The Incarnation

1993 (Year B), 24 December (Christmas Eve)

St Peter de Beauvoir Town

The prophet gave the people in darkness an unforgettable dream. He dreamt of a wonderful counsellor, a mighty hero, everlasting father, prince of peace. And people centuries later remembered the dream. They likened a man they knew to that vision and the two became inextricably bound together. What happened two thousand years ago has caused us tonight to retell the dream. ‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who have dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined’. We in our turn come on this most holy of nights. We come in out of darkness to a place of light. And as we step out of the land of darkness we come into a place of worship. The ultimate place of light.

We come in response to memories, to hopes and fears. Brought here by any number of reasons. Some conscious, others buried away deep inside us. Some are good and honourable. Others most certainly aren’t. Whatever the reason, we’re in here, out of darkness into light and for that we should be profoundly thankful.

Yet the light into which we have come is not necessarily an easy place to be. It’s not always a place of comfort, clarity and understanding. For the light can be too light – it can blind us and be just as impenetrable as the dark. When light comes some of the fear caused by the darkness disappears, but light as the shepherds experienced brings its own anxieties. Ultimately it won’t reveal the mystery.

Tonight we’ve come home. Come to celebrate a mystery in which both darkness and light have their part to play. A mystery which darkness cannot overcome and light cannot make clear. We’ve come ‘here to kneel/Where prayer has been valid’, for years. We’ve come to retell the ancient dream and to hear the tradition which has expressed the mystery of the relationship between creator and created in the story of a baby’s birth. The presence of God – so mysterious so majestical, so awful and powerful; so beyond our imagining. Yet there it is for those who eyes to see in the intimacy of a mother, father and child.

On this most Holy Night God is eternally present with us, enveloped in the darkness and radiated in the light. And that quite simply is the mystery. The darkness remains as frightening, the light is just as awesome but as we celebrate the gift of the incarnation we recognise God with us.

And ‘to us a child is born. To us a son is given. The government is upon his shoulder.’ Our liberator becomes a pleading child. And this child will become the liberator for the new world of peace. His sovereignty lies on the defenceless, innocent and hopeful shoulders of a child.

To most people all this seems no more than pious hope. We know that victories come only when the strong are overwhelmed by the stronger. The prisoners who have to fight for their rights find it difficult to understand how a mere child can help them. But it really is quite logical. The eternal peace of God, recalled and celebrated at Christmas, which satisfies our longings can only come to meet us, whether we are frightened slaves or aggressive masters, in the form of a child. A child is defenceless. A child is innocent. A child is the beginning of new life. A child’s defencelessness makes weapons superfluous. We can open our clenched fists. We no longer have to behave as we did before. The old rules no longer apply. This child’s birth opens up for us a future a future in peace that is different from all life which went before.

With the birth of the baby the dream of the ancient prophet becomes a reality. The liberator is present and his power is among us. We can follow, even today making visible something of the peace, liberty and righteousness of the kingdom he will complete. It is no longer impossible. It becomes real in fellowship with him and with one another. We can share in this new creation, born again to a living hope, living as new men and women.

So:

‘Come to me all you who are troubled and I will give you rest’ So come, you who are burdened by regrets and anxieties,
You who are broken in body or in spirit,
You who are torn by relationships and doubt
You who feel deeply within yourselves the divisions and injustices around you.
Come, for Jesus the Christ invites you to bring him your brokenness and to be made whole.

AMEN