Before the mass begins, projected on the screen are the words:
"Imagine God speaks to you tonight. What are you afraid he might ask you to do?"
I refer to this question and leave it hanging as I welcome people
.........
liturgy continues as normal for Midnight mass, until the sermon:
........
Choose one of the following. which would you rather be asked to do?
A) To bring up somebody else’s child
B) To leave behind the modern conveniences of a wealthy prosperous nation to travel to a third world country
C) To accept without complaining demotion at work with somebody much younger than you being promoted over you.
D) To spend all your adult working life with people thinking you are crazy, not to be proved right until you are in your 80s
E) To have to flee the land of your birth and have to live as a refugee in a country where they don’t speak your language
F) To spend what is meant to be the most special night of your life in the cold surrounded by animal excrement
G) To suffer a severe disability for over 9 months
H) To tell your boyfriend (and parents) that you are pregnant and it is not his.
Before Midnight Mass started I asked you to ponder what you are most afraid that God might be wanting you to do. Now if I was really cruel I would be asking you all to put your hands up and tell me exactly what you might be afraid that God might be asking you to do. Or perhaps I might ask you to turn to your neighbour and share with them the scary thing God might be wanting you to do. if I did that - most of you would quickly make up something else rather than the thing you think God might really be asking you to do. Heck - if I was sitting in a service and the priest asked us “what God might be wanting us to do” I’d quickly make up something I felt safe sharing, rather than the scary thing I really felt God might be asking me to do. But I want you to hold onto the thing you really believe God is challenging you about … [speaking in an almost talking to myself manner] … so it’s probably best not to get you to share that thing out loud.of course before the sermon end, I might always change my mind..... But for now, hold that God’s challenge in your mind.
[long pause.....]
The Christmas narrative that you have chosen to celebrate tonight is not a cosy story. Each character is asked to do something that quite frankly I’d rather not be asked to do.
A) Joseph is asked to bring up someone else’s child
B) the wise men are asked to leave the comforts of civilised Persia to travel to the third world backwater of Bethlehem. Ask my wife what it was like to be made by her husband to spend three months in rural Africa without any running water, and you’ll know how the wise men felt.
C) Herod (the one character who doesn’t follow through … and look where that leads him) is asked to accept demotion at work, with a much younger person being promoted over him as King of the Jews
D Simeon and Anna are asked to go everyday to the Temple to wait for the coming Messiah - and it is not until they are in their 80’s that the baby Jesus is brought to the Temple and their prophecy is fulfilled
E) Joseph, Mary and Jesus are asked to flee the land of their birth to escape the massacre that King Herod has in store, and end up living as refugees in Egypt where no one speaks their language
F) Mary is asked to spend what should be the most special night of her life - the birth of her baby - huddled in the freezing cold in a stable, surrounded by the smells of animal excrement
Zechariah, the Father of John the Baptist, has to suffer a severe disability, completely losing the power of speach for over 9 months until John the Baptist is born
G)And of course - Mary is asked to tell her boyfriend Joseph (and her parents) that she is pregnant and it is not his.
[sing song voice] The lovely cozy Christmas story
[serious voice] in which every one of the characters is asked to do something I would rather not be asked to do.
A recent film out was entitled “Danger in the manger” - and actually that’s a pretty apt title for the Christmas story. Because Christmas is not safe and cozy.
As the Poet Annie Dillard said,
“when people come to church they should not be handed an order of service with a smile, but should be given hard hats and life preservers; because church should be a dangerous place, a zone of risk, a place of new birth and new life, where we confront ourselves with who we truly are and who God is calling us to be.”
I have here some protective gear. These are no toys. These are proper authentic hard hats bought from the DIY shop. Trust me - you need it - and I’ve only got four …. who’d like them?
{a few people nervously put their hands up}
Yes one for you keep you safe, {walking down church} yes one for you, {keep walking} yes you want want... {go up to a teenage boy} here’s one for you, I’m really sorry about the rest of your family, but at least you will be safe.
The rest of you - are you feeling worried now? Feeling at all unsafe?
Last night I was watching an episode of the TV comedy Outnumbered. While the little girl of the family is going to the Dentist, her brother Ben is sat in the waiting room along side a fifty something man who is clearly of Dentists.
“Are you scared of Dentists” says Ben
“Yes”
“You should ask for gas. I had a tooth impacted on my jaw and they gave me gas, and it wa great. I was lying there and I woke up and I saw the dentist coming towards me with these giant enormous pliers and he yanked the tooth out and I couldn’t feel a thing. It was so cool, there was blood spurting everywhere and I couldn’t feel a thing. Then he got this great big drill - it was so cool - and he drilled right down into the jaw, and I couldn’t feel a thing. You should ask for gas. What are you here for?”
“A tooth impacted on my jaw”
If that hasn’tput you off going to the Dentist, then an enormous sign filling the entire wall saying “Do not be afraid"
A few years back I went to have a blood test taken. I entered the phelobotomists’ and there are the vampire ladies with their enormous sharp needles {mime it}
And on the wall was a clock with no numbers and in their place letters spelling “Do Not be Afraid”.
Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not too keen on going to the Doctor or going to the Dentist or going to have a blood test taken and being confronted with a big sign saying “DO NOT BE AFRAID”.
Yet that is exactly what the Christmas narrative says to us again and again:
{get slide up ion projector saying:}
“Do not be afraid” (slide)
1) The angel appears to Zechariah, John the Baptist’s dad and says …..[let them give the answer]
2) The angel appears to mary to tell her what is going to happen and says....
3) The angel appears in a dream to Joseph and says...
4) The angel appears to the shepherd in the fields and says...
Ponder again that question that you were asked when you first walked into church this evening?
Do you feel very safe now, or do you wish you were the one wearing the hard hat.
In a world where it is dangerous to be a Christian - you have have chosen to come here tonight. I’m glad that you have made the decision that for you Christmas is about more than just mince pies (lovely though they are) and more than just about Turkey and crackers and trees (lovely though they are) - that whatever other people think, for you, Christmas begins with Christ, and that’s why you are here to worship him tonight.
Exactly a year ago, on 25th December 2011, people just like you were gathered in five churches in Nigeria, in Abjua, in Jos, in Gadaka, and in Damaturu. A few minutes later, 41 of them were dead, blown to smithereens by bombs planted by anti-Christian fanatics. We have people in this church tonight from Nigeria. You, or your children will have friends from Nigeria. People just like us, blown up for going to church at Christmas.
Now when you were pondering that question at the beginning of the mass, whatever God is asking YOU to do, I bet it’s not as scary as what happened to those Christians in Nigeria.
In Saudi Arabia, 4% of the population, over 1 million people are expatriate Filipino Christians. Many of them especially at Christmas worship secretly in their own homes. If they are caught, they are arrested, often tortured, imprisoned and then, if they are lucky deported. We have expatriate Filipinos tonight in this church. These are people just like you. People just like us, arrested, tortured jailed and deported for going to church at Christmas
Now when you were pondering that question at the beginning of the mass, whatever God is asking YOU to do, I bet it’s not as scary as what happened to those Christians in Saudi Arabia.
Someone jokingly said to me this morning that it didn’t matter what I said in the sermon, because of you would be listening anyway. But I can see from your eyes that she was wrong - you are paying attention. you are listening. Actually - I can see from from the embaressment in her eyes that even she is listening....So my challenge to you this Christmas is the challenge of the angels- “Do not be afraid” - the challenge to listen not just to me, but to listen to what God is saying specifically to you.
I end with words from The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe, in which Mr Beaver describes Aslan, the lion who represents Jesus.
“Safe?” said Mr Beaver. “Didn’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘cos he’s not safe. But he’s good. He’s good I tell you, and he’s king.”
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,Amen
