Christmas 2009

CHRIST THE SAVIOUR IS BORN, Ding Dong Merrily on high

An image of the Cross found on the beach the other day. I don't know if those who made it had any thoughts but when I saw it I saw the cross.... surprise surprise!

I am about to go to take the Christmas Eucharist in Lerwick, it is a cold night. I have had a lovely quiet day and though the shops did get a bit busier as ther day wore on the Co op this morning was very quiet indeed.

Here is my Christmas Day sermon for what its worth....

So here it is, Merry Christmas, everybody’s having fun (??_)
Look to the future it has only just begun…..
Did Noddy Holder know what he was doing when he sang that for the first time when I was a little boy? I suspect not
But of course not everybody is having fun, and it never has been the case. There have been people in different sorts of misery all the time. (what sorts of misery can we think of today?? Far off? Near to home?)
But it is true to say that the future has only just begun, well to be much more precise the present. Why put off today the good you could do tomorrow.
We spend far too much time being held back by the past and dreaming of a future that we miss the significance of this very moment now..
Some people may describe Christmas as a magical time. It does sometimes appear to be a time when peoples attitudes change just briefly anyway. And people might be nice to each other. Having said that there has been a lot around this year about how Christmas is also a time when families are more likely to fall out, and I heard that the first fall out is likely to be before 10 in the morning. (that may mean some of you have already had a grumble…..??)
I do not see Christmas as in the slightest bit magical. It may be special but not magical. It is actually very down to earth.
I do not mean here for a dry pun or to get caught up in some strange theology but the Christian church speaks at this point of incarnation, which literally means “being made flesh” or in other words “down to earth”
There are many people who feel God is distant, this may be for many reasons. They felt it too when Jesus was born. The Christian church speaks about a god who is right alongside, not far away and distant at all. A God who is down to earth. However we view the story of Jesus this is one of the things it is all about. Furthermore the whole Old testament is also about this same God who is right alongside his people, calling them and leading them and loving and redeeming them.
There is nothing magical about God, but just something special, and something very hard to explain.
There is that song which you too may sing at school, maybe even in church sometimes , I do not know…. “God is with us, round the world the message bring… come and join the celebration”
What was seen as distant has come very close. Earlier this year I heard about a group of children writing about Love and some of their answers were amusing as you can imagine.
I know that my sister loves me because she gives me her old clothes and then has to buy new ones”
Love is when two young people get close and sniff each other
But another “Love is that feeling after the Christmas presents have been opened.”
Christmas is not magical, not everyone is having fun, it is very down to earth and terribly realistic. It does not change things over night, but it can be about gift and promise, and it can be about the love we feel and the love of God for his wayward people you and I.
To end on another musical note “Man will live for ever more, because of Christmas Day” Surely the world could be a better and brighter and safer place because we are celebrating Christmas.

I hope you all have a great Christmas. I am thinking of all my friends back in the Orwell Benefice. Blessings on you all.

Neil