Christmas Sermon Preached at St Giles Horspath Estuaries and Overtures

 Horspath 2024 Christmas Day

Today, both of our readings speak of a sense of darkness and of light and of the promise of hope entering that darkness. 

 

The Revd Sue Lupp talking about these passages speaks of them as Estuary Readings, I have never heard that and was very struck by what she said.

In an estuary, the freshwater of the river meets the saltwater of the oceanThe combining of the waters makes a difference as the salt content is changed. 

I think that we see something of an estuary in our readings and songs Tonight/today. "The essence of Christmas is the greatness of God coming down to meet us and sweep us into the bigger picture of his love and His kingdom." (“Christmas Eve: The Estuary of Christmas | The Irreverent Reverend”) 

In our reading from the prophet Isaiah the people of Israel who Isaiah was prophesying to were in slavery in Babylon. The Israelites needed to be reminded that better times were ahead. God had not forgotten them; He was making a way for them to be rescued. 

Isaiah is alluding to the beautiful feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation to the Israelites in captivity. This is not only physical captivity, but spiritual, emotional and social. As Christians we see this prophesy as pointing to the coming of Jesus.

 

St John begins his Gospel in darkness and mystery, casting us back to the opening of Genesis when in the beginning there was nothing, but God created order out of chaos. Like a human author who creates a new world with words on a page, God speaks a word, and things come to be. A burst of light and a new life coming through Jesus. 


In the estuary of these readings, we see the coming of the promises of God meeting the reality of the people waiting for the Good News. When we meet God, we should be continually stirred up and have our contents changed. This is the Good sometimes disturbing News of Jesus.

Light is a central theme in the biblical Christmas narratives especially in John 1; I have been ordained since 1997 and I still get a thrill reading this Christmas gospel. John 1 can be thought of as a little like an overture in a symphony, it introduces key themes which will occur throughout the gospel.  

 

Overtures and estuaries, both are places of mingling.  Water mingles in an estuary and through that mingling is changed and the landscape evolves around it.  The overture mixes and mingles musical phrases giving us a glimpse of the themes in the upcoming performance.  Both are liminal places of change and formation.

This morning, as we celebrate a baby born in the small town of Bethlehem and laid in a manger by his young mother the promise of light, prophesied by Isaiah has into our world.  

The darkness of the Christmas story is important because without it we would not be able to see the pin prick of light entering into our world.  If you are a light sleeper you might know what I mean. A small light in a darkened room can keep you awake for hours, once daylight arrives it is barely noticeable.  The darkness benefits us because it allows us to see the light.

 

I believe there is a universality in the Christmas story, God didn’t enter our world as a human baby just for me, for you or for good people everywhere.  God entered our world for everybody.  This is the reason for the season and his is the huge life transforming message of Christmas!

 

Perhaps this Christmas feels harder than ever. To me our world feels fragile. There is war in Europe. A cost-of-living crisis is hitting the poorest disproportionately. Our NHS   seems to be creaking at the seams. The impact of climate emergency ever more visible and pressing. Within this context it is more than ever important than ever to hear again the message of hope and light coming into our world.   

 

This light comes into our lives not with blazing glory but in the quiet of a stable.  God literally makes His entrance in  squalid surroundings; born in a stable without class or privilege but as a displaced refugee with no nation of his own’.  

 

Here is a bold statement about the kingdom values this child will proclaim. Helpless, vulnerable, precious but not completely powerless because he comes to elicit a response.

 

 Babies can make their presence felt! We can’t ignore them. For a baby to thrive it needs us to respond to it love, care and nurture it.  This birth is no different, we are invited to respond to the Christ child with love and care for self, neighbour and creation. 

 

 

 

 A commentator puts it very poetically; We who are worried and wearied and terrified, the broken messengers with a living message. We must go out, like the shepherds to tell of the Good News in the messy, dirty and uninviting places of this world. We must go out to serve the ones forgotten and counted as nothing, because in them we serve Christ.

 

I will close with an anonymous poet.

“When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.”[2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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