Weekly messages

We should celebrate Christmas on God’s terms and not our own

Posted on December 18th 2011 in Weekly messages

The Archbishop of Canterbury in his recent radio talk on ‘Pause for thought’ contrasted the vision of the perfect Christmas of our imagination, both from our own past and from the images presented by advertising, to the messy reality of real family life when everything is arranged at the last minute. The search for perfection can become a peculiar form of pride, of boasting in human achievement. It is the very opposite both to the meaning of Christ’s birth and the reality of that first Christmas in Bethlehem. The well intentioned rush to take the initiative is not always appropriate and, with regard to God, can stifle the very gift that He wishes to bestow on us. The first Christmas, though guided by divine providence, remained a messy affair in human terms: a long and difficult journey, the lack of accommodation on arrival, the circumstances of the birth, unexpected visitors, and lastly the violence that occurred shortly afterwards. None of this would appear in a well thought out Christmas plan.

The desire to impose man-made order may be seen in Sunday’s first reading which describes King David wish to build a permanent house for the Ark which now resided in Jerusalem. It seemed to Him improper that he and his family should live in houses made of cedar and the ark of God dwell in a tent. God speaking through the prophet Nathan demands a different approach. Divine action must precede human action. Instead, David will be given a house, a lineage that Christians believe will find its conclusion in Jesus Christ. The preservation of this lineage will be completed through the kindly providence of God that will reach its pinnacle in the Annunciation of the Angel to Mary. David that will achieve something even greater than building a Temple, He will become the ancestor of the future Messiah, someone who would restore the fortunes of Israel.

The divine initiative expressed through the words of the Prophet Nathan, and the message of the Archangel Gabriel, does not preclude human initiative. It sets human action in the proper context. The Virgin Mary gives perfect expression to this dynamic with regard to divine initiative. The first action was simply to listen in silence, something everyone finds difficult to achieve. The worst distractions are not always the obvious temptations but the obsession anyone can develop for plans. Topically these are the preparations needed for the perfect Christmas. Yet the spiritual dynamic is of divine initiative combined with an open heart that is prepared to ask the appropriate question in relation to the message. The Virgin Mary asks, ‘but how can this come about since I am a virgin’. She had to ask a particular question, and so the answer she gives is her grace-filled assent. We will have different questions, ‘why would God want to come to visit me and my family? The answer is found in the Gospels, ‘God so loved the world that he sent His only Son’ (John 3:16) and the human response is just to say, ‘Thank you: Let me be part of the outpouring of divine love’. This immediately gives the context for action which, like our messy lives, will probably be fitful and unprepared. The Good news though is that one will be trying to celebrate Christmas on God’s terms and not our own.

May I wish everyone a very blessed Christmas, and a safe journey for those travelling to visit their families.

The response to anger, communal and personal, is the Good News of Jesus Christ

Posted on December 11th 2011 in Weekly messages

The tidal wave of anger seems unstoppable, whether it be the summer riots, the outpourings of anger on public transport, the evidence of road rage and the ‘days of rage’ proclaimed by extremists. It is hard to discern any meaningful purpose to any of this other than pointing to the inability of fragile egos unable to countenance that they are not the centre of the universe. Despite the attempts of various commentators to explain away this anger as the consequence of social inequality and the stresses of contemporary life, it is shocking to watch and worse to experience. However, this is not just a problem for others. Even the most passive person can be roused. Everyone has their red button. Often we can shock ourselves at the flash of anger that occurs like lightning.

From where does this anger emerge? It precedes the understanding of right or wrong, and emerges from deep within us. The best way to understand this is to think of it as the pride of life, with the emphasis on ‘my life to be achieved my way’. Adam and Eve were roused to eat the fruit of the tree in the garden with the incipient anger of someone not told the full reason.

The power of the Gospel is that it addresses the source of this anger. The Gospel provides another vision to life, the life of joy or, in the words of St Paul, ‘Be happy, pray constantly, give thanks’. This joy is anchored in the three different comings of Jesus Christ that envelop all Christian life; the first Christmas, the present moment and at the consummation of history. All human life can be enveloped in this joy. It is always experienced as a liberation. The prophet Isaiah gives the outlines of this new joy. This outline becomes the manifesto proclaimed for the first time by Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth.

The essence of Christianity is to accept that only Jesus Christ can communicate this joy and achieve the necessary transformation. The grace of the Sacrament of Baptism begins the long conversion that progressively removes the webs of anger that enfold each person, and remove the blockages that thwart the emergence of a true humanity.

This process can never take place without human co-operation. This co-operation has been set out in the ministry of John the Baptist. His message comes in two parts, first the negative, the necessity of becoming un-self-important. The fragile ego which thinks itself the boss will have no space for anyone else including Christ.

The positive message was to make straight the way of the Lord. To his first listeners this would have resonated with their collective memory of the Exodus and the return from Exile.  Here the Israelites learnt the oneness and otherness of God, and where they acquired their sense of being a chosen people. The same is true for us. The answer maybe is to relive the freedom of the beginning again; the time at college, the first pay cheque, those first years as a newly married couple. To relive the joy gives a sound foundation to ask the questions as to whence the complexity arose, and the webs of anger, thwarted ambition and fragile egos that emerged. The Gospel is not about being care free or irresponsible. It gives back what we have always desired, but the cares of life, the spurious sophistication of contemporary life and stubbornness of sin made us think that such a vision was only a transitory experience. Pray constantly – just say thank you to God.

The call of John the Baptist to prepare a way can so easily fall on deaf ears.

Posted on December 4th 2011 in Weekly messages

The relentlessly depressing news over the economy and the ramifications of crisis over the single currency looks to have blunted many peoples’ celebrations this Christmas. It is hard to discern that Christmas Day is only three weeks away. Perhaps these dismal circumstances might be turned to a spiritual advantage, and that the consolation offered through the Prophet Isaiah and the Good News announced in St Mark’s Gospel are the work of God alone. This is not to celebrate economic malaise, or shrinking incomes as a positive good, but the Christian faith can only be lived in the circumstances within which one finds oneself, and not in a land of wishful thinking.

The Prophet Isaiah wrote in times of political turmoil. The Babylonian exile had unexpectedly ended with the destruction of that kingdom by the Persians in 536 BC. The tribes of the former Southern Kingdom, Judah, were free to return to Jerusalem and the Promised Land, but many who had accommodated themselves to life on the Euphrates declined to return. Those who decided to return needed to prepare for this new Exodus to the Promised Land. Their preparation must have taken a practical turn, but the spiritual insight required is the subject of Isaiah’s prophecies. These spiritual insights become for the Christian the insights necessary to prepare for entry to the new Promised Land, not this time a geographical entity, but the universal entity, the kingdom of God. This is at heart a spiritual entity, but one always made visible and tangible through the Church and the life of its members.

The anonymous voice crying in the wilderness, pleading to the Israelites to make the necessary preparations for their return to Jerusalem, is embodied for the Christian in the person of St John the Baptist. He takes on the mantle of this voice, and his message of repentance is preached to the descendants of those who heard the Prophet Isaiah say the same words, ‘Prepare a way for the Lord’.  Along with this message comes a nuanced understanding of God, who uses His power as a shepherd gathering lambs in His arms (Is 40:11). This mysterious combination of regal power and utter tenderness will be made visible in Jesus Christ.

The prophet Isaiah must have touched the spiritual nerves of the Israelites, who recognised they were indeed living in Exile, even three generations after the Deportation to Babylon. Their consciences must have been pricked by the Prophet’s words. Likewise for ourselves, the mission of John the Baptist only ‘works’ for us if we allow our own consciences to be pricked, and so recognise how far we might have drifted away from the vision established by Jesus Christ. How this happens and in what circumstances remains unique to each person. This is our own personal drama of faith. The season of Advent is the chance to write another chapter in our spiritual biography, and once more to identify the reasons why one must listen again to the preaching of John the Baptist about ourselves in relation to the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas.