Reality of Christmas (1)

THE REALITY OF CHRISTMAS

(Preached Christmas 2002)

Ocean, Admiralty, Renown and Victory are the names of four streets of terraced housing in Keyham, built at the beginning of the last century, to house some of the workers of Devonport Naval Dockyard.

They are linked together at the top end by Royal Navy Avenue, where I once lived in the 1970's as Vicar of St Thomas' Church. The church was also on the same road, and was passed by hundreds of dockyard workers on foot every day, going to and from work.

Originally the church had had double doors on to the street, separated by a sandstone column. One of my

predecessors had subsequently removed one of the doors and replaced it with plate glass, presumably to let more light into the church porch.

As soon as I saw it, I thought what a wonderful shop window that would make for the church.

...o0o...

So at Christmas 1974, I arranged with the local store of Debenham's to loan me a male and female shop window model.

I then asked Irene, the Sunday school teacher, to arrange to dress these life size models as Mary and Joseph, and to produce a small manger with a doll in it, dressed as Jesus.

These I planned to put into the 'shop window' of the church, and with the help of a light on a time switch, to provide a life-size crib set, which could be seen by all those dockyard workers on their way to and from work.

Well, you can imagine my surprise, to say nothing of my irritation and annoyance, when Irene turned up to dress these life size models with clothes that would have fitted a child's doll. I'm afraid my Christmas spirit rapidly evaporated.

...o0o...

Once I had cooled down, I realised that the problem was not really one of size but one of theology.

Let me explain.

You see, Irene, like so many people, had subconsciously come to think of Christmas in terms of the fantasy world of childhood. "Didn't our John look lovely as Joseph, and our Sylvia look lovely as Mary, at the nativity play at school".

Now, we too tend to think, usually quite unconsciously, that Christmas is about .....Mary and poor old Joseph and the baby Jesus.

Once we have run out of food and drink (which incidentally usually only lasts for two days, judging by the number of cars heading at break-neck speed for Tesco or Savacentre the day after Boxing Day), Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus are put back up into the loft for another year.

This Walt Disney world of make believe can also be seen in some of the Christmas decorations which decorate, not only the inside of our homes, but nowadays also the outside of our homes. Go around the parish and you will see what I mean.

Tinsel, holly, mistletoe, stars, angels, fairy lights, Father Christmas and reindeer, all add to the sense of unreality.

I am reminded of a cartoon I saw some years ago. A worn-out father, wearing a Father Christmas hat, was seen pushing a supermarket trolley, overloaded with cartons of beer, and remarking to a passer-by: "We only do it for the children".

Yes, it often seems that we try to escape into the Christmas fairyland once a year with the excuse: "We only do it for the children".

...o0o...

Now you and I may well smile at Irene producing baby clothes to fit adult figures, but can you blame her when Christmas has become so child centred and reality appears to be suspended for a few days each year?

Little wonder that Irene, and many others, tend to forget that Mary and Joseph were real people, living in a real world like you and me.

And what is more, we also tend to forget that Jesus also was a real person, living in a real world, like you and me.

I cannot be bothered too much about the detail of the varying birth narratives contained in the gospels of Matthew and Luke.

What matters for me, and what I celebrate each year, is the stupendous fact that, at a particular time in history, the unknown and mysterious God chose to make himself known to humankind in a form that would be easily recognised, namely, that of a human being.

"The Word became flesh and lived among us" as St John, who does not have a birth narrative in his gospel, puts it in our Gospel Reading.

No longer need humankind live in darkness not knowing what God is like. That darkness of ignorance has been pierced by the light of the radiant presence of God, as revealed through Jesus Christ.

One of the more amusing Christmas cards I have received of late, shows the Blessed Virgin Mary pushing along the baby Jesus in a pram and an onlooker peering in and saying "He is the image of his Father".

And that is true. Jesus is the visible image of his invisible father. He reveals God in human form. The exact imprint of God's very being, as our Epistle puts it.

And if he is the image of God in human form, he is also the role model for you and me who are also made in the image of God. In other words he reveals what you and I are capable of becoming, with the grace of God.

As one of the early church Fathers once put it, "He became man so that we might become like God".

...o0o...

Just as that plate glass window of St Thomas' Church, Keyham was a window into the Christmas story, so Jesus is a window into God. So forget about your childlike dreams. This is what Christmas is all about.