Sermon for Christmas Day 2021

by the Revd Preb. Marjorie Brown

The angels sang about good news of great joy for all the people.

I’ve been lucky enough to visit the chapel in east Bethlehem that claims to mark the spot

where the shepherds heard the angels singing about the birth of Jesus. No one is going to be

able to prove anything by archaeology, but the sense of holy joy can certainly be felt there.

And I’ve heard young Palestinians talking about what it means to be Christians living in the

Holy Land in the 21 st century. They too, despite all the hardships of their lives, are full of

holy joy. They call themselves Living Stones, because they have been a Christian community

in the same place since the time of Pentecost.

I will never forget what one of them said. The Bible can’t be good news unless it is good

news for everyone. It can’t be good news for Israelis and bad news for Palestinians. It can’t

be good news for men and bad news for women, or good news for people who are rich or

white or straight and bad news for people who are not.

The angels sang about good news of great joy for all the people.

I’ve been thinking about that claim, that the Bible must be good news for everyone, as I

prepared for Christmas in this very challenging year. And I have been wondering:

How is the news of Jesus’ birth good news for people who have been bereaved in 2021? How

is it good news for people who have lost their job, or their financial security, or their health?

How is it good news for a person who is homeless or in prison or risking life and limb in a

dinghy on the Channel in search of a better life? How is good news for anyone who is on

their own today and wish they weren’t? What does the coming of Christ at Christmas mean in

a world currently so full of suffering and anxiety, fear and grief?

The world thinks of Christmas as a happy family holiday, a time for giving and receiving

gifts and sharing festive meals with our nearest and dearest. Those are all good things if we

can have them. I love a family Christmas as much as anyone, and especially this year with a

baby grandson to share it with.

But that is not what Christmas is fundamentally about. If Christmas is good news, if the birth

of Jesus is good news, it must be good news for everyone and not just those with a warm

home and a family and enough money to go shopping.

The angels brought news of great joy for all the people. The news that was proclaimed first of

all to the shepherds in that field, who were despised outsiders doing a dirty, lonely job, is that

“to you is born this day a Saviour”. The gospel is that God is found, not in the sky, not in the

great Temple, but in a baby’s cradle. The one who spoke Creation into being cried for his

mother’s milk and needed his nappy changed.

This is a completely staggering thing to claim. It is an enormous scandal to most people, and

even to many devout believers in God. God is shown forth not in power but in weakness and

vulnerability. The gospel, the good news in the Bible that is for all people, is that Jesus is

rightly named Emmanuel. God is with us. And not only is God with us, God is for us.

Nothing that we experience or suffer is beneath God’s notice or dignity. Oppression, poverty,

loneliness and fear are all things that Jesus knew by personal experience. When we find

ourselves in a desperate situation, whether it is because of the death or illness of a loved one,

or the loss of a job or relationship, or a mental health crisis or anything else, it is simply not

true that the good news of Christmas is for the more fortunate and not for us.

The good news is most especially for us when we are in our greatest need. God is on our side.

God has shared our skin, and not only for a single lifetime thousands of years ago, but

forever, because we believe that the Word is made flesh eternally. Jesus brings our humanity

to the right hand of the Father. Human beings, all of us and not just the specially chosen or

worthy, are made for glory.

Paul’s letter to Titus says that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all. It’s a

free gift. It’s not just for those whose lives are orderly and successful. As the beautiful verse

in Isaiah says, they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light

shined.

The year 2021 has felt for many people like walking in darkness and dwelling in the shadow

of death. We don’t yet know how or if 2022 will be better. But we don’t need to whistle in

the dark and cross our fingers. Nor can we despair. Because God’s grace has appeared and

God is faithful. God is for us and we are never alone. This is the heart of our faith and every

Christmas we remind ourselves again of the angel’s words: Do not be afraid. I am bringing

good news of great joy for all people.

Whether we have a happy Christmas, or a sad or lonely or anxious one, the presence of God

is just as much with us and for us. It may be hard to believe. I myself do not understand how

Palestinian Christians living under unjust conditions manage to believe it so thoroughly, but

they do. They shine a light as they have done for 2000 years, telling us with holy joy that the

good news of Jesus is good news for everyone.

Whatever your personal circumstances this year, this Christmas day, may the peace and joy

of Christ be with you now and always.