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Christmas Eve 2008
SERMON – midnight, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 14th December 2008
Revd. Matthew Vernon
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. … the Word became flesh and lived among us … full of grace and truth."
Christmas celebrations, for many people, seem to be about reliving an idealized childhood.
For many people, Christmas memories are full of excitement, fun, special events, warmth, cosiness and so on.
And we try to recreate that each Christmas:
• either for ourselves as adults – secretly yearning for the simplicity of childhood!
• or for our children, if we have them – hoping they will associate Christmas with excitement, warmth and love.
I noticed the frisson of excitement I felt when turning on the Christmas tree lights at home this year.
(A moment of peace in a frenetic time.)
Not everyone, of course, has that experience of Christmas.
And this year, with the global financial crisis, many people are experiencing Christmas in a different way.
For many, many people Christmas this year is a time of uncertainty and anxiety about the future.
• High stress at work.
• Deep worry about keeping their job.
• Great concern about supporting their family and paying the bills.
For us with privileged lives and material plenty,
• we who want for nothing,
• this year's Christmas anxiety puts us in touch with the experience of millions around the world.
Millions for whom Christmas is not a particularly happy or cosy time,
• just another day in their long, hard struggle through life.
The editorial in bc magazine last week put this very well.
It quoted the Christmas song "Do they know its Christmas?"
"But say a prayer.
Pray for the other ones.
At Christmas time, it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears…"
An anxiety filled Christmas is far closer to the birth of Jesus than our idealised childhood Christmases.
Jesus was born into a world of poverty and need,
• of people struggling from day to day.
A world without modern amenities, health care, supermarkets.
A world of uncertainty and anxiety.
Child mortality was high, so a mother giving birth didn't know how long her child would live.
And Israel was occupied by the oppressive and brutal Roman Empire.
What a time and what a place to be born: Bethlehem, 2000 years ago.
And yet that is when Jesus was born,
• when God entered our world as one of us.
When the light came into the darkness bringing hope and new vision and fresh grace.
Some of the most joyful Christmas celebrations this night will be in the poorest communities of the world
• where Christians know their need of God,
• where spiritual comfort is felt very deeply amidst material need,
• where heavenly hope alleviates earthly deprivation.
In the Philippines, for example.
There's a painting by a Filipino artist, Carols Francisco, called "Madonna of the Bamboo".
It shows a young woman holding a child, surrounded by bamboo.
The colours are mostly orange and gold.
The painting illustrates Jesus being born into a life of hardship rather than of royal privilege.
For people living in poverty, God identifying with your life is a great consolation and source of defiant hope.
It's also a challenge to us with lives of comfort and plenty.
The bamboo represents peasant life.
Mary stands with all the women in the world who are poor, deprived and oppressed.
And her beauty is undiminished.
This year many more of us share that consolation and hope as we celebrate Christ's birth into a world of anxiety and uncertainty.
God's is with us.
The Word made flesh.
Why do we have hope?
We have hope because the birth of Jesus reminds us that our value comes from God's love for us
• not from the value of the stock market
• or the value of our savings and pension
• or whether we have a job or not.
We matter so much to God that God would become one of us to show us love.
What words of comfort does the Word bring?
Christ came into the world to call us to certain things,
• to speak to us about God's ways and divine values.
He taught the importance of simplicity of life, rather than possessions.
He communicated about sharing what we have with those in need.
He declared forgiveness and reconciliation, even loving our enemies.
He spoke about the shortness of life, the preciousness of the present day.
He urged us to trust in God's love at all times.
The bc magazine editorial went on:
"As the world's media talks us into a recession and the stock markets prove that there really is no such thing as free money, you may feel your life is tough.
But take a look out your window and ask yourself:
Is it absolutely, or is there more you can do to make your life and other's more pleasant?"
The message of Christmas and the financial crisis come together at this point.
As we celebrate the gift of life itself,
• rather than taking it for granted.
And as we remember God calling us to shine light into lives that are full of shadows.
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