The true meaning of Christmas, St Matthew’s Midnight Communion, Christmas Eve 2014
My sermon this evening is entitled the true meaning of
Christmas. I had decided on this title
and this subject last Sunday because of something Steve said at the Carol
Service. I can’t quite remember what he
said exactly but he said something like ‘These days people often tell us that
we need to find the true meaning of Christmas but without specifying what that
is’.
And then yesterday I found that the Church of England has invited
all its followers on Twitter to tweet what Christmas means to them in 140
characters using the hashtag: ‘ChristmasMeans’. {Sorry if you don’t know what a hashtag is: you’ll
have to ask a Twitter user.)
In response there have been thousands of tweets over the
last few days – in particular from Bishops who tweet. Tweets such as ‘#ChristmasMeans that in
Jesus, God has given us the most precious gifts of all: forgiveness and hope’ from
Justin Welby - the Archbishop of Canterbury.
And ‘#ChristmasMeans God in humility enters the heart of the world, once
and for all, the eternal remedy for the deadly poison of our pride’ from
Stephen Croft , the Bishop of Sheffield.
And then there are quite a few clever one such as ‘#ChristmasMeans
God used means to save mean people’ or ‘#Christmasmeans the Meaning became
moment, the moment became movement and the Meaning moved us’ both from Graham
King, the Bishop of Sherborne. But the
best tweet with that hashtag I have found so far is: ‘ #Christmasmeans 'fun and
feasting' says the Bishop for Ripon, James Bell.’ I’ll explain why I like this tweet best later.
Perhaps the attempt to summarise what Christmas means in 140
characters is a pointless, even impossible task, but clearly many Bishops and
others can’t resist trying. I am not
sure sermon of about 7000 characters words (I’ve not counted) can do justice to
the subject either. And I am not going to tell you what I think
what Christmas means. I think it has
multiple meanings and I think we have to work out what it means to us
personally for ourselves.
Of course –I cannot resist leaving it at that. Firstly of course I think we can assume –
this being a church that – that the true meaning of Christmas has something to
do with the story of the birth of Jesus – as told in two of the gospels, those
by Matthew and Luke. And secondly that the search for the meaning
is worth reflecting upon.
This search for the true meaning of Christmas seems to
suggest that, somehow, we have lost something we previously had a hold on. I wonder if that is true. I wonder whether anyone – from Mary and
Joseph onwards – and surely if anyone they would have good reason to understand
the meaning of Christmas they would have - have had a good grasp on the meaning
of Christmas.
The idea that we have somehow lost hold of the true meaning
of Christmas seems to go hand in hand with idea that Christmas has come to mean
something other than what it should mean.
The complaint nowadays is
generally that Christmas has become over-commercialised and t merely an excuse
for over- indulgence – particularly of food and alcohol. It goes without saying these things that
Christmas has come to be are to be regretted and also that they are a modern
phenomenon – never before experienced by previous generations. I'm
thinking that moaning that Christmas has come to mean something other than it
should has been prevalent ever since Mary’s mother complained that the three
wise men had spent too much money on completely inappropriate gifts for the
baby Jesus.
I begin to think that there is too much moaning about the
commercialisation of and over-indulgence at Christmas: these after all are
by-products of the fact that Christmas is and always has been a source of fun -
in the words of the Bishop of Ripon - or more precisely a celebration to be
shared in the form of hospitality and present giving. If you are going to have fun then you need
to spend money – and on more than the bare necessities. After all a feast – again in the words of the
Bishop of Ripon - is not just nourishment.
The communion we will share later is not just a meal it’s a feast. You don’t need wine for a meal - water will
do.
I am not denying that commercial interests have attempted to
hijack Christmas for their own ends nor that that have a tendency to consume
more than is good for u, but the meaning of Christmas is constantly having its
meaning changed by different ways of telling the Christmas story. Think here
about Father Christmas.
Is this Father Christmas anything to do with the Christmas
story? On the face of it no, because
Father Christmas, Santa Klaus, St Nicholas, whatever you want to call him
doesn’t figure in the story of Jesus’ birth.
On the other hand trying telling most children that Christmas has
nothing to do with Father Christmas and they’d laugh and in a sense Father
Christmas, Christmas trees even turkey are now part of the story which gives
Christmas its meaning. The question is
whether we should resist this or go with it. Some nativity plays apparently have Father
Christmas bringing a present to the baby Jesus.
Does this really matter? I think not.
So the meaning of Christmas comes from the story and the
Church down the years – culminating in this year’s tweets – has sought to
explain the meaning of the story. The basic
story - when you come to actually think about it is a bit strange - to have
such apparent significance as to generate a festival that is celebrated each
year in most countries of the world.
An unplanned pregnancy after a visit from an angel, a trek
to a far-away town, a birth in a stable, visits to the new-born baby by
complete strangers, a flight from a King who is trying to kill the baby: which of these parts of the story give it its
meaning? It’s the baby itself who
figures in most of the tweets from the Bishop’s as if all the other characters
in the story don’t matter in comparison and this is surely right. After all, the baby is the main
character.
And of course the baby is no ordinary baby. Extraordinary claims are made for this
baby. Actually rather a lot of claims –
and this is where the true meaning gets complicated. Referring to the baby, John – the writer of
the fourth gospel – who tells us nothing about the circumstances of his birth, says
that the baby was God ‘s word made flesh and dwelt among us.
But as Steve pointed out at the Crib service earlier today: the
baby – the Word of God - says nothing in the story. He does of course grow up to become an adult
who says quite a lot. But for the moment
he is silent, even ‘no crying he makes’ if the Christmas carol is to be
believed. And there is a sense in which
the meaning of Christmas cannot be put into words and perhaps we should let the
baby be a baby and just celebrate his birth.
And that is why I like the Bishop of Ripon’s tweet best - #Christmasmeans
fun and feasting
