Midnight Communion 2024
Matthew 1: 18-25
Doesn’t it strike you as rather odd that here we are, in
Church at 11.45?
Isn’t it very peculiar that we seek to keep the place
clean and yet at this time of year, here and in many of our homes we set up a
tree like this one. And then, for good measure, add all sorts of lights and
baubles on it. If you think about it, it is absurd. A house plant or a vase of
flowers, yes, but a whole tree!
Now I know the story of its Germanic pagan origins, and Luther adding the lights, and Queen Charlotte, Prince Albert and Queen Victoria popularising the tradition, but it still strikes me as a rather odd thing to do.
And then having been rightly warning our children about
stranger danger we are okay with a man in a red suit and a big beard coming
into our homes because he leaves presents.
And I am treading carefully here because we have yet
another story of a well-meaning vicar who has burst the Santa Clause bubble for
a class of school children this year.
This rather odd but much-loved character derives from St
Nicholas Bishop of Myra, in the 4th century and who remains a bit of
mystery. St Nicholas, in Dutch, Santa
Claus, morphed into this fat jolly fellow and then becomes donned in red in Coca-Cola’s
ad campaign.
And all of this, all of this is centred around a baby born
in some obscure Roman province over two millennia ago. Although sometimes it is
hard to see the connection.
And consider that for a moment – over two thousand years.
Think about all that has happened in that time. All the
developments, for good and ill. All the wars and torment. All the rampaging
diseases. All the love and cruelty. So much, so much, so very much.
And this baby is heralded as The Prince of Peace, yet that
peace still appears to be as allusive as ever.
Yet with the woes of sin and
strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
Oh, hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.
And then we have the Nativity Set and all the wonderful school productions when putting on a dressing gown and a tea towel on your head is absolutely fine.
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For this we must thank St
Francis of Assisi who was the first to set up a live nativity in the town of
Greccio, Italy in 1223.
I think we all know that the
nativity scene such as this owes more to Francis’ creative imagination and
later embellishments than to the birth narratives in Scripture.
Now you may be wondering
where I am going with all these ponderings and questioning and puzzling.
Well, I hope to get us to
think about these things and puzzle over them and ask questions and, hopefully
with a smile, note the apparent absurdity of some of our Christmass traditions.
And then I like to invite you
on a journey.
Out and beyond December 25th.
And our first stop will be
the 26th December.
For the day commonly known as Boxing Day is actually St Stephen’s Day. Yes, as in the one about good king Wenceslas who looked out on the Feast of Stephen.
Stephen is what is known as the proto martyr. That is, he
was the first person to die rather than deny the life and teaching of Jesus.
Yes, the same one that’s lying in a manager, born of Mary.
And it didn’t stop there, nor has it.
Therefore, I invite you beyond the 25th
December and even beyond Stephen’s martyrdom.
I invite you onto a journey as we, as a Christian Faith
Community, turn our steps from crib to cross, from birth to death.
‘And a sword will pierce your own soul’, Mary
was told when she presented the infant Jesus in the temple.
And yet the story doesn’t end there. It doesn’t even end at Easter or at the Ascension.
The story continues and you and I are invited to step into
the story and become part of this great narrative. To sing this great Song of
Salvation. A song that continues to unfold with myriad voices joining in the
songs of the angel and the archangels and the whole company of heaven and all
of God’s people across the world.
However, there are two refrains which you can sing…
O come let us adore him, O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord!
Or we could sing,
O come let us ignore him, O come let us ignore him, O come let us ignore him, Christ the Lord!
On that, let me close off with some words from the Letter
to the Hebrews chapter 2 as written in The Message version.
It's crucial that we keep a firm grip on what
we've heard so that we don't drift off. If the old message delivered by the
angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk
neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all, it
was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those
who heard it from him. All the while God
was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and
miracles, as he saw fit.
Ignore Christ the Lord or invite Him into your life – it’s
your choice.
However, because of that first Christmass you can start over and begin a new day....
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