The ways Christ made his home with us when the Spirit came at Pentecost

Here's the sermon I preached at St Catherine’s this morning:

‘It's coming home, it’s coming home, it's coming...
Football's coming home.’

The England football song 'Three Lions', which was written by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and Ian Broudie and was first released in 1996 for that year's European Championships, perfectly captures the sense of hope and longing mixed with realism that comes with supporting a men’s national side which has won the major trophy once and come close on other occasions without quite repeating that pinnacle moment. Those of us who sing it when England qualify for the World Cup or European Championship, sing with a sense that this could be the moment of triumph revisited, but probably won't be.

Advent seems to contain that same mix of hope and unfulfilled longing. The word ‘Advent’ is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning ‘coming’. Advent has traditionally been observed as a time of preparation for both the celebration of the first coming of Jesus at Christmas and as a time of prayer for the return of Jesus at the Second Coming. It is this second aspect to Advent which results in passages like today’s Gospel (Matthew 24.36-44) taken from Jesus’ end times sermon featuring heavily in the readings during this season. Advent asks us to reflect on the nature of Jesus’ first and second comings and on how we are to live in the time in between. But Christ’s second coming seems a long time delayed and we wonder, as with the England team winning another trophy, whether that day will ever come.

Our Gospel reading seems to suggest that even the realisation of our hopes for Christ's return can involve a similar sense of hope fulfilled and hopes dashed. It has often been understood as describing what will happen to believers and non-believers when Christ returns and has been used as an evangelistic appeal with the aim of scaring us into salvation. As a teenager, for example, I listened repeatedly to a haunting song by Larry Norman based on today’s Gospel reading. It is called ‘I wish we’d all been ready’ and the second verse includes these lines:

‘A man and wife asleep in bed
She hears a noise and turns her head he's gone
I wish we’d all been ready
Two men walking up a hill
One disappears and ones left standing still
I wish we’d all been ready
There's no time to change your mind
The son has come and you've been left behind’

These images, based directly on our Gospel reading, of people being suddenly separated are taken from a block of teaching given by Jesus during his final week in Jerusalem that have become known as his eschatological sermon. In my view, Jesus’ eschatological sermon was not actually about the end of the world but rather about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem which occurred in AD70. The destruction of the Temple by the Romans was a time of sudden exile and separation, persecution and loss, as graphically described in today's Gospel reading and as it affected the majority of Jesus’ disciples. There was a sudden attack that resulted in some who were in Jerusalem at the time dying and others separating and fleeing the city; just the kind of events which are described in today’s Gospel reading.

The message of Advent is that we are not alone in such times. Advent prepares us to celebrate Christ's first coming into our world. The incarnation involves God, in the baby Jesus, coming into our world and moving into our neighbourhood to be God with us as he makes his home with us. So, the message of Advent is that Christ comes to us and makes his home with us.

But, as we reflected earlier, our experience of hope and of opportunities to genuinely come home is mixed. Like England fans singing 'Three Lions' there is a mix of optimism and realism. The disciples experienced separation and loss when Christ died and when he ascended but he then came again when his Spirit filled them on the day of Pentecost and made his home within them.

So, rather than looking for another future coming, we need instead to be looking at the ways Christ made his home with us when the Spirit came at Pentecost. Together with the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, we can say that Christ now plays in a thousand places and faces, so that we can greet him when we meet him and bless when we understand. This is light in our darkness. It is the calm in the storm that the disciples experienced on the Sea of Galilee and it is what took the disciples through the separation, loss and exile that they experienced following the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in AD70. Because Christ was with them, because he had made his home in them, they could take the good news of his love and presence with them to the far corners of the Roman Empire. As an old children's song perhaps rather simplistically puts it, with Jesus in the boat we can smile in the storm as we go sailing home.

So, home starts here and now because Christ has come to make his home with us through his Spirit. The 17th century German mystic, Angelus Silesius, warns us:

Though Christ a thousand times
In Bethlehem be born
If he’s not born in thee,
Thou art still forlorn.

If Christ is not born in us as we listen and sing this Advent, our time together will be pleasant but not life changing. But, if Christ is born in us, then the whole story will be transformed. It will become our story. He will make his home with us and we will be able to say:

Christ born in a stable
is born in me.
Christ accepted by shepherds
accepts me.
Christ receiving the wise men
receives me.
Christ revealed to the nations
be revealed in me.
Christ dwelling in Nazareth
You dwell in me.

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Ricky Ross - Holy Night/Pale Rider.

Begin again at Bethlehem

In 1935, Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer accepted an invitation from the confessing church in Germany to direct an underground seminary that would recover their rich Christian tradition and train a new generation of church leaders in practice and belief.

The seminary at Finkenwalde became a social experiment in intentional Christian community modelled on the Sermon on the Mount, “a sort of new monasticism.” Bonhoeffer’s book ‘Life Together’ gives the details for anyone interested in finding out more. In practice the seminary lasted but a moment; the Gestapo, the secret state police, closed the seminary in 1937 and arrested more than two dozen of its students. Bonhoeffer was also arrested in 1943 and executed in 1945, just weeks before the end of World War II.

Following the closure of the seminary, Bonhoeffer wrote circular letters to the disbanded seminarians of Finkenwalde. In the first letter, he wrote that 27 members of the group had spent time in prison. Bonhoeffer speaks in the letter of a “time of testing for us all” and implores his students not to allow their physical separation to result in their isolation from one another. A major theme of Bonhoeffer’s correspondence to the seminarians was a summons to pursue and maintain fellowship with one another in any and every way possible.

In his letters Bonhoeffer was not simply concerned to support and connect the seminarians. He also wanted to continue their theological reflection, particularly in relation to the question of who Jesus Christ is for us today. Christmas, he thought, was the key to answering that question. His view was that all the theology of the ancient church about Jesus “really arose at the cradle of Bethlehem”, and so “the brightness of Christmas lies on its weather-beaten face”. Even today, he wrote, “it wins the hearts of all who come to know it”. So, “at Christmas time we should again go to school with the ancient church and seek to understand in worship what it thought and taught, to glorify and to defend belief in Christ.”

In a letter sent at Christmas 1939, he wrote:

“No priest, no theologian stood at the cradle in Bethlehem. And yet all Christian theology has its origin in the wonder of all wonders, that God became [hu]man … Theologia sacra arises from those on bended knees who do homage to the mystery of the divine child in the stall. Israel had no theology. She did not know God in the flesh. Without the holy night there is no theology. God revealed in the flesh, the God-[hu]man Jesus Christ, is the holy mystery which theology is appointed to guard.

What a mistake to think that it is the task of theology to unravel God’s mystery, to bring it down to the flat, ordinary human wisdom of experience and reason! It is the task of theology solely to preserve God’s wonder as wonder, to understand, to defend, to glorify God’s mystery as mystery.”

That is what we are here to do together tonight; to glorify the mystery of God revealed in the flesh.

So, what can we say is going on here, where Mary becomes the mother of God, where God comes into the world in the lowliness of the manger, where pious shepherds are on their knees, and where kings bring their gifts? Bonhoeffer says that because God is in the manger, “God is near to lowliness” and “loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.”

That is the unrecognized mystery of this world: Jesus Christ as God with us. “God as the one who becomes low for our sakes, God in Jesus … that is the secret, hidden wisdom… that “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived” (1 Cor. 2:9).” It is a redemptive mystery “because God became poor, low, lowly, and weak out of love for humankind, because God became a human being like us, so that we would become divine, and because he came to us so that we would come to him”. It is also a mystery of judgment because the Christ child in the manger “pushes back the high and mighty; he overturns the thrones of the powerful; he humbles the haughty; his arm exercises power over all the high and mighty; he lifts what is lowly, and makes it great and glorious in his mercy.”

In a letter sent out at Christmas 1939 Bonhoeffer wrote about the nativity ''The body of Jesus Christ is our flesh. He bears our flesh. Therefore, where Jesus Christ is, there we are, whether we know it or not; that is true because of the incarnation. What happens to Jesus Christ, happens to us. It really is all our "poor flesh and blood" which lies there in the crib; it is our flesh which dies with him on the cross and is buried with him. He took human nature so that we might be eternally with him. Where the body of Jesus Christ is, there we are; indeed, we are his body. So the Christmas message for all … runs: You are accepted. God has not despised you, but he bears in his body all your flesh and blood. Look at the cradle! In the body of the little child, in the incarnate son of God, your flesh, all your distress, anxiety, temptation, indeed all your sin, is borne, forgiven and healed."

In a later Advent letter, he wrote:

“The joy of God goes through the poverty of the manger and the agony of the cross; that is why it is invincible, irrefutable. It does not deny the anguish, when it is there, but finds God in the midst of it, in fact precisely there; it does not deny grave sin but finds forgiveness precisely in this way; it looks death straight in the eye, but it finds life precisely within it.”

If we want to understand this mystery, find God and forgiveness in the midst of anguish, look death straight in the eye and find life within it, then we must participate in the Christmas event, “we cannot simply sit there like spectators in a theatre and enjoy all the friendly pictures”. “Rather, we must join in the action that is taking place and be drawn into this reversal of all things ourselves.”

The 17th century German mystic, Angelus Silesius, warned:

“Though Christ a thousand times / In Bethlehem be born / If he’s not born in thee, / Thou art still forlorn.”

Ricky Ross, the lead singer of Deacon Blue, wrote:

“You got to go back, gotta go back, gotta go back in time / To Bethlehem / To begin again.”

This Christmas begin again by looking in the cradle to see not only Jesus, but also yourself. That is the great insight of Bonhoeffer’s letters; where Jesus Christ is, there we are, whether we know it or not; what happens to Jesus Christ, happens to us. He became a human being like us, so that we would become divine. He came to us so that we would come to him. He took human nature so that we might be eternally with him. Where the body of Jesus Christ is, there we are; indeed, we are his body. Like new parents seeing their new-born child for the first time and recognising their features in their child, so, when we look in the manger, we see ourselves looking back at us.

“How shall we deal with such a child?” Bonhoeffer asks. “Have our hands, soiled with daily toil, become too hard and too proud to fold in prayer at the sight of this child? Has our head become too full of serious thoughts … that we cannot bow our head in humility at the wonder of this child? Can we not forget all our stress and struggles, our sense of importance, and for once worship the child, as did the shepherds and the wise men from the East, bowing before the divine child in the manger like children?”

This Christmas, go back in time to begin again. Amen.

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Deacon Blue - Bethlehem Begins.

If Christ is born in you, the whole story will be transformed

At St Stephen Walbrook we have been hosting concerts, parties and services over the Advent and Christmas season for: Arthur J. Gallagher; Central London Samaritans; City of London Magistrates; Columbia Threadneedle; International Animal Rescue; Michael Varah Memorial Fund; Christ's Hospital Old Blues Association; Sir Robert McAlpine; and The Worshipful Company of Gardeners.

Tomorrow at 12.30pm our Organist, Joe Sentance will give an Organ Recital. On Christmas Eve (Thursday 24 December) at 11.30pm we will celebrate Midnight Mass by Candlelight with the Choir of St Stephen Walbrook with Organist, Joe Sentance. The setting will be Schubert in Bb and the Choir will sing 'The shepherd’s farewell' by Berlioz. The service will be followed by mince pies and hot drinks.

Here is the reflection I shared at tonight's Carol Service for Arthur J. Gallagher:

At the beginning of Monty Python’s Life of Brian there is a great scene where the Wise Men overlook Jesus’ birthplace and worship the baby Brian before, realising their mistake, they take back their gifts to give them to the actual baby Jesus. Although an amusing scene setting sketch for the rest of the movie, it is, nevertheless, based on the reality that, surprising as it seems, Jesus has always been overlooked at Christmas.

Think about the Christmas story for a moment; Jesus spent his first night sleeping in an animal’s feeding trough because there was no room for him in the guest room of the home in Bethlehem where his family were staying, the Shepherds needed a fanfare of angels before they knew of his birth, while the Wise Men looked for him in a palace when he was actually to be found in an ordinary home. So it is no surprise that today many people still overlook the person at the heart of Christmas in the busyness of life and Christmas preparations and others overlook him by creating supposedly PC festivals like Winterval.

Jesus has always been overlooked at Christmas and one of the reasons for that is that he came to be one of us, God with us, which is what the name Emmanuel means. Born in an obscure village, working in a carpenter’s shop, never writing a book, never holding an office, never having a family or owning a house, never going to college, never travelling two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things we usually associate with greatness. He is God become an ordinary person just like us. And therefore he is easy to overlook.

But just as the Shepherds and Wise Men did seek him out and find him, those who genuinely look for Jesus this Christmas will find him. And if you are prepared to seek him out, I can guarantee that you will find he is the greatest gift that any of us can receive, both at Christmas and any other time in our lives.

As a result, the story of Jesus’ birth that you have listened to today will have real meaning as you take it to heart. The 17th century German mystic, Angelus Silesius, warns us:

Though Christ a thousand times
In Bethlehem be born
If he’s not born in thee,
Thou art still forlorn.

If Christ is not born in you as you listen and sing, this time together will be pleasant but not life changing. But if Christ is born in you then the whole story will be transformed. It will become your story. You will be able to say:

Christ born in a stable
is born in me.
Christ accepted by shepherds
accepts me.
Christ receiving the wise men
receives me.
Christ revealed to the nations
be revealed in me.
Christ dwelling in Nazareth
You dwell in me.

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Annie Lennox - See Amid The Winter's Snow.

Christ overlooked at Christmas

This was the homily that I gave at the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight which we held at St John's Seven Kings last Sunday evening:

It may sound an odd thing to say at a service attended by a large number of people, but Jesus has always been overlooked at Christmas. Think about the Christmas story for a moment; Jesus spent his first night sleeping in an animal’s feeding trough because there was no room for him in the guest room of the home in Bethlehem where his family were staying, the Shepherds needed a fanfare of angels before they knew of his birth, while the Wise Men looked for him in a palace when he was actually to be found in an ordinary home. So it is no surprise that today many people still overlook the person at the heart of Christmas in the busyness of life and Christmas preparations and others overlook him by creating supposedly PC festivals like Winterval.

Jesus has always been overlooked at Christmas but one of the reasons for that is that he came to be one of us, God with us, which is what the name Emmanuel means. Born in an obscure village, working in a carpenter’s shop, never writing a book, never holding an office, never having a family or owning a house, never going to college, never travelling two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things we usually associate with greatness. He is God become an ordinary person just like us. And therefore he is easy to overlook.

But just as the Shepherds and Wise Men did seek him out and find him, those who genuinely look for Jesus this Christmas will find him. And if you are prepared to seek him out, you will find that Jesus is the greatest gift that any of us can receive, both at Christmas and any other time in our lives.

As you listen to the story of Jesus’ birth tonight, the story will have meaning as you take it to heart. The 17th century German mystic, Angelus Silesius, warns us:

Though Christ a thousand times
In Bethlehem be born
If he’s not born in thee,
Thou art still forlorn.

If Christ is not born in you as you listen and sing, this time together will be pleasant but not life changing. But if Christ is born in you then the whole story will be transformed. It will become your story. You will be able to say:

Christ born in a stable
is born in me.
Christ accepted by shepherds
accepts me.
Christ receiving the wise men
receives me.
Christ revealed to the nations
be revealed in me.
Christ dwelling in Nazareth
You dwell in me.

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Steve Bell - Magnificat.