I am always slightly intrigued that we have made Advent and Christmas such a commercial festival of jingly tunes. The story actually is pretty grim – though, of course (and quite rightly), everyone enjoys seeing a newborn baby. Maybe it is as simple as that.
But other than that, the story is a salutary one – both before and after the main event: an unmarried woman pregnant in C1st Palestine with all the problems that follow, the Dad loyally trusting his girl (“Joseph have you heard/ what Mary says occurred/Yes it may be so/Is it likely – no” – and with thanks to WH Auden for leading us, in those simple words, to the reality of what Joseph and Mary faced), Government bureaucracy involving a long journey on primitive transport (plus ça change), hotels full and a smelly old stable (what did the health and safety report say I wonder?).
And it most certainly does not end there. The church in its infinite wisdom has a special memorial on the day after Christmas – Boxing Day, as we know it, is the day we remember Stephen, the first Christian martyr who was stoned to death for his faith in this small babe born in such harsh circumstances. And there is more: perhaps the most harrowing day in the church calendar is three days after Christmas – 28th December (this year a Sunday). The gospel of Matthew tells us when King Herod heard of the birth of Jesus and could not find him, (his earthly parents fleeing to Egypt – so even migrants come into this story), in a fit of megalomania he killed all the children just born in the area to preserve his earthly throne. Tragically, yet again plus ça change. In the church calendar this dark date is known as “The massacre of the Innocents”. We see it every day – Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, Sudan and, and, and…….
So please forgive this rector for getting a bit cross when people say that faith is an escape from the reality of life and the world. And I have not even got to the distress of Good Friday in the Jesus story.
This is not an attempt to spoil Christmas for us all – and the birth of that babe is a lovely story to be celebrated. I am, actually making the opposite point: because the world, and often our on personal lives, can be very hard and tough. The Christian faith deals with reality, not make believe. It is a faith to help us keep the show on the road, when life is tough and full of grief, as well as helping us celebrate and affirm the many joyful bits. It is a story for our world today – as it has been for 2000 years, which is why we keep, rightly, returning to it.
At our Carol services and at our Midnight Communion service as Christmas Day dawns, this is what we read from St John: “What has come into being in him [Jesus] was life and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Which is why I want to invite you all, wherever you are in your life and faith journey, come and join us as we celebrate this truth, which faces square on hardship and the pain of our world, while yet being full of hope and confidence in the infinite love of God.
Peter