I love Christmas and in
this I know I am not alone. For most people - for most of you I would imagine
it is a cherished time - a time for family, a time to stand back and pause for
a while, to appreciate some of the things and even people we take for granted
in this life. Yes of course for those who have lost a loved one in the past few
years Christmas can be difficult and can become something to survive rather than
celebrate. And that is sad, but sadder still because it need not be so -
Christmas is for all of us, whether happy or sad.
I say that because at
the centre of this festival is the Incarnation in which God chose to become as
one of us - God chose to become human - and he did so in the most vulnerable
form possible - a human child - the baby Jesus. And this Jesus didn't exactly
have an easy time - forced into exile as an infant - forced to flee for his
life with his parents and some 30 years later dying the most brutal death on
the Cross.
We know little of Jesus
early years until he reappears on the scene and begins his public ministry in
Galilee but it is fair to assume he had happy times as well as the traumas of
his birth and death - he had friends - we know that, not only his disciples but
Mary and Martha and Lazarus - and it is clear again and again that he had a
deep awareness of the Father's Love and he in turn had great love for not only
his friends but his enemies.
And so at Christmas
while we gather around the manger and look at the Holy Child of Bethlehem we are
also witnessing an incarnation that moves beyond the stable, beyond an innocent
child into this extraordinary man Jesus who has taken upon himself not only the
joy of humanity but also all the potential for pain and hurt that is a part of
the human condition.
God became fully human
in Jesus and that means that every part of our humanity and our human
experience is God infused.
Why did God come to us
in human form? Because that is what he made us to be and he did a pretty good
job - God saw hope and potential in humanity and essentially became incarnate
as one of us not to call us to something else but rather to be the best human
beings we can be.
Unfortunately elements
within the history of the development of Christian theology have given us a
disproportionate sense of shame and guilt about the human condition which is
neither just or true. Sometimes this church induced guilt has bordered on self
hatred which is a terribly destructive force in people's lives - How could we
hate and why should we hate that which is made in the image and likeness of
God? We are fundamentally good - that doesn't mean we are perfect but rather
than being wretched and hopeless we are perhaps broken but simultaneously
hopeful and full of potential.
The Incarnation says it
is ok to hurt or to fail, to grieve, to be angry, to feel loss, to doubt
because all these things are human and so are we and we cannot reasonably be
expected to be something we are not.
We live in a world where
so many people are pressured to try or to pretend to be something they are not
and so live lives that are disingenuous and self destructive.
The pressures that many
of our young people feel to conform to a particular body image or behaviour
have produced a lot of casualties whether through bullying, self harm and
suicide. And we need only look superficially at social media to see how many
people feel pressured to present a particular face or mask to the world which may be far removed from their reality.
Or look at our politics
which worldwide is becoming increasingly dysfunctional and a big part of that
is a culture of spin, alternative truths (whatever they are) and expediency
which forces many good people to live a lie, and that can never be a good
thing.
Jesus came to set us
free from all this - so that we might be
ourselves, our best selves - to realise the God-given potential in each of our
lives and when we cannot or will not do that then we quite simply tear
ourselves apart - We are alienated from ourselves!
There is nothing as
disarming as a baby - grown men and women crumble at the sight of a newborn
infant - I think that is why God chose to come in this form - because we need
to be disarmed and remove all that is not real and genuine in our lives -
anything that suggests that we are not good enough - that we need to do
something to become part of God's story - The truth is that God has come to
meet us in the Incarnation and to make his story our story - we stand on Holy
ground on this earth but we also inhabit holy bodies. We need to learn to love
ourselves without feeling guilty - That's the thinking I believe behind those
words of Jesus 'to love your neighbour as yourself' - Self love is the
beginning of the love of others and in loving ourselves we are simply
acknowledging the beauty of what God has done in us.
And that is also what
God is doing in the incarnation - acknowledging the beauty of what he has
worked in us - God fell in love with his creation and chose to identify fully
with it in birth and in death - and yes in Resurrection but lets not rush there
too quickly as if this death was not real - It is one of the weaknesses of our
Protestant heritage that we find it hard to look at the broken body of Jesus on
the Cross and replace it instead with the empty Cross.
The fact that Jesus did
die on that Cross means that this Christmas story we celebrate tonight/today
can embrace those who grieve as well as those who celebrate. The Resurrection
changes our eternal perspective but it does not take the pain of death away - There
is no need for false joy or empty celebration - each of can be who we are - we
can put away the masks and the burdens of others expectation and simply be who
God made us to be - we can be honest and true to ourselves and whether we find
our selves in pain or in happiness we are accepted for who we are - we are good
enough - we don't need to pretend.
I am reminded of a
wonderful observation by the contemporary biblical scholar and theologian
Walter Brueggermann who said 'Churches
should be the most honest place in town, not the happiest place in town.' I
think he had a point - A banal and vacuous happiness has become the
principal goal of modern life and for
those who are not happy its relentless and often shallow pursuit can become a
tool of exclusion and separation. The Christmas greeting itself whether you say
Merry or Happy Christmas contains pressure and expectation that not everyone
can deliver.
As we gather at the crib
we see a little baby - and a baby is the most honest thing in all creation - a
baby does not pretend or hide behind a
mask or live a lie - a baby does what it
says on the tin - there is no filter and no deception- A baby but this baby in
particular says it is ok to be you - no matter whether you are filled with
sorrow or joy, whether you are happy or sad, you are invited to fall into the
loving arms of a God who entered our humanity and made it something sacred and
beautiful. You are, each one of you sacred and beautiful
We may not always be
happy - hopefully we are sometimes but
our lives are filled with meaning, purpose and truth because of what God has
done in Jesus and that is surely something that we can all celebrate. Amen.
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