(This two-person sermon was delivered at Berowra Uniting Church in December 2003 but myself and Richard Fleming.)
Richard
It’s an amazing thing to think that we gather here, today, in a church, in Sydney, to remember something that happened almost 2000 years ago, in a stable, in Bethlehem.
- We remember the angel informing Mary that she was pregnant.
- We remember Mary and Joseph travelling by donkey to Bethlehem and finding nowhere to stay except a stable
- We remember angels appearing to some shepherds, and a star guiding some wise men.
Perhaps we should wonder what it is about the experience of Christmas that makes it so enduring. What relevance do stars and shepherds and candles and mangers and angels and wise men have for us today?
I think the answer has to do with understanding these things as symbols.
- It is not just that some pre-scientific peasants thought they had seen angels, but that the birth of Jesus was so important that it had to be announced by an extraordinary messenger.
- It was not just a few shepherds in the field, but the juxtaposition of an extraordinary messenger with the less-than-ordinary people who first received the message — a not-so-subtle comment on the reversed priorities that typified the whole of Jesus’ ministry.
- It is not just that some middle-eastern astrologers found meaning in the stars, but that even the created heavens were used by God to draw attention to his one and only son.
- It was not just a star but a symbol of the true light that dispels all darkness.
- It was not just a young girl giving birth, but a symbol of God undertaking to experience everything that we experience, from birth to death.
- It was not just a manger in a stable but a symbol of humility and powerlessness and solidarity with the poor.
These are powerful religious symbols that adorn church windows around the world and countless Christmas cards. They are rich expressions of the belief and hope that underpin our experience of Christmas.
Matthew
But hang on Richard. Those are all pleasant traditional images, but I don’t think they match many people’s experience of Christmas any more. An Aussie Christmas is about:
- Having a holiday
- A family gathering and a barbie
- Swapping presents and commenting on how much the grandchildren have grown
- Singing carols and looking at fairy lights
- Eating and drinking too much
- It’s about celebrating
In fact it’s typically a pretty hollow celebration – precisely because those symbols you talked about no longer have any relevance. Australians don’t need much of an excuse to take a holiday and light up the barbie, and I think we very rarely worry about what the excuse is. It’s no longer what we celebrate at Christmas that’s important, but just the fact that we have another opportunity to celebrate!
Maybe I’m overly cynical, but really, Christmas is a very secular thing, or if not purely secular then it’s about the religion of commerce whose worship is based on shopping centre cathedrals and rituals of spending.
Sure, we see candles and stars and angels in the shopping centres. But they’re about as irrelevant to us here in Australia as the non-religious symbols we imported from the northern-hemisphere, like fir trees and snow and reindeer.
(I’m not talking here about what we good Christians might want Christmas to mean, but about how most people actually experience Christmas.)
Even worse, for many people Christmas is a very empty and lonely time. I mean, the suffering of the world doesn’t go away at Christmas. There are still bills to pay. People still get sick and die in road accidents and grieve for lost loved ones.
What about Darwin in 1974? What was the experience of Christmas like for the people there when Cyclone Tracy ripped the city apart?
Richard
Yep, you’re right that there is a broad range of experiences of Christmas. We can’t assume that the way we experience it is the same as how everyone else experiences it.
But that doesn’t really undermine the truth of the original Christmas story, nor the power of the symbols in that story. Sure there is a lot on anomie and emptiness around – Australia’s high suicide rate is testament to that – but if any meaning is to be found at Christmas time, or any other time, it’s only going to come from understanding the first Christmas, not by throwing it away.
- There is a reason to celebrate, because Christmas marks the time when the most amazing event in the history of the universe happened: the incredible moment when the creator of the universe became a created inhabitant of the universe he created.
- There is a reason to light candles, because Jesus’ birth really did bring love, joy, hope and peace to the world.
- There is a reason to swap presents, because it mirrors the generosity of God who gave himself to us in the gift of Jesus.
And you’re right that many people’s experience of Christmas is lonely and painful. There’s no way to brush that aside or try to hide it. But it only serves to emphasise the reason Jesus came to earth in the first place. The essence of Christmas is that God was incarnated into this world in order to share our experience. He is not a distant God who set the universe running and then forgot it, but one who feels creation’s pain and shares in its suffering. Jesus was born an illegitimate child in poverty. He was betrayed by his best friends, misunderstood, imprisoned and executed unjustly. He willingly subordinated himself to the human condition, from birth to death. And yet he also showed that there is hope beyond death and lead the way for us all to be re-united with God.
On the surface, the Christmas story is about a baby in a manger, but underneath the surface it is about salvation. It’s like what Steve Turner wrote in a poem some years ago… here, have a read of this …
Matthew
“Jesus is really for the children” (c) Steve Turner
Christmas is really
for the children.
Especially for children
who like animals, stables,
stars and babies wrapped
in swaddling clothes.
Then there are wise men,
kings in fine robes,
humble shepherds and a
hint of rich perfume.
Easter is not really
for the children
unless accompanied by
a cream filled egg.
It has whips, blood, nails,
a spear and allegations
of body snatching.
It involves politics, God
and the sins of the world.
It is not good for people
of a nervous disposition.
They would do better to
think on rabbits, chickens
and the first snowdrop
of spring.
Or they’d do better to
wait for a re-run of
Christmas without asking
too many questions about
what Jesus did when he grew up
or whether there’s any connection.
Yeah, I can see the point. I guess you couldn’t have Easter without Christmas could you? You can’t die without first being born! Isn’t there a Christmas carol that says much the same thing?
Richard
Maybe you’re thinking of this next one: Thou didst leave thy home (206). Lets all sing it together.