Christmas Eve and Christmas day readings
Isaiah 52: 7-10. A messenger appears on the horizon bringing good news to a broken and besieged city that salvation is on its way. When the watchman realise it is good news they spread the message amongst the people of Jerusalem and eventually they all sing for joy. Emmanuel “God is with us” is the message of Christmas, and our role is to react with joy and spread that message until the whole world is singing with joy
Hebrews 1: 1-4. Whilst the humanity of Jesus is the subject of
chapter two of Hebrews the letter starts by stressing the divinity of Jesus much
like John’s prologue which follows. The wisdom of God is manifested in Jesus “the
reflection of God’s glory, the exact imprint of God’s very being”. This manifestation
of God’s presence and glory in the world is what we call “the Christ”
John 1: 1-14. The Christ was not a bolt from the blue but was “with
God in the beginning” a revelation of eternal truth. The universal Christ made
human in Jesus, is the presence of God himself who stands at both the beginning
and the end of all history – but was made tangible at a certain point in
historical time – making clear and apparent the will and purposes of God to
human beings. God is Love and Grace and Truth and He wills the healing and
salvation of all creation. Quite a message! And we are charged with living out
and spreading that message.
What does believing that God’s son walked this earth in human form mean for the way we see and the world, perceive human life, and our place within it.
Our first reading talks about a messenger bringing good news to a city under siege – a message of freedom – of salvation - and that message is heard first by the watchmen on the city walls and then spreads like wildfire amongst the general population, evoking a reaction of pure joy as their dire situation is relieved and they break into song.
For Christians, Jesus Christ is that message that appears to a captive and broken world – and the people who first see and believe it are the watchmen who then pass that message on to a world that badly needs a message of hope. Our watchmen were the apostles and saints, who dedicated their lives to making sure that everybody knew and understood that our captivity is over.
Human beings are held captive by the spectre of death and pointlessness, by the fear that everything they are and everything they do is worthless and without meaning. Held captive by the thought that their lives and the lives of everyone they love are merely illusions – that love isn’t real – that death is the end of an existence that never had any meaning in the first place. They can feel disconnected, alone in a cold heartless universe that doesn’t care about them.
The message of Jesus is – think again!
The world and everything in it is good and we human beings are very good. God exists and loved the world from the very beginning and will love it to the very end.
Love is real – your love has substance because the very nature and being of God is Love.
You
are intimately connected to all things through God who is in all things. When
you believe the message, your self-perception changes from being a person alone
and disconnected from people and the world around us to being a child of God –
having a connection with other people and all things and all based on you
having an intimate connection to God.
That is the true meaning of the word religion. It means to re-bind to all things -to re-connect - and all things are held together by the spirit of God.
The message is that your death is not the end so everything you do now is not pointless but in fact has eternal importance and meaning so be more mindful about what you say and do.
The message says that even when you fall short, when you pick yourself up and dust yourself down and admit where you’ve failed the depths of God’s forgiveness in inexhaustible.
This message of salvation, a word which means healing and wholeness of your mind, body and spirit, and re-connecting you to the source of all life and being is true good news for all creation. And you are an integral part of that creation.
In
the end, the Christian faith is a choice.
Do you choose to believe that the world is just an accident, nothing more than the physical matter you see around us – essentially lifeless and without morality, purpose or ultimate meaning. That you are alone and don’t matter.
Or do you choose to believe the message of Jesus – that the world is good and innately connected by the Spirit of God. That Love is real, morality has substance, that you are intimately connected to all things and that you matter.
The choice is yours and it is the same choice God has always offered as it says in the Hebrew scriptures. (Deuteronomy 30:19)
Amen
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