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St Mary's Church Hitchin |
Contact us:
Church House, Churchyard, Hitchin Hertfordshire SG5 1HP
Tel: 01462 452758 Email: stmaryhitchin@yahoo.co.uk |
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Midnight Mass Revd Michael Roden Santa Claus is for children, but Christmas is for everyone, the most cynical person in this church tonight and I will tell you why. When you and I were really young, we knew we were not in charge of our lives. Our parent or guardian dressed us and undressed us, fed us, wiped our faces and held us tightly, sometimes too tightly at road junctions and in crowded shops. As we grew up, we wanted to shake off some of this tight grip. We wanted to be in charge of our lives and any one who told us that we were not in charge we were tempted to resent. We may in the past have resented our parents, our teachers and any figures of authority. At those moments when we believed in him, we may even have resented God. All this was part of our desire, our overwhelming desire to grow up and have more control over our lives. Politicians, both the good and the weak, know something of this desire. They use words and language that resonate, like ‘aspiration’ and ‘freedom to make choices’. Bill Clinton talked of ‘building a bridge to the future’, whatever that meant. Almost all compete to offer us ways to an ideal- a high skills, high wage economy. But for all our material success, we are still not satisfied. At times, we feel alone in a battle to make our lives complete. In this state we may wander into Ottakers, and linger by the myriad American self-help manuals all with punchy slightly selfish titles like ‘100 things rich people know’, ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff (it is all small stuff)’or ‘How to kick your neighbours butt and still have him love you’ (actually I made that last one up but you know the sort of thing). We long to be in charge of our own lives and yet in our western society we have become amazingly self-absorbed in our thinking. We think of family, not as an extended tribe ultimately encompassing all humanity, but rather as the number of people we can cram into a car. In contrast, the Christmas story asks us to think all God’s people as a human family. We have had a tough year, flood, earthquake, terrorism, and flood. No wonder we human beings spend a lot of our time thinking about our future and how to make it perfect. Sometimes we dream for others, as Martin Luther King did for a changed society. More often, we are simply dreaming for ourselves. Dreaming of a different job, a different house, a perfect holiday, and a perfect relationship. Dreaming of breaking out of our limitations of class and education. All this is part of our desire, our overwhelming desire to grow up and have more control over our lives. Sometimes the dreams are shameful dreams
(I am in a holy place so I am not going to complete the sentence). Most of us dream of being in a place and a relationship in which we are perfectly understood. At Christmas time, these desires for the future come up either to inspire or haunt us. For instance if you were to hear Bing Crosby singing how he is dreaming of a white Christmas the day after Boxing day you would probably want to throw the radio out of the window. The story of Bethlehem can feel just like this process of dreaming, but in this case, dreaming of the past.
· A story of the heavens singing of his birth. Lucky child, we think lucky, lucky child, if only that was me! If only, if only, I could have had a start in life like that. Born in a petting zoo to a perfect mother and an omni-competent father, who could summon up the angels to sing for my benefit. Born in a supportive local community, bringing in fascinating livestock with three rich and influential godparents who travel for miles, following some wild whim (written in the stars) that told when and where I was to be born. If only that were my story! Then the gospel writer becomes outrageous. He implies that this really happened. He implies that it is about us and that it is good news because it is about how things really are. Whereas we want to shove the story into the myths and legends category and say it is really for children. The reassuring story goes wrong. Together with his parents, Jesus the baby has to flee the country to escape infanticide. Jesus the boy is separated from his parents for an agonizing three days (this is the only childhood story we know of Jesus). Later, in his thirties, Jesus goes around calling people back from the brink of self-destruction with his story of God’s love. On occasion, he acts out this love with directly healing the most bewildered and vulnerable. On all occasions, he causes people to remember that there is a God. He tells us that this God is not far away but very near not just like a father but our real long lost father. Long lost because we moved away thinking it was the grown up thing to do. The story was overwhelming for his listeners. It caused them to abandon their usual lives. Peter gave up his fishing boat; Matthew gave up feathering his own nest. Mary Magdalene, the prostitute, was called from the humiliation of the bedroom to company of the Son of God round the table. And the religious people, well they acted like religious people always have when confronted with the real thing, they couldn’t cope. They ordered Jesus’ destruction. There the story might have ended and the moral would have been don’t put your head above the parapet because your efforts will be blown away. You will be yesterday’s news. The Christmas story intertwines with the Easter resurrection story to turn all that on its head. This story is good news says the writer, across 2000 years to us, because it is about you and I and about how Love conquers death. The gospel is as simple as that. Love conquers death. When you love yourself, when you love your neighbour, when you love God life begins again. New life, like a new birth, in fact rather like being born all over again. That’s why those shepherds dropped everything and ran off the hills. That is why the wise men left their books and went wandering, and staring at the stars. That is probably the reason why, you and I pushed open the ancient door and came into church tonight. Because we have not given up on the story, you haven’t given up on you neighbours (however much they drive you mad) and you haven’t given up on God (however elusive you find him at times). We have not given up on it because it is the only story worth the candle. In our prayers tonight we give up on our perfect life and our perfect Christmas. We give up trying to run our lives life in our own strength. We give up our problems in exchange for God’s light. Not a bad bargain when you think about it. The wise men gave precious gifts but received joy in return. Long before the birth of Jesus the prophet Isaiah wrote: ‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light’ As you walk up to the communion rail to ask for a blessing or communion, as you out of this church threw this dark night I pray that this great light will light you on your way all the way home and beyond all that, to your heavenly home. Amen.
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