I have discovered again this year that people want to be
presented with a different way, because things aren't going very well for them.
Part of Christmas I enjoy is engaging with people who perhaps only encounter
“religion” once a year. Reflecting on December in my church in Hastings where I will share some of these thoughts tomorrow, our carol singing round the streets was excellent, a
lot of people joining in, a lovely spirit, and children excited. Our
Christingle was like a party – the children in the back corner excited that
they knew me. Our community carol morning in our hall was a fun occasion, with
Santa in the doorway attracting the attention of passing van drivers, the lady
opposite peering out of her curtains and children passing by. Our Christmas
Tree Festival got our church open and those who came appreciated some space to look
and to wonder. Part of our plans for 2015 include to get the church open far
more, to say to people there can be a different way. You need not be lonely,
you are not on your own, God is involved in your life, and there can be deep
joy for you.
Our task, call it evangelism if you must, is to remind
people of the divine in our midst – do not be afraid. We are to sing a song
that there has come a different way. We need to keep alive the rumour of God
and we need to remind people of sudden explosions of joy in life, the incarnate
love and peace of God in our midst. Immanuel, God with us.
An Iona book of reflections puts the challenge well:
In that region, where people are afraid to go outside,
where there is little hope for people, a world of darkness and desolation,
people wondering what tomorrow will bring.
The Christmas angels come singing “Do not be afraid” in
fearful places. They flew first to the ones in need of good news, least likely
to be looking for it, or even expecting it, and quite frankly with more reason
than most to refuse the invitation to believe in anything as unlikely as hope.
It is said that angels are simply God’s messengers –
bringing with them a simple, if unbelievable, possibility. “It doesn't have to
be this way,” they say. “Come and see this new thing that has been made known.”
If there is to be a stirring of angel wings, a new song
building in the air, then in this region God’s messengers, you and me minus the
haloes, have to be audacious enough to sing in fearful places.
Angel songs tell us things are about to be different, and
we are to be the angels who take God’s message where God calls us to be. Who
needs an angel today?
Someone wrote in something I read that angels bring disturbing news to settled people. They
open the eyes of working people to a vision of heaven, and they noisily and
untidily being good news to a people who are willing to get off their backsides
and come down the hill to a stable.
The writer then says angels just bring the news, open our
eyes, have a party and clear off again, leaving us to work out where we go from
here. No one forced the shepherds to go to Bethlehem. Their hearts were
suddenly full of wonder and they could do no other than go and find out
more.
I wonder whether we need to be reminded to
be more God centred and less church centred as we go forward. We can get so
caught up in being church we have no energy to encounter God, and if we do, we
want our God to be safe, and only to do things we can cope with. “There aren’t
many of us now, we are getting older, please leave us be,” we cry. But if we
close our hearts to the possibility of God, we miss something we celebrate in
this Christ event, and if we close our hearts to God doing anything we pack
away our hopes and prayers with the decorations at the end of all of this
Christmas thing and that cannot be.
Luke tells us that the shepherds went back and glorifying and praising God for
all they had seen and heard, different people. They had an encounter with the
glory of God, through angel song and the simplicity of a child in a manger.
Do we forget the wonder of God coming TO us? How do we
respond to the glory of God, and good news for all?
None of us know what God might do with us
next, but we have to be open as his people that angels will come to us, give us
good news, give us a sign, and move us on to possibilities we never thought
possible. How will 2015 be for us if we keep that positive attitude going
beyond Christmas and try to live it every day? Someone in my Circuit said to
me the other week, “the trouble with you is your glass is always half full. You
are always so positive.” Well, I was sorry she saw me as a problem. I make no
apologies for my style. I believe the Gospel, Jesus, God’s love, is positive and
needs to be shared with some excitement. A church that is miserable,
and drones on about problems will soon die.
God, thank you for angel songs. Help me to be open to hear them, not just when it is Christmas. Amen.
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