The following is a message I gave at the University of Edinburgh’s Christmas service, held in the magnificent McEwan Hall. It was my last responsibility as an Honorary Chaplain as I retire on 31st December, and a great privilege to substitute for the Chaplain who was unwell.
UE Carol service address 11th December 6pm
Not cosy, but edgy.
Good evening everyone. It’s lovely to be back here in the McEwan Hall to celebrate Christmas together – and no World Cup matches to distract us.
It will come as no surprise to you that, as someone who spent 30 years in parishes conducting Christmas services, I have a few Christmas ‘pet hates’ so, for a moment I’m going to play the Grinch! On that list is receiving Christmas cards with a robin redbreast on the front, and also the way in which the generosity of that ancient follower of Jesus called St Nicholas has been corrupted and commercialised into Santa Claus. Our culture has, effectively, made Christmas cosy.
It is tempting to say, then, that we get rid of these ‘pet hates’ and focus on ‘the real meaning of Christmas’ but when we ask what that is, there are as many answers as there are people asked. In truth, there are many appropriate answers to this question for Christmas is like a precious diamond with many facets. As we carefully examine each facet, looking deeply into the beauty of this diamond, we discover that we not only understand more about this festival, but we are also changed by that understanding.
The facet we look at tonight is found in the Gospel of Luke, from which we have two readings. Luke self-consciously sets his Gospel story in two different contexts: first the Greco-Roman world – we read, ‘In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree…’; and second the religious and ethnic traditions of the Jewish people – Mary, Joseph and other characters are devout in their Jewish faith and their hope is shaped by it. Both these contexts are important, and we will see that they point us to the reality that the story of the birth of Jesus is not a cosy one, but an edgy one. The birth of this little boy is interpreted as an event that will have world changing implications. Indeed, it is seen by Luke as the coming of God to bring to reality in the present, the kind of kingdom, or society, that will reflect God’s own desire for human wellbeing and salvation: his shalom.
This is the story of a young girl, Mary, probably in mid-teens, from a backwater village who is unexpectedly pregnant, and not even by her fiancé. She is a nobody from nowhere in danger of being thrown out, for there is social shame and disgrace in her condition. But Joseph sticks by her and her child because they both believe God has said to them that the little boy is going to be someone special. As Mary reflects on what is happening to her, Luke puts a song in her mouth that sets the agenda for his book and the actions of Mary’s son – we call it the Magnificat. God has taken me, a nobody, and made me a somebody – he lifts up the humble and brings down the proud, even rulers from their thrones; he will fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty. What Mary sees coming is an upside-down society that is to be ushered in through this child – it is an edgy and uncomfortable message rather than a cosy one.
When her little boy Jesus grows up and becomes an itinerant preacher, he returns to the synagogue in the backwater village of Nazareth where he grew up, and uses a text from the prophet Isaiah, from whom we have also heard tonight: he quotes – the powerful Spirit of God is at work through me to bring good news to the poor, freedom to those in captivity and healing for those who are blind. To a world in which the élite were impossibly wealthy, the economy was built on slavery and those whose abilities were impaired had to beg or die, this was an upside-down message – not cosy, but edgy.
When so many, even within the Christian community, have made Christmas cosy, with ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild,’ with robins to make us smile and Santa Claus to give us what we want, the story of the first Christmas, and the Christian tradition more broadly, sees Christmas as an edgy and subversive story. It believes that Christmas brings with it the promise that God will bring this upside-down society to completion at some point in the future yet denies that this is only a ‘pie in the sky when you die’ promise, for the beginnings of that society are here already. The question is, how are we contributing to it? How are we living in and seeking to develop peace, ‘shalom’ – that big word describing total human wellbeing.
If we believe in no God, or in a God who is not bothered about the present, only a distant promise of ‘jam tomorrow,’ then a cosy Christmas may satisfy us. But if we believe in the God of Mary and Joseph, the God who sent Jesus that first Christmas, then a cosy Christmas is not one that will satisfy. The Christmas story as presented by Luke challenges us in our wealth, our pride and our complacency – are we the rich and the proud who will be brought down, or the poor and humble who will be lifted up?
We are living in a world that is in many ways like the times of the first Christmas. There are those in poverty because of the oppressive actions of others, either intentionally, through political extremism or militarism, or by the consequences of our actions – think of Ukraine, Iran, and many other places. There are people who are in captivity, some as sex slaves, or clothes production slaves, political prisoners or exiles because of persecution – think of the trafficking of those who promise a good life elsewhere; the many in poorer countries who slave to make articles to service the desires of wealthier countries; those whose religious beliefs have required them to flee persecution.
All these things can be found in the Roman world in the time of Jesus, and the message of the first Christmas included a warning and a challenge to that world and ours. The warning is that those who perpetrate these activities will be brought low in the short or long term. Beware! The challenge is to all of us: are we among those who perpetrate these injustices, or are we among those who seek to make them right – who hold the values of God’s just society, put them into practice and work for their wider adoption?
This year, let us not be satisfied with a cosy Christmas, turned in upon ourselves, only looking for a good time then saving up for next year. There are many worldwide for whom Christmas will not, and cannot, be cosy this year or any year. For them, we need to hear the edgy call of the birth of Jesus to be sharers in working for his upside-down society until the day when it comes to fulfilment. As we examine this facet of the Christmas diamond, let us not only see its beauty; let us allow ourselves to be changed by it. Amen.
Steps on The Way 