Christmas begins with Christ

I have not braved much Christmas shopping this year. Nearly all of my shopping has been done online. Whilst I have ‘shopped’ around I have some wonderful delights that maybe you have stumbled on too...

For the devout PA - there is a 4gb memory stick in the shape of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It even has a little heart that flashes when you plug her into your USB port. Her halo has a prayer - ‘O Maria keep my data safe.’

Or show how devout you are, you might want a Spirit Filled bible - like this one...


There are also the items of a more intimate nature printed with sacred images, marketed simply as ‘thongs of praise.’

Alternatively as I scoured the net I also found a wooden nativity scene. It’s made in Bethlehem. Placed down the middle of the scene separating wise men from the holy family is a wall. It is a stark reminder of the 370 km long, 6 metre high, barbed wire topped wall encircling Palestine and which causes hardship to many thousands.

When I did venture out into Hemel I was really struck by the quite frankly facile advertising campaign in the Marlowes shopping centre this year -

love life. love gifts. love christmas.
love life. love style. love christmas.
Christmas, it’s in the bag.

All of that is in stark contrast to the Christmas advertising we have used at church this year which you might have seen. The poster is of a scan of a be-haloed baby - clearly meant to be Jesus. The tag line reads - Christmas begins with Christ. I wonder which of these two visions of why we are celebrating you buy into?Amongst the trivia and the kitsch, the laughter and the celebration, tonight we are reminded that Jesus was born into a world then as now that was a messy place, a place where injustice lives alongside privilege, poverty in the shadow of obscene wealth and where violence so often prospers despite the peace-loving goodwill of great numbers.

It’s a reminder that the world foreseen by Isaiah that we heard about in our first reading tonight, seen some 800 years before the events we recall tonight, is still to be fully realized. Today we celebrate the fact that glorious light does indeed shine on us in the dark times of our lives and in the dark places of our world. But we do also acknowledge that Jesus, the Prince of Peace’s reign of justice has begun, yet it is far from being fulfilled. God’s vision of the world, shared through Isaiah, is a magnificent vision and the child to be born is the gift beyond all gifts, offering us life beyond what life so often is, showing us love deeper and more meaningful than we ever thought possible. It’s that reality that inspires us to let the light of God shine forth in our lives.

When we look into the manger tonight, what do we see? The warm romantic glow of a proud new family unit, or a new family seeking refuge in a stranger’s barn? We see new life, God’s New Life, begun in the depths of our sometimes messy and sometimes frivolous realities and we see the vulnerability of a God who reaches into human life in the most intimate of ways - by becoming one of us.

When we look at this baby, we see right into the heart, into the life, into the purposes and hope and dreams of God himself. And in that heart there are no barriers. It is a heart that isn’t put off by barbed wire, barbed comments, roadside bombs, religious intolerance, environmental abuse. A heart doesn’t waver when enemies want to nail it to a cross. A heart that continues to love no matter how much we might take advantage of his vulnerability.

When we look into the crib tonight at this baby, we see a whole cinema of images, every one which points us to the passion that God has for each of us. Every one of them points towards God’s absolute determination to show us that the messiness and frivolity of human life is ultimately no match for divine extravagance of His vulnerable love.

God’s love isn’t such that offers quick fixes, magical protection or emotional anaesthesia: it isn’t infantile love. God’s love is far stronger because it stands with us when things are at their very worst and holds us when life verges into the intolerable. Through the baby in a manger God offers us a powerful, grown up, real kind of love whose light shines with glory even as it challenges us to give birth to that same birth ourselves in our lives, lifestyles, words and actions.
So what do we see as we look into the crib? Shopping bags crammed with love gifts for those who matter to us? A baby? As importantly though, I wonder what God sees as he looks out at us?

He sees what we don’t expect Him to see - he looks past self obsessed X-factor desire to be famous, and instead sees deep down a longing in each of us to be recognized and loved for who we are. He looks past our self obsessed National Lottery desire to be rich, and instead sees deep down a longing in each of us to be secure and safe. He looks past our self obsessed Apprentice desire to be the best at all costs no matter who gets trodden on on the way up, and instead sees deep down a longing in each of us to know that we reaching our God-given potential.

We don’t like a God who messes with us. This is why Christmas has become about shopping. But there are not enough presents in the world to obscure the God who looks for us tonight. Many of us say things like ‘I believe in God’ but then not allow that belief to touch the sides of our lives and just pass straight through leaving us unchallenged, unchanged. It’s easy to deal with a God who doesn’t deal with us because we don’t have to deal with Him, but a God who come to the muck and mire of our lives forces us to face the fact of the manger we gather at tonight - if this is God’s response to me then how should I respond to Him?

God in the muck and mire of the manger sees our vulnerability and sees each one of us as irreplaceable, precious and lovable, irrespective of what we may feel about ourselves. As He looks out of the manger tonight and recognizes each of us as His own son or daughter because of Jesus. Because of this baby looking back at us, we all children of God and in His heart, there is space for all of us.

love life. love gifts. love christmas.
love life. love style. love christmas.
Christmas, it’s in the bag.

No, Christmas is not in the bag. Christmas is is in the manger, in the crib, because Christmas begins with Christ.

~~~~~

With grateful thanks to Brett Ward's sermon in 'The Preacher' issue: Oct 2010 no. 139