Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart

December 24                          St Barnabas, Warrington                  Christmas Eve

Texts:  Isaiah 52: 7-10; Hebrews 1:1-12; John 1:1-14

Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart

Not an obvious set of Christmas readings tonight!  Our theme promised much: "Emmanuel, God with us" – that's good Christmas talk.  So is the Sentence: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; for to us a child is born, to us a son is given.  And the collect is one we would expect at Christmas: Son of God, child of Mary, born in the stable at Bethlehem, be born again in us this day that through us the world may know the wonder of your love.  There's a bit of theological wrapping there, but once we tear that away we find what we were expecting – Little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay Away in a Manger in the Little Town of Bethlehem.  Ah, now that's what we call Christmas!

But, it seems, that's not what those who selected these readings call Christmas.   No baby Jesus meek and mild, no shepherds, sheep or cattle, and perhaps most surprisingly of all, no sign of the Holy Family.  With hardly a glance over the shoulder to the Blessed St Francis, it's as if the Church has suddenly grown up and ditched the Nativity Scene, along with Santa, Christmas trees, tinsel and other pagan trivia.  I must say I find it rather refreshing, even though it makes the preaching task a little harder.  Luke's pretty story of the shepherds is a lot less challenging that John's mystical musings on the Incarnation of the Word.  And as for the musings of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews!  Perhaps the nice stuff has been kept for the morning when children might be present: tonight we have the Adults-Only  version of the Christmas story.

So what's that story about in its adult form?  As I have been pondering all this during the weeks of Advent I have found myself coming back time and again to the whole idea of beginnings, and in particular to five great God-initiated beginnings.  The first of those great beginnings is popularly known as the Big Bang.  The universe, contrary, perhaps to commonsense and general belief at the time, had a beginning – it might have existed since time immemorial, but it did not exist before time began.  In the beginning, says St John, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God; and we now know that he was talking about the moment immediately before the Big Bang, about 13.7 billion years ago..

The second great beginning was the formation of the planet earth, a process that took something like 7 billion years to produce enough stardust to form the basic stuff of this planet.  This stage is described by the author of Genesis as follows: Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  The basic materials were on site but construction had yet to begin.  It was to take about 2 billion years.  Earth is about 4.5billion years old.

The third great beginning was the start of life on this planet Earth.  For about 20 percent of the time there has been a planet Earth there was no life on it: then suddenly, about 3.75 billion years ago life started, and has continued ever since.  How could that have happened?  If life evolves from other life, if life is built according to inherited DNA, how could it have started from stuff that was not alive, before DNA even existed?  The scientists don't know: to them it is still a mystery.  That mystery John explains to us tonight: Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

The fourth great beginning came when Homo sapiens arrived on the scene, a beginning captured in the biblical classic, The Story of Adam and Eve, when for the first time life became capable of experiencing transcendence, of self-reflexion, of considering possible options and choosing between them.  How did all this happen?  While we wait for evolutionary scientists to stop arguing amongst themselves and give us their answers to those questions, we rest assured with those given by Scripture.  Into the material stuff of which our bodies are made God breathed his Spirit, thereby endowing us with a spiritual as well as a physical nature.  Through this spiritual nature Abraham heard the call of God and ever since the conversation between God and humankind has continued.

Four marvellous beginnings, all robed in mystery, all initiated by the God who makes all things new.  And the fifth great beginning is the one we celebrate this night and every Christmastime.  It is of this beginning that the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews is thinking as he opens his letter: In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

And, of course, it is of this beginning that John writes in one of the most glorious verses in the whole of Scripture: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  In him, says St John, life on earth has reached the perfection of God.

What is the Adults-Only version of the story of Christmas?  For me it goes something like this.  Before the five beginnings was God the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, existing in perfect love and harmony.  And God said, "Let us create all things out of nothing."  And there was a Big Bang, the first beginning. And God looked and saw that it was good. And when the time was right God said, "Let us create the planet Earth out of the dust of the stars"; and when the dust had settled there was the planet Earth, the second beginning.  And God looked and saw that it was very beautiful.  And when the time was right God said, "Now let us create life out of the dust of the earth;" and life began, the third beginning.  And God looked and saw that it was full of potential.  And when the time was right God said, "Now let us make human beings in our own image"; and there was man and woman in God's own image, the fourth beginning.  And God looked and fell in love with these new creatures.  And when the time was right God said, "Now let us become one with them"; and God was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became fully human, the fifth beginning.  And God said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

And the heavenly host sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth."  And Mary shouted "Amen! Amen!" as she beheld the child of her flesh, and her soul rejoiced in God her Saviour.  And ever since, people of every tribe and nation have proclaimed the great Christmas message: "Now the dwelling of God is with humankind, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be their God."

And that's why I believe we can say to one another, and to everyone else in the world, "Happy Christmas!  Alleluia!  Amen!"