Our God of Surprises - A sermon for Midnight Mass - 24th December 2018

In the name of God, Father, the Son to be born and the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Well, it’s almost Christmas, we’re nearly there, a season which as we all know, starts tonight and lasts a whole 12 days until Epiphany. Twelve days, you proclaim, that’s a surprise! - I didn’t know that was coming and I never knew Christmas lasted as long as twelve days!

I’m probably as surprised as you are, to see me standing here and I have to admit to being surprised when Fiona asked if I would like to preach in this service,

and as I progress towards being ordained Deacon next summer, this is one of the services I’ve looked forward to being a part of, although of course, I always was because until this year, I always sang in the choir and it does feel very odd standing here instead.

That sense of surprise is something we should all hold onto tonight.

And Christmas is all about surprises, and that’s even before we open the stunning knitted tea cosy from Aunt Mabel.

So while on one level, we remember the surprise of a young mother giving birth in a shabby stable, surrounded by animals and shepherds.

On another level, the canvas is much bigger.

Here was a God, coming to earth, not like Thor or Zeus, as a mighty mythical warrior, but instead, as a fragile baby, but still a God, one and the same in the Trinity as his Father in Heaven and with the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ was now fully human and fully divine.

This whole situation was new, it had never happened before, in fact, it was a surprise!

God, the creator of the universe, of heaven and of earth, came among us, Emmanuel, he was born and grew up as a child and became a man and why?

Well it wasn’t to rule, it wasn’t to inflict his will or to control us. We still have free will, but God loved all that he had created so much, that as we hear later in John’s Gospel: (in chapter 3, verse 13).

“For God so loved the word that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

God could see the human race had gone astray, he had tried a flood, exile, earthly prophets and kings, but none had really worked. So along came Jesus, the word.

The Bible, in Genesis, begins, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and God created light and all life and he saw it was good and he blessed his creation.”

This was deliberately copied in John’s Gospel, “¹In the beginning was the Word – which is a title for Jesus, for his wisdom - and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”

This tells us that God is beginning again, pressing a kind of divine reset button, not wiping out the human race this time, but instead, introducing something completely new – something surprising, himself…

And Christmas is a reminder that this is still happening. God may not be born as a baby every year, but we are surrounded with and through the Holy Spirit, given by God so that we would always know God through prayer and worship and the Bible.

So, the word became flesh, and the word was not only Jesus but also the whole of creation and while I don’t believe that the Earth is only 3000 years old, as creationists do, I do believe that God created the Universe and the Earth and also the laws of science which hold it all together.

The whole of creation has free-will, that’s why there are earthquakes, malaria and accidents, sunsets, waterfalls and stunning mountains - nothing is planned, God doesn’t decide each detail of our lives, that’s what free-will is.

But God did create humans, and he loves us, he loves you, and he created the Earth and the Universe, the animals, plants, bacteria and even spiders - and he loves them all as well.

I also believe that Jesus was, and is, the word, that he was with God at the beginning of creation and like God is alive now in the Trinity, with God and with the Holy Spirit.

Now this all sounds very serious and I am very aware that for many of us, this Christmas will be very tough, and I am confident that God will be with each and every one of us, in the joy and in the pain, whether we can sense his presence or not. My prayer is that you’ll sense God is with you when you need him most, as comforter and guide.

But tonight, I believe in a God of great joy and wonder and of surprises, in fact I need to believe in a God of great joy and wonder and surprises, who delights in the birth of every child, in the happiness of laughter when friends and families meet at Christmas, because, of course, our God laughs when he feels joyful.

These words, by Paul Bunday, bring together all that is joyful in the new world we are about to remember coming into being, with the birth of the baby Jesus.

In the beginning…

God laughed,
And the firmament fumed and spluttered with pleasure;

And the sea shook the foam of his hair from his eyes;

And the earth was glad.

The sound of laughter

Was like the swaying and swinging of thunder in mirth;

Like the rush of the north on a drowsy and dozing land;

It was cool. It was clear.

The Lion leapt down

At the bleating feet of the frightened lamb and smiled;

And the viper was tamed by the thrill of the earth,

At the holy laughter.

We laughed,

For the Lord was laughing with us in the evening;

For the laughter of love went pealing into the night;

And it was good.

This glorious day was so huge in our history that it changed everything. There are now billions of Christians around the world, and while many bad things have been done in the name of religion, the good always outweighs the bad, every time.

Every comforting smile, every kind word, every heart saved and the healing power of God, active in and through us in the Holy Spirit.

To God, every life is precious, he loves us and laughs with us, and he also weeps and consoles us.

It’s said that laughter and joy are the only truly global languages; absolutely every culture on earth can understand slapstick and physical humour, they can all laugh and smile… well, hopefully…

And in the beginning,

God promised Men that good and obedient Wives

Would be found in all the corners of the world.

And then is his great wisdom and majesty,

God made the earth round…

And God laughed, laughed and laughed …

I like to think that the Angels, who greeted the shepherds were not only singing, but their joy was infectious, that they would laugh and smile and rejoice. They revelled in the surprise of appearing as a joyful host.

Much like the host of knitted angels we’ve scattered around the parish to proclaim a message of light and peace and hope, let us rejoice and give thanks, as we will shortly in our communion, with all the angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven, that our God of surprises be with us now, and for ever and ever.

Alleluia      

Amen

Preached at St Cyr, Stinchcombe and St George, Cam on Christmas Eve night 2018.

Gospel Reading

John 1.1-14

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

²He was in the beginning with God. 

³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 

⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 

⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 

¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.