Category: Christmas

Light in the Darkness

Sermon on Christmas Eve 2024

I wonder, what are the most important Christmas traditions or rituals for you? How do you celebrate these days? Is it the time spent with family, the thought put into buying the presents, the decoration of the Christmas tree, or the food that is being prepared for tomorrow? For me, one of the most important rituals is putting up my fairy lights, and filling the house with candles. It’s actually the one night during which I leave the Christmas tree lit, and go to bed with one or two tea lights still burning. Don’t worry, I’ve got the fire phone!

‘Light in the darkness’ is one of the key themes within the Christmas story. Tonight, we hear how the Light comes into the world, and the darkness does not overcome it. In the more narrative Gospel accounts, in Luke and Matthew, we hear how the angel came to the shepherds in the darkness of the night, and how also the Wise Men were led to the stable by the light of a star.

‘Light in our darkness’, it is something we understand, and I think most of us long for. So I suspect I’m not the only one who loves to focus on this part of the story with my fairy lights and candles.

In his sermon on the Mount, Jesus encourages us to be that light ourselves: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven”. It’s an important theme, how we can bring light to the darkness, but that is not, I think, what we celebrate tonight. Because tonight is not about what we can do and who we can be, but it is about what God has given us.

The most beautiful lights I have seen, were earlier this year, when we were lucky enough to be able to see the Northern Lights here at Hurst.

The only thing I had to do to see them was walk out of by back gate, and find the darkest spot on the fields.

Away from the houses, the buildings and maybe most importantly, my phone. I was able to just stand there, in the darkness and see the spectacle unfold in the night sky. I only needed to stand and watch. And even as a scientist, for a moment I wasn’t thinking about the conditions that had made this possible, about the earth magnetic field, but for a moment I was overwhelmed that this was here for me to see and to enjoy.

Often, we try so hard to create the perfect conditions: the most thoughtful gifts, the most beautiful meal, the most welcoming house, and indeed, the brightest and most beautiful lights. I’m not suggesting that there is anything wrong with that, but maybe, maybe tonight is not that time. Maybe tonight is about moving our gaze towards that faint, but most beautiful light that isn’t of our making, that isn’t because of what we have done. But it is ours to behold, if we wish to see it.

I think it is this that makes what we celebrate tonight even more incomprehensible, yet even more wonderful: it is not because of what we have done, or because of who we are, that we are given this gift, the gift of God’s presence with us.

It also means, equally hard to understand and to accept, that the Light came into the world not only for us, but also for them – whoever the people are who we consider as them, as ‘not-us’.

Therefore, amidst our own celebrations, with our own traditions and rituals, maybe even amidst our own beliefs of what it is that we are celebrating tonight, for a moment, we can turn our gaze away from our lights to the darkness that lies beyond us. Because it is into that darkness that the Christ was born, to be among us, and to be among them. To bring peace to a world that needed and still needs it.

Maybe most of all, we celebrate tonight that promise and the hope that comes with it: that the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. Hope is not optimism that there won’t be any darkness; we would have lost it by now if it was. True hope is knowing that we too have a place and a purpose in God’s story; knowing that the light is there for us to see, if we turn our attention to it. To find our place, maybe all we need to do is to behold the light that has come, and to be willing to share that moment with those whom we know, and those whom we don’t.

I wish you and your families, and those whom you will encounter a peaceful and joyful Christmas.

Waiting with the Light

Sermon for Christmas Day 2020
Hurstpierpoint College Chapel

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined” So speaks the Prophet Isaiah to the people almost three thousand years ago.

I had never experienced what it was really like to walk in darkness, until I walked a stretch of the Camino de Santiago in October last year. I had anticipated long, sunny days, but instead I spent a lot of time walking in darkness and in rain. I hadn’t appreciated that Spain’s coast is significantly west from where we are, yet it shares the Continental time zone. Hence, the first three hours walk every day I walked in darkness.

I would have certainly been surprised, if not terrified, if I had suddenly seen a great light. So I can imagine a little bit what the shepherds must have felt that night when they saw a great light, and probably even more so when they saw that in the light there was an angel. No matter how much the angel told them not to be afraid, that was probably exactly what they were.

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The Light shines in the Darkness

Sermon for the first Eucharist of Christmas
Hurstpierpoint College Chapel

A couple of years ago I was speaking to a colleague from Albania. He had come to the UK in the late nineties fleeing the civil conflict at the time. Remembering the continuous threats and fear of his home country, as he arrived here, he could not believe that people here got upset if they didn’t have enough milk in their tea or if the post arrived a day late. However, after a couple of years in safety and security, he noticed how he too got bothered by the trivialities of daily life.

I was reminded of this conversation when reflecting on the year past. On a personal, national and international level, our conversations have been dominated by COVID-19. For all of us, the pandemic has brought a darkness and dullness to our lives, which we could not have imagined a year ago and this has dominated our thinking and our speaking. As many of us have asked ourselves: what did we talk about before COVID? Ok, apart from Brexit and Trump …

I am sure, therefore, that I am not the only one who hears the words from the Prophet Isaiah tonight in that context: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation.”

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Who are you?

Hurstpierpoint College Senior Chapel Address
Friday 11^th December: Advent 3, John 1.6–8,19–28

Although we’re not quite there yet, it is fair to say that we are nearing the end of term, and nearing the Christmas holidays. There are still two-and-a half days of lessons left, and for some of you some last tests for which to revise. Yet, the Christmas trees have been decorated, Secret Santa gifts have been bought – or will have been by Monday – and the list of things to do before Christmas is slowly getting shorter.

In this time between preparation and celebration, I would like to take the opportunity today to take stock. Not so much looking at what we have done or achieved, as there will be plenty of time for that next week. But I do like to reflect on the past few months using the question we hear asked to John in our reading this afternoon: Who are you? What do you say about yourself? Those are questions we all encounter at some point, and it is good to give them some thought.

John the Baptist’s answer that we hear in our reading this afternoon is that he is the voice crying out in the wilderness. He is the one who is proclaiming what is to come after him: Jesus, the Messiah, the Saviour. Those words ‘a voice crying out in the wilderness’ seem to indicate a loneliness, yet there is certainly also a sense of purpose with John. He knows who he is, and that is why he does what he does.

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A Christmas message

Sermon St Peter’s Milton Lilbourne, 24^th December 2018, 11.00pm
Midnight Communion: Isaiah 9.2-7 and Luke 2.1-20

As a child, I often spent Wednesday afternoons with my grandmother. I particularly remember one afternoon: we were going to leave a message in a bottle. I don’t quite remember what the message was, but I remember well the sense of excitement as I stood in the middle of the bridge crossing the river, ready to throw my bottle into the unknown. I have remained fascinated by the idea of leaving a message for someone you don’t know.

So last week, my eye was caught by the story you may have read or heard as well. It was the news item that a young girl had found a message in a Christmas card she was about to write: a message that claimed to have come from within a Chinese prison. Someone wrote in English “We are foreign prisoners in Shanghai Qinqpu prison in China. Forced to work against our will. Please help us and notify human rights organization.”

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What if God was one of us?

What if God was one of us?
A reflection for the Feast of Candlemas

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin’ to make his way home?

You may know the song What if God was one of us by Joan Osborne, which was released in 1995. Last month, when we celebrated the Feast of Epiphany, this was one of the songs we used in our All Age service.

candlemas

It’s an interesting question to ask ourselves, and maybe some of us do occasionally: What if God was one of us? And, as the song continues, ‘Just a slob like one of us? Just a stranger on the bus?’ One can reflect philosophically on this question: is the idea of a God who is both transcendent and immanent logically coherent? But that’s not what I want to now, as it would require some more than a few hundred words.

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Trust, expect and be generous

The Feast of the Epiphany
A reflection for at the start of the New Year

On 6^th January, we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord. It is the twelfth day of Christmas, and so traditionally the last day of this season of celebration. Epiphany literally means manifestation or appearance. The Gospel set for this day is the well-known story of the journey of the wise men, who after having followed a star find and recognise the child in Bethlehem, bringing with them gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

This is Matthew’s version of the Christmas story: no stable, donkeys or shepherds, but instead a star, wise men and gifts. It is a story full of signs and significance all pointing towards aspects of Jesus’ identity: a star signalling the cosmic significance of his birth, the gift of gold indicating his royal status, and myrrh to foreshadow his suffering.

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Expect the unexpected

Sermon St Mary’s Marlborough, 30^th December 2018
First Sunday of Christmas: 1 Samuel 2.18-20, 26 and Luke 2.41-52

Jesus in the temple Traditionally, well, at least since the 1970s, this first Sunday after Christmas is often celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Family. As we hear about Mary, Joseph and Jesus, we are invited to see them as a model for all Christian families, and, I suppose inevitable, reflect in how far we live up to that standard. I think whoever had the idea of placing this particular celebration just after Christmas, either did not have a family, or had a good sense of humour, or was one of those people who had the perfect family – a person I have yet to meet!

Of course, hopefully, over the past few days, most of us will have had the opportunity to spend time with family, or families in some way or other. Time with children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, or with friends who have become like family. Time to celebrate, be together, and eat together – often a bit too much. But, no matter how much we have enjoyed our celebrations, I think we also realise that the perfect family – whatever that may look like – does not really exist. For many of us, this time will also remind us of the more painful moments in our lives, often connected with what has happened to those nearest to us, or between us and them.

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Christmas: An image of home

Sermon St Mary’s Marlborough, 24^th December 2018, 11.30pm
Christmas Midnight Communion: Isaiah 9.2-7 & Luke 2.1-14

*“Earthrise” taken by Apollo 8 on 24th December 1968*

“In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered”. They are familiar words for many of us, and I guess that whenever we hear them, we think of Christmas. Just as when we hear the opening chords or “Silent Night”, smell the sweetness of mulled wine and Christmas pudding, or see a beautifully decorated Christmas tree through a window.

Apart from the things we have in common, we will also have our own rituals: things we say or do to mark the start of Christmas. It may be a particular meal for Christmas Eve, a film you watch year after year, or indeed, coming to Church tonight.

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The last day of term

Address for the Lower School
Marlborough College Chapel, 12th December 2018

end of term Here we are, on the last day of this term. It has felt like a long term, and the lists we just had, were a good reminder on how much we have achieved in these last few months; of how much you have been giving to this College community over this last term. As I said at the carol services, I think it is worth repeating, that at Christmas we have an opportunity to celebrate who we are, the gift we are, and to say thank you for this. Maybe in many ways, not unlike the lists we just had.

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