thoughts for Christmas (Mach 1)...some readings can be Isiaiah 9, Psalm 96-98, Titus 2 & 3, Luke 2 (you can use bible,oremus.org to access these and other readings)
Archbishop Rowan Williams told the story some years ago of being invited whilst in India
to bless the Christmas pudding mixture
as the staff of a local hotel prepare to make the first batch
which he does
to the blaring sounds of Jingle Bells
We probably all have little stories to tell
of strange Christmas encounters.
- People we only see once a year
- Some people who we know will not be with us for another Christmas
- Strange incidents that happen when we get together...sometimes for good and sometimes for ill
Christmas is full of these and Rowan Williams says
that the most unlikely people will find they are looking for the same thing and recognise each other instead
There is a group of shepherds, rough men who sleep out in the open.
Who have to drink to keep warm at night
Who see some blinding lights in the sky
and rush to witness
the birth of a baby.
There is the woman who gets pregnant before she is married
and her fiance who knows he is not the father.
There are three dignified (or perhaps weird) gentleman
who are dark and mysterious
who have come from a long way away
in search of something
and carrying rich treasure.
There is another king
who is so fearful
that, we are told, he orders the slaughter of many children
in order to try and prevent a rival claim to his throne.
What is it that they seek?
What, we might ask, do we seek at Christmas time?
It is, of course, God
We may not always name it as such.
But we seek that which will satisfy our deepest longings and needs.
It is unlikely therefore to be a new bicycle
a diamond ring, or even an iPad.
We all know
that as as desirable as these things are they are fleeting
and will always break, or wear out.
We can damage or lose them
just as easily as we get them.
We can have the biggest and best
and there can still be an empty void inside us.
We find it rather frightening
that we can have lots of stuff
and yet we are still not fulfilled.
Getting and having,
does not actually seem to satisfy our wanting
So at Christmas we see some pointers
Chiefly, we see a person Jesus Christ.
Our ultimate fulfilment will come about
when we know Jesus
as friend and brother.
As you come to receive Communion today
pray that you may know Jesus anew.
Chiefly we find Jesus revealed as a child
reminding us that for many, probably most of us
this grace will be experienced through our human relationships
and perhaps we need to note
that it is not the bitter and twisted relationships of the adult
that we sometimes presume to call sophisticated
but rather the open trusting relationship of the child
that better reveals how we might experience God.
Some of us find our family and human relationships really hard.
Christmas gives us an opportunity to begin again
to try a little harder
This doesn't so much make it easy
as make it possible to try again.
Don't miss the opportunity.
St Paul tells us that the greatest gift is love. But it is not an airy fairy sort of love.
