Simeon's Story (the extended version)

This story originally appeared in one of my multi-sensory books. Since then, it has grown a little bit, given extra colour by my visit to Jerusalem.

I've waited.for many many years,. Waiting is hard.
Waiting for something when you don't even know when its coming is even harder. And waiting for a promise that some people think is ridiculous; when people stare at you strangely or laugh in your face, is the hardest thing of all. Yet still I wait, and hold onto the promise that I was given.

It all began such a long time ago. My name is Simeon, and one night, when I was young, something incredible happened, somehow, in a way I cannot really explain, God touched me. It was like suddenly having the lights switched on in your life, after an eternity of groping around in the darkness. It was like the coming of the dawn. It was like suddenly falling in love. And that night God gave me a promise.

The promise was that I would not die before I saw the Messiah, the Christ himself, in the flesh. Which meant, of course, that it must be soon. That our liberation was coming soon. Each morning after that I awoke and sprang out of bed full of excitement, wondering if this was the day;

But since then it has been hard. I soon gave up springing out of bed, as each evening came, filled with disappointment and impatience. Now I have lived a whole lifetime longing to see the promise come true. All my friends have gone, and I am alone in my waiting. When I climb up the many stairs to the temple, with my knees shouting and complaining, I scan every face, to look for the One I long to see, but somehow I sense I will probably know where to look before I even turn my head.

And so we come to this morning. Today I have an inexplicable longing to visit the temple. And I do wonder if today really is the day, I am getting so old now that soon I won't be able to make it up the stairs at all. They will have to carry me there!

I arrive at the temple. Vast, colonnades and open space, columns and columns and far too many stairs. And in the fresh morning air and dappled sunshine there are many families queueing for the sacrifices. Lots of young boys being dedicated to God . But then as I glance at a couple standing at the front of the line with a young baby, something happens to me. I cannot stop staring at them, and I feel almost as if, at that moment, time has stopped. The rest of the world almost doesn't exist. I quickly move over to them, with more of a hobble than a run, and I ask if I can hold the child in my arms. His mother is so young, but she smiles at me proudly and gives me her baby. I pull the blankets away from his face and stare down. And I know. Deep down, in the core of my being. I know that this IS the Christ, and my wait is over.

I hold the child, and he gurgles and dribbles on my clothes helplessly. Yet in that gesture I sense some incredible mystery. Something like the power of God is in him, but he is helpless because he chooses to be. I lift him high into the air, throw back my head and laugh, and in my laughter a prayer comes out.

"Now you can let me, your servant, go home in peace,
Just like you promised me so long ago.
For my very own eyes have seen your marvellous scheme.
Salvation itself,
Held in the tiny fingers of a baby's hand.
The plans you have made in public
For the whole world to see.
A light that will shine
Before the strangers in far off lands.
And give fame and honour to your precious people Israel."

I see his mother's eyes grow wide with wonder and her husband smile proudly and hold her close. And, as I give the baby back, I turn and bless them, but warn the mother that she has heartbreak ahead. For that child will strip away the secrecy from many people's hearts and they will not like being exposed. They will cut him to the heart with a lance and as they cut his flesh his mothers heart will bleed as well. Yet this is many years away, and the boy must growup first. I offer the sacrifice for him , to buy him back from God, two small birds, and yet as they are offered I have this strange sense that I am not buying him back at all. He is buying me back, or will do so before so long.

Finally I say my goodbyes and I watch them walk away until they are small dots down at the bottom of the staircase, and as they disappear and merge with the crowds below, I know that I can finally rest. The Christ has come. The Christ has disappeared into the crowd, but he has come to live with us and now I can let go, knowing the promise has come true, and soon all the other promises will soon come true as well.

Magnificat 2012

I've been lyric writing again....
This is a magnificat which I've written with the hymn tune Lucis Creator in mind but with a tiny bit of tweaking I'm sure it would fit other Long metre tunes. (eg when I survey, tallis canon etc)
If you're not sure how Lucis Creator goes here it is....

The usual rules apply by the way. Feel free to tweak, project, print, remix, recycle etc within a worship situation.

The Lord is great my soul proclaims
My heart delights in his saving name.
He looked upon my loneliness
And generations call me blest.

Our mighty God has done great things
And holy is the name we sing
His mercy lasts from age to age
Through family trees on history's page

His powerful arm has shown great might
In scattering the proud from sight
The mighty kings will lose their crowns
The lowly raised, the proud cast down.

The hungry have been banqueted
The rich and powerful are not fed
He sends the rich ones from his door
the hungry ones are given more

He has recalled his promises
To Abraham and his children's heirs
His promise of mercy shall endure
To help his people evermore.

All glory to the Father, Son
And Holy Spirit , the Three-inOone,
Who was and is and ever shall be
Beyond the end of history.

A Meditation on the Orthodox icon of the Nativity (the birth of Jesus).

Here is the meditation that I used at the cafe church in St Mary's during the Epiphany weekend. We placed a large print of the nativity icon on a stand and printed copies of this meditation onto pieces of paper so that people could do the meditation in their own time.

Nativity Icon Meditation.
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Find a spot where you can see the icon clearly, then relax and allow God to speak to you through the picture. Gaze at the picture as a whole for a while. What do you like most about it? What do you dislike? Ask God to speak to you as you look at the icon more closely and use it as a basis for your prayer.

The background to this icon is a rocky and inhospitable world. Life can be hard sometimes. What part of your life is hardest at the moment? Tell God about this and ask him to help you with it.

In the centre of the icon is Mary, a larger figure than the others, in a cave. The town of Bethlehem has many caves used as stables and it is most likely that the stable where Jesus was born was one of them. Mary looks very tired after having given birth. What in life is making you weary at the moment? Tell God about this thing.

Yet this birth cuts into our rocky landscape, making our lives different. What difference has knowing about Jesus made to your life? Turn these thoughts into a prayer of thanks.

The baby Jesus is so tightly wrapped in swaddling clothes that he is helpless. He has given up his power and allowed himself to be made human and fragile. Yet as well as being ordinary, he is extraordinary too. The star beams joyfully down from Heaven pointing to the fact that Jesus is the light of the world. What part of your life is confusing at the moment and needs some light shedding upon it? Ask for guidance with this.

The ox and the ass are from a prophesy by Isaiah, "The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib" (Isaiah 1:3). The animals are also thought to symbolize the Jews and the Gentiles. (The ox is a "clean" animal in Jewish thought and the ass is "unclean"). This good news is for everyone. Think and pray for those who feel "unclean", outcast or excluded at the moment. Pray that they will experience the good news of this invitation from God.

The women on the bottom right are midwives. They remind us that Jesus was born in the same way as a normal human baby. The newborn Jesus would have needed washing, just as an ordinary human baby would. Remember that Jesus experienced all the everyday aches and pains of being human. He shivered when it was cold, sneezed in a dusty room, and he muscles ached sometimes too. Pray for someone who is in pain today.

To the left are the magi on their journey, on horseback, finding the territory tough. Pray for those you know who are finding their journey through life really difficult at the moment.

The tree at the base of the picture is the "Jesse Tree". It is taken from the prophecy calling Jesus the "root of Jesse" (the father of King David): "A shoot shall sprout from the stump (of the tree) of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him" (Isaiah 11:1-2). The Jewish lineage of kings were cut off many years beforehand and ruled no more, but in Jesus the line of kings was restored. What things spring to mind that need restoration or renewal at the moment? Pray for those things.

The figure in the bottom corner is Joseph. He is pictured away from Jesus and Mary, almost out of the picture. This is because he was not directly involved in the miracle of Jesus’ incarnation and he looks very sad, as if he is doubting the miracle. The old man speaking to him represents the devil bringing new doubts to Joseph. Mary in the centre, from her reclining position, looks at Joseph as if trying to overcome his doubts and temptations. Pray for those who are tempted at the moment. and those with doubts. Is there anything that you find difficult or that you doubt about? Give your doubts to God and ask him to speak into them, giving you peace.

The angels are glorifying God and announcing the Good News to the shepherds, or singing. To the right, a young shepherd sits, playing his flute to express his joy at the Good News of Jesus’ birth. Pray for those who work to spread good news, and for those who really need to hear some good news today.

Who do you relate to most in the icon at the moment. What does this tell you about your life at the moment?

Finally give thanks for everything that God has shown you as you have prayed.

A brilliant letter

One of the loveliest stories to appear in the press recently has concerned Alex Renton, an agnostic who sends his daughter to a church school in Scotland. Recently he caught his daughter Lulu writing a letter to God which went "To God. How did you get invented?"

All credit to the Renton family. Rather than burning the letter up the chimney as his daughter asked or giving her some sort of pat answer. Instead, he e-mailed the letter to various church bodies. The Scottish Episcopal Church didn't get around to replying, nor did the Presbyterians and the Scottish Catholics did reply but gave quite a complex answer. Alex also sent the letter to “the head of theology of the Anglican Communion, based at Lambeth Palace” – and this was the wonderful response:

"Dear Lulu,
Your dad has sent on your letter and asked if I have any answers. It’s a difficult one! But I think God might reply a bit like this –

‘Dear Lulu – Nobody invented me – but lots of people discovered me and were quite surprised. They discovered me when they looked round at the world and thought it was really beautiful or really mysterious and wondered where it came from. They discovered me when they were very very quiet on their own and felt a sort of peace and love they hadn’t expected.
Then they invented ideas about me – some of them sensible and some of them not very sensible. From time to time I sent them some hints – specially in the life of Jesus – to help them get closer to what I’m really like.
But there was nothing and nobody around before me to invent me. Rather like somebody who writes a story in a book, I started making up the story of the world and eventually invented human beings like you who could ask me awkward questions!’
And then he’d send you lots of love and sign off.

I know he doesn’t usually write letters, so I have to do the best I can on his behalf. Lors of love from me too.
+Archbishop Rowan"

Isn't that brilliant? I think its one of the best explanations of God's "invention" that I've seen anywhere, to people of any age, never mind aged 6!

Anyway the Renton family were so impressed that they contacted the Times about it. And I'm very glad they did as the story deserves a wider readership.

Judgement

Here  I am, reposting my sermon from 28th November, and its all about judgement! Why on Earth would I want to preach a sermon about judgement you may ask?  Well, I thought it was about time we had a rethink about it, as we either get hopelessly negative and scared or we pooh pooh the fact that it might exist at all. Hopefully this redresses the balance and starts us thinking more positively!

Here is the address for the bible readings...

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We have now come into the season of Advent, when we look forward to the coming of Christ in three ways. Christ who came at Bethlehem 2000 years ago, Christ who comes to us and meets us at the altar each week and Christ who will come in glory to judge the earth.

As our reading from Isaiah chapter 2 put it “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; “

We often see Judgement as bad. Talking about judgement makes us nervous because we are scared of being found fault with or rejected. It does not help that many of the times we hear the word in everyday life, it is used negatively. "Don't be so judgemental. The judge gave him ten years hard labour" . The rise of shows like X factor and Strictly Come Dancing and judges like Simon Cowell have made things even worse.  Or as  Bruno said of Ann Widdecombe's salsa "  It was unique and compelling, somewhere between horror and comedy. " Jesus, is not like any of these judges and we need to learn to flip those ideas on their heads.

If we look up judgement in a thesaurus, and then remove the suggestions with those more negative connotations we are left with this little list of suggestions of words with similar meanings.

astuteness, discernment, ingenuity, intuition, penetration, perception, savvy, sharpness and wisdom. Perhaps we should see the judge not as the one who wishes to jail us, but more like the penetrating perception of a body scanner in the hands of a skilled doctor, delving deep inside and trying to see what is going wrong in order to fix it.

One of the desert Fathers in the early church was asked by a certain soldier if God received a penitent man. And after heartening him with many words, the monk said to him at the last, "Tell me, beloved, if your cloak were torn, would you throw it away?"  he said, "No, but I would patch it and wear it." The old man said to him, "If you would spare your garment, shall not God have mercy on His own image?"

We are made in the image of God, and God loves us, and does not want to reject us or throw us away. God wants  to fix us.  Or as Coldplay put it

" Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you"

See the video of the whole song here .

We are broken people living in a broken world, and the judgement of God is not one that throws away. It is one that fixes whenever it can.

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks"

The swords we heard about in that Isaiah reading did not end up in landfill. They were not burned or buried. They were moulded into something better. They were turned into ploughshares, a tool for growing crops and feeding the hungry. A weapon of death was turned into a means of saving life. A sharp edge is useful somewhere else!

Yet of course the problem in this day and age is that many people do simply throw away torn clothes and old swords, and many things end up in landfill that do not need to be there.We write off people too. Society finds it hard to accept that people can change, and is not often willing to give them second chances. But God not only gives people second chances, he gives them 70 times 7 chances, that is the extent of his love.

Henri Nouwen wrote these challenging words about how we deal with other people who have made mistakes "Some of us tend to do away with things that are slightly damaged. Instead of repairing them we say: "Well, I don't have time to fix it, I might as well throw it in the garbage can and buy a new one." Often we also treat people this way. We say: "Well, he has a problem with drinking; well, she is quite depressed; well, they have mismanaged their business...we'd better not take the risk of working with them." When we dismiss people out of hand because of their apparent woundedness, we stunt their lives by ignoring their gifts, which are often buried in their wounds."

One of the most challenging things about that Henri Nouwen quote is his insight that people’s gifts are often buried in their wounds. And it is true that when we allow God to work within us, He transforms our very woundedness into something that can help and heal other people, but in order to allow that to happen we have to open ourselves up to God working within us and learn to accept ,and love, and forgive ourselves.

One of the absolutions in the New Zealand prayerbook goes. “God forgives you, forgive others, forgive youself, through Christ God has put away your sin. Approach your God in peace.” I love that prayer and was sad that it didn’t make it into our current prayer book as an authorised text, because it underlines the fact that often the hardest task we have when we have done something we are ashamed of, is to forgive ourselves.

So if we look at judgement more as a body scanner than a high court judge we can see God's judgement  as more of a weeding-out of what makes us, our lives and our world unhappy. Or as psalm 72 puts it. “May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.”

Those on the top of the pile may be afraid of anything changing. But for those on the bottom of the pile, the outcasts on the margins, and those who have suffered grave injustice the thought that someone is going to root out what makes life unfair for them becomes a good thing that they long for. For justice involves "fairness", and if all your life you have suffered from un-fairness and in-justice then the thought that someone will come and make things right and give you a fair chance is something amazing.

Some people would prefer not to think of God as judging at all. But, as someone pointed out to me recently, what would we call a judge who simply let a murderer walk away free?

The answer is "Corrupt".

Yet God is not corrupt. He longs to make things right.

...and we can help God in that task. Not by standing in the middle of town and shouting about God’s judgement like some Christians have done in the past, but rather by opening ourselves up to God’s body-scanning judgement here and now. By asking God to reveal what is wrong in our lives, and inviting in his healing love to fix it. Many people find it helpful to have a confessor or soul friend to do this with them. Others simply do it in a quiet place on their own - and if we mess up and find ourselves feeling guilty, saying sorry to God sooner rather than later can help - not letting our wounds fester. Then when the end comes and Christ returns in glory, we will have nothing to fear at all but much to look forward to, when justice finally comes to our world.

Christmas 2A - Looking for the lost.

Here is my sermon from last Sunday. If you're interested in what the bible readings were that day follow this link. . We used the Jeremiah, Ephesians and John readings in the service. I seem to have had a bit of a song theme running through my sermons for the past couple of months. It has been largely accidental, and I wouldn't force it, but there are a lot of songs around that are saying some very deep things, and its good to connect our Sunday life with what is going on in the rest of the world. Of course, one of the problems in posting a sermon is that the writing style is different to a written article. So I offer the text with apologies to those of you that hate sentences starting with conjunctions!

Today, once again we come across part of God's plan. - we've seen over the last few weeks that it works over a vast timescale, that it is often surprising and that it turns the existing world power structures upside down.

I must admit I was a little wary of speaking yet again about God's master plan, and yet the readings steer us so clearly in that direction that its hard to avoid it really.

For today more of that plan is revealed. Jeremiah speaks of bringing us back from lost places. "I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here." The thing that strikes me most about what the prophet says here is this "I am going to bring them...."
Not "I’ll give them a map and see if they find their own way back" not " I am going to send someone else to do the hard work of going and get them." but "I am going to go and get them MYSELF". And that is what he did in Bethlehem, being born amongst us as a human being.

That is the unique thing about Christianity really. People often ask, what is the difference between Christianity and other religions, and there are a number of answers. but the one that I like most is the one which says "many other religions are about how we can try to find God. Through prayer fasting and other religious practices, and obeying laws and commandments. But Christianity is about how, in Christ, God came and found us. God came in Jesus to bring the lost human race back home, because the whole human race was drifting badly from the path that leads to life.

We were drifting and God offered us a baby’s hand to lead us back.

As Katy Perry sang.
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
'Cause there's a spark in you?
You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
'Cause baby, you're a firework

(Here's the link to the whole song and lyrics)

God sees that firework spark in us. The one that can light up the sky like the ones we saw shooting upwards as the new year began the other night.

And how does God know just what that spark can do?
He knows because He put it there!

But a firework is just a grey cardboard tube with some powder inside it unless someone lights the fuse, someone ignites the light. And that's what Christ came to do.

So Christ came. The Word became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood, to bring us back from those lost places where we were drifting like plastic bags in the wind - And we could be very far away from home indeed - but He would still come and get us.

Jesus told us that that was his job description himself, just after he’d transformed the life of Zaccheus, the corrupt tax collector so radically that he offered to give half his posessions to the poor

“The son of man came to seek and to save the lost” .

We concentrate mostly on the save the lost bit of that job description. But the seek bit is important too.

And sometimes when he is seeking those far away from home, he uses us to help him in his work. Some of you may know that I have been involved in the work of Fresh Expressions for a while, which aims to go and bring church to birth in places far away from the church culture. Not to replace existing churches, but to work alongside them, to reach more people. to adopt a “go to them” agenda. The inspiration for that has always been from the Christ who became incarnate in Jewish first century culture and spent 30 years eating, drinking, and living with them, in order to find them and bring them home.

"Go to them" was also the kind of thing the choir did recently when we went to the market, and to Leeds General Infirmary just before Christmas to sing carols and bring the good news of the birth of Christ to ordinary people just where they were, even the couple that were very literally lost in a hospital corridor trying to find a ward that wasn’t listed on the map. And whenever we step out like that incredible things happen.

I don’t know whether the choir members noticed the effect they had on the people around them - but there were tears in many people’s eyes, and draws dropping and gasps of amazement. - “Don't worry- they’re happy tears!” one lady said to me.

The last time I stepped out in that sort of way was at Ash Wednesday last year. The Archbishop of York appealed for local clergy to go and help him by collecting prayer requests in town which he then prayed for in ten minute vigils once an hour in St Helens church in York city centre. It was called “Say One For Me”. People were amazed that we weren’t asking for anything from them, other than what they might want prayer for, and some tears flowed then too, as people who were simply having a bad time had a chance to talk about it as they filled in their prayer request card. I randomly met one of these people a couple of months later in town. She had asked for prayer for her agonisingly painful wrist and was thrilled to tell me that it had got better that same day and hasn’t been any trouble ever since. God came and met her by the fountain in the town and brought her what she needed at that moment in time. There is a definition of salvation which goes “simply allowing ourselves to be found” and that's what that lady did. The one who searches is the one who does the work.

Yet there is more to come once we are found. St Paul reminds us in the letter to the Ephesians that God’s aim is to
To gather up all things in him.
To adopt us so that we might become children of God
To fix us, through his healing blood, where sin has broken us
and to give us an inheritance - so as God’s children we get God's good gifts.

Paul reminds us that God started planning this before the very start of time. Our very famous gospel reading today reminds us of exactly the same thing too.

"But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God."

This is God’s amazing plan for us all. And we don’t have to screw up our foreheads and by sheer force of will make it happen, we don’t have to accomplish lots of difficult tasks, go on massive retreats, fast for years on end or climb a very high mountain. We don’t even have to be fit and healthy. Jeremiah tells us the fragile, the blind the lame are all being gathered too. We simply have to allow ourselves to be found and carried home on Christ’s shoulders.

So may the saving searching Christ work in us and through us, to seek and save the lost and bring us all safely home Amen.

Christmas 2010 Sermon

Here is my Christmas morning sermon. Judging by the rather excited reaction of some of the congregation I think I must have hit a spot there; however this might be more to do with some stuff that was going on in their lives on Christmas Day than being anything to do with my preaching. It was an eventful morning I must admit, but I wrote the sermon last Monday, before  the eventful morning, and before the Pope said stuff about God being surprising, although its nice to see that other people think so too!

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Well I usually start a sermon by reminding people of the themes of the day, but today needs no reminders, or announcements. Its impossible to avoid the fact that its Christmas.

But this presents an altogether different sort of problem. What do you say when so much has been said already? Maybe I should just give up and wheel in Tony Jordan, who, after working on Eastenders and Life on Mars brought a bit of angst into the story of the Nativity this week on the BBC - even if he did take a few little liberties with the biblcal text of the tale.

And what a tale! Sometimes it is so epic that it takes on the feel of a fairy story for us. Yet, although it might sometimes feel like a fairy story, the Christmas story is no Cinderella- style pantomine. It is the story of a birth of someone real.

“Christus” or Christ  was mentioned by the Roman historians Tacitus, Pliny the younger. and Josephus as well as the bibical texts; Josephus (AD37-100) said. “About this time came Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is appropriate to call him a man. For he was a performer of paradoxical feats, a teacher of people who accept the unusual with pleasure, and he won over many of the Jews and also many Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon the accusation of the first men amongst us, condemned him to be crucified, those who had formerly loved him did not cease to follow him, for he appeared to them on the third day, living again, as the divine prophets foretold, along with a myriad of other marvellous things concerning him. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.”

Tacitus is a little ruder, which makes it pretty obvious that he isn’t a believer himself .

“Christus, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out”

And yet despite the concretely historical nature of this birth, our familiarity with the gospel accounts of *how* Christ’s birth happened have blinded us to the utterly surprising nature of them! For God is a God of surprises.

The Jewish people had been on the lookout for their Messiah or Christ, their rescuer to be born for many years. Their scriptures contained numerous prophesies of what sort of person this messiah would be,and even where he would be born

“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler  who will shepherd my people Israel.”

And yet, when it actually happened, they still missed it.

If we strip away what we know of the story, and pretend we have never heard this tale what would we think?

Who would the son of God be born to?

Someone rich perhaps, married and respectably holy in society. Yet Mary and Joseph were so poor they could not afford to sacrifice a lamb at the temple to mark Christ’s presentation, and had to make do with two turtle doves.

And God did not wait until Mary was married to do his work which left mary looking rather un-respectable, despite her holiness.

Mary and Joseph were not of the holy priestly tribe either, but distant descendents of the kings of the tribe of Judah.

And when Christ was born where did it happen?

In a palace with physicians in attendance?

At home with the assistance of a midwife?

No. In a stable.

I expect Joseph had to do the delivery himself. The thought that Joseph might have been the one to deliver the child, struck me during the Abbey Grange carol service this year. One of the pupils wrote a piece which  told of Joseph’s thoughts.

“I delivered him, and one day he will deliver me”.

That idea that the One who came to deliver or rescue our society from all the wrong that has infested it, himself needed to be delivered or rescued from suffocation or stillbirth, and was depending on someone else to cut his chord was quite a powerful one that still rings in my ears.

The utterly surprising extent of Christ’s powerlessness at that moment in time is quite mind boggling.

Yet after the baby is born the surprises continue. Who does the angel announce the good news to, so they can come and visit? Local dignataries?

Priests and Rabbis?

Minor celebritites?

Nope.

Shepherds, the local outcasts, who were frowned on for never going to Synagogue because they were too busy looking after their sheep. The ones who were regarded with the same sort of suspicion that drug addicts are these days. The smelly ones who never got an invitation to anybody’s party  got an invite to this one.

And who else comes. Strange travelers from the Middle East , who aren’t even practicing Jews, who are involved in astrological predication which is frowned upon in the Jewish scriptures,  and carrying the most bizarre presents.

If you were going to make it up, you wouldn’t make it up this way I’m sure!

And I’m sure Joseph and Mary never planned to have their child on the floor of  the part of the house where the animals lived, and I think they probably planned to have a slightly better cradle than a cows feeding box!

There is a quote, atttributed to Woody Allen, which goes. “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans”

We can think we have our lives mapped out, and when God steps in some glorious chaos can ensue!

Yet, in the end we can see that the surprising Divine plan often comes out better than the one we came up with on our own. It can sometimes take a long time for that to become apparent though.

This awful snow and these ridiculous low temperatures have messed up lots of our plans, and I have certainly realised that the daily life I previously took for granted as being normal is a lot more fragile than I thought.

It takes humility though to admit our own powerlessness and let God in to run things instead.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote” "For the great and powerful of this world, there are only two places in which their courage fails them, of which they are afraid deep down in their souls... These are the manger and the cross of Jesus Christ.

No powerful person dares to approach the manger, and this even includes King Herod. For this is where thrones shake, the mighty fall, the prominent perish, because God is with the lowly.

Here the rich come to nothing, because God is with the poor and hungry, but the rich and satisfied he sends away empty.

Before Mary, the maid, before the manger of Christ, before God in lowliness, the powerful come to naught"

This is disturbing news for those who wish to be powerful, who wish to run everyone else’s lives who like to have it all organised.

But for the rest of us, those who want to belong to the next chapter of God’s story, it is good news indeed.

Let’s be brave and approach the manger and meet the Christ who is there. May that surprising wonderful Christ step into the poverty and spiritual hunger of all our lives this Christmas and bring new life and warmth and hope and a future! Amen.