Sermon: Return Transformed

Happy Christmas to you all.
Well, for a while now you have enjoyed the wisdom of senior clergy and bishops….
And now you have me.
I will do my best……

But first, a question: did Advent make you ready to be transformed by Christmas?
…..did Advent make you ready to be transformed by Christmas?
I’ll just leave that there…… for now.

Referring to my list of sermon hooks – based purely on …observations…(smile)
I will not begin with a joke, nor a sport or Brexit reference.

However I will offer a ‘what-i-call’ studied reference to seasonal telly, and something that resonated strongly for me, in the form of the BBC’s retelling of Dickens’s Christmas Carol.

Now, social media has much to say by way of critiquing this dramatisation: for being too different and for not being true to: ‘what Dickens wrote’.

Yet, It is my understanding that such stories were crafted to speak of pain and suffering, amidst the action and reaction of human frailty; pointing clearly to the lack of social justice in Victorian England.

Personally, I perceive such literary challenges – like Holy Scripture – as opportunities to hear and understand afresh in our modern age.

The story of Marley and Scrooge tells of the repercussions of unbridled success in their business ventures.

The supporting cast of characters and the three spirits serve to present a journey for Ebenezer Scrooge, passing from amoral, acquisitive self-regard to something altogether different – redeemed, forgiven? – accessing a soul that is set free from the bonds of money and greed? Eyes that see humanity in the true light of a new day?

There, we find hope.

….. And Transformation.

Scrooge, we are told, returns to his life ‘anew’ and begins a new life of loving his neighbour.

I don’t imagine that the acceptance by those around him was as swift.

Such a deep, painful transformation ….. that might take a lifetime….

The Narnia Chronicles of CS Lewis – love them or loathe them – offer us great examples of transformation through adversity.

Although none of the children we encounter in these stories are perfect, some have a greater journey to endure before they are redeemed and transformed by Aslan.
The transformation is recognised and understood and results in lives lived faithfully.
What really happens when you get home?

What of prisoners released, or a recovery from a debilitating illness – sufficiently to begin again – a new start?

Or those whose homes – whose very existence – has been uprooted and transformed though war or natural disaster; or refugees returning to uncertainty.

Without hope, without incredible strength from within, and support from without, a return to a scene of destruction or trauma could be impossible.

How are we ready for what comes next?

Today’s passage from Hebrews speaks of God longing to be ‘as one’ with humankind in all its mess and apparent unworthiness.

For we are told: He came not to help angels but the ‘descendants of Abraham’.

God is patient and persistent, even when hopes are tested by our waywardness. God shows a vulnerability mirrored in the life of Jesus.

Not the imposition of power through violence and turmoil – but transformative love through sacrifice, redemption and reconciliation.

Not so for Herod.

Yesterday was the Feast of the Holy Innocents, that most grim of narratives in which a thwarted and terrified Herod lashes out, sending soldiers to kill hundreds of infants, on the off-chance that the ‘so-called King, the Messiah” – as foretold by a travelling band of ‘magi’ – might be destroyed.

Such terror he must have had!

Yesterday the Lectionary gave us the first portion of Matthew’s Gospel that we have just heard – a prescient Joseph takes his little family to safety in the dead of night, across the border into Egypt.

Just in time, so it would seem, as the massacre ensues, from which Jesus is ‘saved’.

Herod can only respond in this way, in his unbridled lust for power.

He could have played it differently, more subtly, but no…. Herod has faith only in himself.

His kind of power needs violence to make it work.

Some biblical scholars dispute this story as folklore.

Yet Matthew alone places a powerful parallel into his narrative to give weight to the person who Jesus is to become – the new Moses.

Herod and Pharaoh – Moses and Jesus.

The villain seeks to destroy children….. whereas Moses and Jesus seek to bring hope for God’s people, by leading them out from darkness to new life: salvation through faithfulness in God.

And then today’s Gospel has that extra component of hope.

After a period of time that isn’t particularly clear to us, Joseph once more relocates his family, this time to Nazareth.

With Matthew and Luke together, we have a circularity in the odyssey of Joseph and Mary – Beginning and ending in Nazareth.

If then, they are returning to Nazareth, what was that like for them?

Think of all that has happened…… pregnant and having to travel to Bethlehem, after all that business with the angel Gabriel…

A strange birthing experience, and then even stranger visitors with stories and gifts….

Then more travelling… and then….. terrible news from Bethlehem….. children murdered.

How do they return – how do they begin a new life – which they probably thought would be straight forward – how do they do that now? What to they tell people? What do others think of them?

Will they have known families who lost their babies to the kings sword? And yet they, miraculously, are saved?

They are transformed. They know this. Their lives, and the lives of those around them, all have changed. Can they go back? No. Forward is the way with God.

Transformation continues…..

And what about us?

Sometimes we have to return – to keep going – maintain our lives in co-dependence with others.

We have waited. Many weeks ago we began the period of preparation – Advent – to make ready our lives, our souls – ready for God to break through, to be born in us – bringing the Light of the World into our midst – a birth of quiet humility, yet acknowledged as God Incarnate through angels and wonders…..
Advent….. or perhaps it heralded a headlong rush towards a day, an event – a party, or a family meal, with the requisite shopping madness and incessant seasonal music – an eagerness to make this a good Christmas, a right Christmas – for loved ones, strangers, maybe for yourself this year….

Then Christmas happens.

Maybe it is experienced in a single day – happy, not so happy; for some, just another day, maybe working, struggling, lonely…..

Does Christmas continue on to Epiphany for you, in its honouring and celebration? Or is it an anticlimax? A sigh of relief, tasks ticked off, and gifts given, received and now put tidily away! And as for that tree…… !!!!

So what’s next? For you… and for me?

We may often consider the Return Journey – back from holiday, or a life changing occurrence.

When we return, is it always the same or can we see a change?

Do we carry on as before or do we recognise a movement in our lives and do something about it?

Some of us will soon return to work or school.

I imagine that many classrooms will, even now, have put away the glittery visions of Christmas ready for whatever comes next.

Returning children will look and wonder, ready to move forward into the new year. And wherever work takes place, the decorations will be removed and life will carry on.

Are we any different? Are those around us any different? Is Christmas just a memory or have you changed?

The notion of making life changes at New Year is all well and good, but what of the changes that God creates in us, calling us; reminding us of His grace through Jesus Christ?

Are we transformed? Is that a real change? Will it last? Were we really ready?

In the Dean’s Midnight Mass sermon, we were called to be challenged and to engage with the coming of Christ into our lives – that “our faith must emerge from its swaddling clothes in order to grow and mature”. Yes!

Discipleship is built on recognising when God is active in you – on knowing when change is happening – in our selves and all around us.

We may like the Christmas story, but can we begin a new life and remain where we are?

The Stable Narrative is a good starting point but we must move on.

If we prepared for God to be incarnate in our lives, then we are ready for change.
God Incarnate. Revealed to us.

When you return from church on a Sunday morning (other services are available) – are you changed?

Jesus is here – in our world – in our lives – in our hearts. How will you respond today and tomorrow?

I ask myself this….. I am aware of gifts and skills that I could use more effectively to tell others about the Christian life. I pray that will be my response – to listen and to speak, that others might know of God’s daily transformation in me.
Earlier I asked you if during Advent you had become ready for Christmas.
How would you respond?
Are we ready for Jesus to be at home in us right now?

And is that a readiness to respond to Jesus where we return to, or wherever we move towards?

If your answer was “yes” then we are transformed.

And Transformation is for Life – not just for Christmas.

And Christmas – God Incarnate – will remain with us for always….

Amen

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