Christmas Day 2023
Yesterday we held a very successful carol service as once again we sang well known carols and listened to the traditional Christmas readings. We were accompanied by Hugh on the organ and in addition enjoyed wonderful musical interludes led by Abigail, Liz, Penny and Geoff.
Today we celebrated Christmas with much joy during a Sung Eucharist.
For both services we had a full church and welcomed many visitors.
Have a very Happy Christmas everyone!
This Week
Tuesday 10am – No prayer group this week
Thursday 10am – No Said Holy Communion this week
Readings for next Sunday – 1st Sunday of Christmas – Isaiah 61:10-62:3 Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:15-21
Today’s readings – Isaiah 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-20
Advent calendars it seems have diversified this year. There now appears to be something for everyone – dogs, children and adults alike. The pet shops were full of them, daily treats being offered to spoilt doggies up and down the country while in the adult market I heard there was a great trade in gin, whisky and gregoni calendars, plus other suspect things.
Quite what these have to do with the nativity story I’m not sure, but one has to be thankful for the resurrection otherwise our Lord would surely be turning in his grave at the thought that his most holy and sacred birth was being depicted and celebrated in such a way. But it’s a bit of seasonal fun and the nativity story is fun.
And we all enjoy a good story for our lives are made up of stories – our own personal experiences.
At this time of year we often look back on the year that has just been and we reflect on its main stories like the coronation of the king, the dreadful recent weather, cost of living and globally the continued conflict in Ukraine and now in the ME.
On a personal level we may recall our own stories of triumph and tribulation, of love and loss – of happiness and sorrow. But all our stories are special and they make us who we are, forming us and changing us.
Over 2,000 years ago when an angel appeared to a young Mary and proclaimed that she would give birth to the Son of God, her future changed for ever. The same was true of those shepherds on a hillside and astrologers from the East following a star. Because incredibly they were the first to see the longed for and anticipated Messiah who was to be the saviour of the world.
But this longing and anticipating had begun hundreds of years before that first Christmas. As we heard in our OT readings during Advent the prophets painted pictures of a time yet to come – of peace, justice and of reconciliation. They looked for and dreamed for a time of transformation and all things being made new.
And then came the birth of a child, Jesus Christ, the ‘Emmanuel’ which means ‘God with us.’ And their dream was realised in that child in the manger, the promise of transformation grounded in forgiveness and generous love all manifested in a small baby boy.
This is the true magic of Christmas which then gives way to deep divine mystery as we begin to live that dream.
And because of Jesus Christ the Son of God born in a stable, life will never be the same again; and the future is full of hope.
Mary the mother of Jesus knew that. Just like those shepherds on the hillside, Mary had seen the angel and heard the words of promise, and even when pain and tears and suffering came, Mary held fast. As we heard in our gospel reading, Mary treasured the words of the shepherds and pondered them in her heart.
When the baby grew up into a man and was brutally crucified, it looked as if a dark nightmare had killed that dream of hope proclaimed by angels to ordinary shepherds on the hillside. Yet three days after Jesus died, he came back to life and revealed God’s love as stronger than death itself. Truly life will never be the same again. Nothing can undo the resurrection. Life has changed forever.
This Christmas as we look at Jesus not only as a vulnerable baby in a manger, but also as the grown Son of God risen from the dead, we see love which knows of pain, hatred and suffering. Generous love which sees us as we are in all our brokenness and beauty and never gives up. The dream of light stronger than the darkness has come true, and we are invited to join in.
That first Christmas, when King Herod heard the unwelcome news of the birth of Jesus, he ordered the magi bearing gifts to let him know when they had located the child. However, they were then warned in a dream not to return to King Herod, and we are told that the visitors from the East returned to their country by a different road.
Let us not only be like the shepherds returning full of joy and hope, giving glory to God; but let us also be like those wise men from the East, returning to the future by a different road, living the dream of generous love and certain hope for ourselves, our situations and our world.
Amen.