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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

Let’s fight the darkness!

Summary

Do we, like Joseph (Matt. 1:18-25), still look for God’s good purposes despite troubling events?

 

Context

The world needs light! Australia, indeed the world, has been shaken by events at Bondi beach. British Jews are frightened. Reports of Bondi here followed hard on the reporting of the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ carol service which referenced the danger of the rise of ‘Christian nationalism’, antisemitism and Islamophobia. And a carol service full of unfriendly St George’s flags! How can the Christmas Christ bring healing?

 

Reflection

The gathering reportedly passed peacefully. But I was chilled by a pictured banner depicting Crusaders. ‘Christian’ kings fighting ‘the Infidel’ over Jerusalem in the Middle Ages is not a timely image. A different vibe, an inclusive one, came from a local Christmas Tree Festival where diverse groups that use the church halls had erected Christmas trees show-casing their activities. Alongside a prayer-tree, and one representing the Church’s Tots’ Group, sat one from a Yoga group showing how their organisation supports educational and health charities in India where its philosophical roots lie. Next to that was one from a local homelessness charity inviting people to write down their hopes for marginalised people and hang them on the tree, to be shown to the homeless so they know they are thought and prayed about. And there was an eye-catching tree from a local Parkinson's charity running a scheme to help Parkinson’s sufferers keep active through playing table-tennis. Among twinkling lights, in front of the Cross and under the gaze of Christ the Good Shepherd in the stained-glass window, the Church made common cause with those meeting needs local and distant, and highlighted Christ’s birthday as the right time to look outward.

In London it needed a counter-demonstration by Stand Up to Racism to raise the cheery banner, ‘Love Christmas: Hate Racism’. That holly-adorned banner made me think. Such Christmas-themed imagery hits home, especially for a younger generation! Need Christians distance themselves from the less tasteful Christmas razzmatazz? I visited a shopping mall and felt my spirits lift as I left the chilly street for lights, and Christmassy songs, teddy-bears riding in Santa’s sleigh and smiling people! Don’t let the kitsch dominate. But do let it rouse us from wallowing in grim news and divisive interpretations of the world’s ills.

Through the Incarnation God challenges us all. Like the child in the manger, be open and vulnerable, and let others’ joy heal us. But then, like the adult Christ, be bold and actively other-oriented! We can’t all be like the man, another Muslim, who grappled with a terrorist gun-man to save his fellow Australians. But we can emulate Jewish families here and elsewhere fighting hate with defiant Hanukkah candles; or the young people of goodwill who challenged the English nationalist slant of that carol service with their slogans. Let’s let our Christmas trees light up the darkness!

 

Sermon ideas

• Our faith is mediated by our precious communal heritage. How can we celebrate our shared heritage without letting it become something that excludes others? 
• Looking at the Christmas razzmatazz what would you keep as helpful e.g. a town Christmas tree as a communal focus, and what would you get rid of as exploitative e.g. Christmas-themed toy franchises?

 

Questions

• You’re King Charles, or the Town Mayor, or the school’s Head Teacher. What would be the most important point of the Christmas message you would deliver to your community? And why?
• Think about the events and services your Church or Group has planned or participated in this Christmas season. Which do you think the most important? And why?

Brenda Vance is a URC Elder and retired university teacher living in Sussex.

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

The name Emmanuel is sung, spoken and preached throughout the month of December every year. But what does that name really mean to us? What does it mean to us at Christmas? Emmanuel – God with us. And what does that look like all year long? Emmanuel – God is Always with us.

In this week’s passage, we focus on Joseph’s fear, uncertainty, and confusion. Mary, his betrothed, is unexpectedly pregnant, and Joseph doesn’t yet understand what’s happened or why it happened. But an angel comes to Joseph and says: “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife… for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” And then Matthew tells us that the child’s name shall be Jesus — because he will save his people from their sins — and that his name is Emmanuel, God with us.

This isn’t a small detail — it’s the heart of the Gospel. God isn’t distant. God doesn’t stay in heaven tucked safely away from life’s fear, uncertainty and confusion. No — in Jesus, God chose to come close. God chose to be with us in every part of our human experience — including the fear, uncertainty and confusion!

And we’re reminded of that in the world right now. Just last week, in Sydney, at Bondi Beach, a joyful Hanukkah celebration — a moment meant for peace, light, and family — turned into horror and heartbreak when gunmen opened fire on the crowd, killing many innocent people and injuring dozens more.

Families have lost loved ones. Children were present. A community’s celebration became trauma. Such events like this arouse fear, create uncertainty and leave us all utterly confused. Which in turn can raise questions for all of us: Where is God in all of this? How can God be with us when we see such evil and pain?

But this is precisely where the truth of Emmanuel becomes real and personal. Jesus comes not only to be with us in comfortable, happy moments, but in the moments that shake us to the core. God with us means God doesn’t turn away from our grief. God doesn’t pretend suffering isn’t real. Instead, Jesus enters into suffering. He walks alongside humans who are afraid, wounded, and grieving.

Jesus knows what it feels like to be afraid. Mary and Joseph felt fear. Jesus felt betrayal. He felt pain, and ultimately death. Yet, in all of this — God with us — promising justice, peace, and compassion that will be fully realised even if not yet fully seen.

So what does Emmanuel mean for us in a moment like this?

• God is near when we hurt. We can bring our pain, questions, and heartbreak to God honestly.
• We are called to be with others in their hurt. When the world suffers, we are called to bring God’s presence: through our prayers, our compassion, our actions. We can be the comfort the angel brought to Joseph.
• The coming of Jesus shows us that love is stronger than hatred. Emmanuel means that no darkness — not even violence and terror — can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

This week let us pray and act so that we bring Emmanuel — God with us — into every broken place of the world, into our communities, and into our hearts.

Natasia Bullock, The Director of The B Tales

 

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