they had a better quality wine than before. 

So, whenever we turn to Christ – (however useless and bad we have been) that doesn’t matter.  We will be rewarded richly, beyond all our expectations.  Our cup will not only be full, but overflowing.

If you were filing a report about the first recorded miracle of Jesus, you would put it under the heading of The importance of going to parties and the importance of generosity.

There is a third thing though.  This week is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Not to make us all the same, but to commit to work together, as different denominations.

The greatest mistake of Ecumenism has been that we have spent so much time working out what is acceptable to other traditions in terms of liturgy and order, that we forgot to go back to basics, to the first miracle, and reminds ourselves clearly what being a Christian is all about.

People go to different churches because they feel comfortable there.  Some people go to different churches because it is where they first felt God at work in their lives or for a hundred other reasons.

However the real test of Ecumenism, Unity and Faith is a lot easier to understand; I’ve got three easy questions for us all;

·    Are you are willing to respect with generosity the traditions of others?

·    Are you are willing to stand shoulder to shoulder in calling for a better world?

·    Do you like a party?

If you can say yes to all three, pass us the matches because we are lighting a burning torch for the Kingdom of God in this place.

“For Zion’s sake we will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake we will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.”      

What I actually preached at Midnight Mass

The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light.

It’s always better if you are an optimist!  If you can, and you must try hard, you must be the eternal optimist…

Now you’re thinking either…

1. Oh I don’t know about that!  He’s so unrealistic! Or

2. Oh, go on, I’ve had a few sherry’s today, I’m going to look on the bright side.

But, it’s Christmas!  And we are called to have hope, especially at Christmas…We are hearing the story a peoples journey with GOD, trusting that ONE DAY, God would put things right.  They were called to be a people of hope and not of despair!

And GOD brought it about in the most extraordinary way possible!  When his Son was born to a young woman in a far off land, in a stable indeed!…we all know the event, and because of that, we are called to have hope, we are called to live in the light and not in the darkness. 

The great reading we have at Midnight Mass, is obligatory each Christmas at one of the services, it is the prologue to John’s Gospel.  The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light.

It is presented in Greek, and is a mystical reflection on the divinity and incarnation of Christ. The Logos the Word Made Flesh and it is one of the most theologically significant passages in the Bible.  It begins and ends in eternity and has God interrupting our human history.

It tells of a light that has been lit in the darkness, a light that will never be extinguished.  It tells us to

·     Build on the foundations of the past. 

·     Look to the future with expectation, and

·     Live with hope in the present!

I can identify with the idea of Jesus bringing light to the darkest of places.  And just a few days after the shortest day midwinter, it is easy to take comfort from that image of Jesus being the light of the world.

At baptisms, as we pass over the candle to the godparents, or the newly baptised, we talk about Jesus the light of the world.  “Walk in the faith, and keep the flame of faith alive in your heart, so when the Lord comes again you may be ready to greet Him.”  These words are the commission for the newly baptised (and us all) not to have a private faith that is held in secret, not to run luke-warm with your faith, not to be a nominal Christian….but this is the call to light up the world with  Christian Hope and optimism.

Optimism!

JOKE

A family had twin boys whose only resemblance to each other was their looks. If one felt it was too hot, the other thought it was too cold. If one said the TV was too loud, the other claimed the volume needed to be turned up. Opposite in every way, one was an eternal optimist, the other a doom & gloom pessimist.

Just to see what would happen, at Christmas their father loaded the pessimist's room with every imaginable toy and game. The optimist's room he loaded with horse manure.

That morning the father passed by the pessimist's room and found him sitting amid his new gifts crying bitterly.

"Why are you crying?" the father asked.

"Because my friends will be jealous, I'll have to read all these instructions before I can do anything with this stuff, I'll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get broken." answered the pessimist twin.

Passing the optimist twin's room, the father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. "What are you so happy about?" he asked.

To which his optimist twin replied, "There's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"

Now that’s optimism – that is hope!

Well, Christmas Day is really the start of the New Year for me.  I like to think that we can start to think about what next year will bring, but also to thank God for all he has given us this year.

This year has been sad, as we have lost some really good people, who have gone to be with God, and we are building on their legacy here. 

But it has also been a year that I have witnessed wonderful things, random acts of kindness and thoughtfulness that make this church such a wonderful place to be.  I have seen people keeping hope alive and living the Christmas spirit.

And, tonight is a celebration of that, it is the day that we thank God for giving us the courage and patience and hope and optimism, to take that light to the people around us.

It’s not easy. It’s nowhere near easy, to speak about hope when the future is sometimes bleak…

When we leave here tonight, I pray that we will all be filled with the Spirit of Christmas, that Christmas Hope, to live each day as if it were still Christmas Day, with a vision for the future, and a commitment to work in the present that comes with it.

I rarely quote Helen Steiner Rice, but she once wrote;

“Peace on earth will come to stay,
When we live Christmas every day.”

You might be saying to yourself, “Well, he says that, but that doesn’t really apply to me”, but it does!  The Christmas Spirit is what it is!

The Author Garrison Keillor, writes;

A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together. 

And here we are….in the middle of the night.  We must be mad!  Well, either mad, or we believe in Christmas.  The hope of a better tomorrow, a reason to work for good, and a belief that the story of the birth of a baby 2,000 years ago still has something to say to us today.

Over the last few weeks, people have asked me what I wanted for Christmas.  I said two things – world peace and a day off.  They always laughed – but that is the optimism, the Christian Hope to which we are called.

Midnight Mass Sermon 2012 - Merry Christmas Everybody!

Midnight Mass 2012

  

I started to feel quite Christmassy quite early this year.  It might have been that it's a new parish, it might have been that I've been looking forward to Christmas for months.  You see, Christmas is more than just another day for me, it is an attitude, it is a feeling that we can keep throughout the year, if we can understand what it happening this evening.

We are not just here singing and celebrating, we are actually writing another page in the story of Christmas.  We are adding to the story that is 2,000 years old…and it hasn’t finished.

We are making Christmas!

And down the generations, people have done the same.  There is no greater example of this than the carols we are singing this evening.

(14^th Century)

On the way in this evening we sang Adeste Fidelis the carol we know as O Come all ye Faithful. 

The original words are attributed to John of Reading, who wrote a book called “Prose for Christmas Day” around 1320. 

Much later, the tune (and some of the words) were changed by John Francis Wade, a Catholic Layman who fled to France during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. 

It’s suggested there’s a secret meaning to some of the words.  The return of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the secret followers of The Old Pretender Stuart are all supposedly mentioned.  The faithful are the ‘Jacobites’ who are being encouraged to return, and Bethlehem, was a code for them to mean England.  So this was a carol of rallying the people to return.

(18^th Century)

No midnight mass is complete without us leaving to Hark the Herald Angels sing.  This carol was written in 1739 by Charles Wesley.  Although he was a bit of a sober, sombre man, it’s still possible to sing this carol after a Christmas drink, as a few of you will know.   The words are triumphant!  In the last verse we sing “sing choirs of Angels”  I looked through every Bible I have, and according to them the Angels “spoke” not “sang”, but that’s fine.  It’s a good picture!

(19^th Century)

Then, before the Gospel reading we sang that calm and beautiful classic Christmas carol Silent Night.  The original lyrics were written in Austria in by a priest, Joseph Mohr.  The music was written by Xaver Gruber in 1816 and it was sung the first time on Christmas Eve 1818 in the Church of St. Nicholas, Oberndorf, Austria.

Nearly one hundred years later, in the 1914 Christmas truce of World War One, where troops stopped fighting and left the trenches to exchange gifts with the enemy, this carol was simultaneously sung in three languages (English, French and German) it was so widely known and sung.  This is the quiet colossus in the Carolling world!

(20^th Century)

Even though Christina Rossetti wrote her famous poem “In the Bleak Midwinter” before 1872, it didn’t appear as a carol until 1906, in the English Hymnal with a setting by the famous English composer Gustav Holst.  It’s got everything in – the birth of Jesus, the second coming, the simple surroundings of the birth and Mary’s love and care for her son.  It’s all there!

So we are hearing what Christmas meant to the people of the last seven hundred years, and we join with them in adding to that Christmas story!

Christmas has given us a wealth of art and music, poetry and philosophy, the story of God working with others…

And tonight, WE are adding to Christmas just by being here.  WE are part of the Christmas story, the story of God and his people, the greatest story ever told.

We are making Christmas!

That’s why I’m a Christmas person!  In Church we speak of the Incarnation – the birth of Jesus  - and at Easter, we speak of the Atonement; the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus.  I understand you can’t have one without the other, but I have to say that Christmas is for me, as C.S Lewis calls it ‘That Great Miracle’.

However, the miracle doesn’t end here.  It can be Christmas Every Day.  If we are making the Birth of Jesus Mean Something for others not just at the end of December, but throughout the year.

You might think that I’m overdoing it a bit, but I’m not!

We hear lots of talk about the church dying, and I’m pleased to tell you that it isn’t happening.  In parishes such as this one, we have outreach into the community every day of the year. Dozens of people are doing hundreds of jobs to make life a little brighter and more manageable for others.

We start every morning with prayer in this church and many work late into the evening to keep Christmas going!  To make the incarnation of Christ mean something concrete, tangible and real.

We are making Christmas!  In December, January and even June!

A newspaper reported a couple of days ago that Anglicans give up 22.3 million hours every month to work that benefits their local community. The Sunday Telegraph asked church representatives of every Diocese to say what their church did that they were most proud of, and the response was overwhelming: night shelters, food banks, credit unions, housing trusts, legal advice, street patrols and support groups were all mentioned.

We get everywhere!

According to the recent Census, 59 per cent of people in England and Wales call themselves Christian. However, separate research shows that 85 per cent of us visit a church in any given year, whether to give thanks, pay respects, mark a significant moment or seek solace. The church provides a rallying point.

So, this Christmas, I’m not worried about the future of the Church!  Down the generations it has proclaimed the birth of Jesus, the Incarnation of God, and made that mean something to the people!  This evening, we are making more Christmas!

God has put us into the Christmas story in our time, creating something good and new, we are blessed indeed to be here this evening.

May God give you a time of peace and relaxation, and the joy of understanding your part in the greatest story ever told, in the name of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Community Carol Service

This Friday at 7.00pm we have our Community Carol Service in All Saints' supported by James Summers Funeral Directors. We hope to use all donations to fund the 'Coffee and Cake Collective'. A quiet space for people who want to meet and chat.