Sermons

First Eucharist of Christmas

Monday 24th December at 11.30pm

Lesley Ashton
Readings: John 1. 1-14

I was tempted to begin this sermon by having my mobile ring, a clear reminder that phone calls, texts, emails are part of the everyday round of our personal and working lives. Christmas brings it's own forms of communication, cards and letters add to the number of words we exchange in a single day.

I often wonder if we have become a people who have been overtaken by words and the need for gratification in the form of instant communications?

Words are the way in which we communicate verbally, electronically or through writing and they are vital to our understanding of one another and of the world in which we live. We can't imagine life without them. But sometimes I wonder if we have become so enveloped by words that we fail to really appreciate or take note of what is important. and significant. For those of you who want to find out I recommend a period of silent retreat you may be surprised at what becomes most real and meaningful.

Tonight we heard the reading from John's gospel about the Word, John presenting Jesus as the eternal word of God, who became a human being and lived among us.

The birth narratives in Luke and Matthew bring us deep insights into God's purpose and plan for his people and tell us much about the humility of his coming in Christ. We have however often domesticated them and made them more comfortable and synthetic then they were ever meant to be. We have sometimes taken the word's of the gospel writers and made them fit for our purpose rather than for God's purpose and in doing this we have lost much of the real meaning of the birth of Christ.

BUT the reading from John's gospel is staggering, it is not written in a form that can be manipulated or changed and we can never move away from the fact that Christ is the Word. The Word that already existed and was with God and who was God. This word was the source of life and this life brought light to all humanity.

In the early 16th century Erasmus produced his own translation of the New Testament in which he translated the Greek 'logos' not as Word but as Conversation.

Selected verses from his version read:

'It all arose out of a conversation, conversation within God; in fact the conversation was God. So God started the discussion and everything came out of this and nothing happened without consultation

The subject of this conversation, the original light came into the world, the world that had arisen out of his willingness to converse. He fleshed out the words that the world did not understand. He came to those who knew the language, but they did not respond. Those who did became a new creation (his children). They read the signs and responded. They heard the conversation still going on here and now and took part, discovering a new way of being people. To be invited to share in a conversation about the nature of life was for them a glorious opportunity not to be missed.'

This translation is full of gems to delight in and ponder over but I want to extract just 3 to mull over this evening(morning.)

First. 'It all arose out of a conversation, conversation within God, in fact the conversation was God.' There is a deep sense of integrity, coherence and congruence about these words. God is what he says he is
.
If you are anything like me you have conversations with yourself. We mull things over in our minds, we work out who we are, the seeds of our sense of self and personhood are always there waiting to be engaged in conversation. Our conversation begins within ourselves and when we dare to have that conversation we start to become all that God intends us to be. It is the beginning of prayer as we find as we converse, the presence of God already present within us. To be people of integrity and congruence we like God have to engage in the conversation and become all that God intends us to be. All that we find within ourselves is given by God, for we are made in his image. God has already said 'Yes' to us for we have been created by him.
Have the conversation and hear God saying 'Yes' to you.

Secondly, God started to have a discussion, God engaged in conversation with humanity by becoming one of us. Jesus came to be amongst us to listen to us, to speak with us, to be with us but most of all to bring life to us. Life that brought light. He talked with ordinary men and women and children. He sat with sinners and with those who were despised by the world. He not only came and had conversations he became the subject of conversation; a conversation that has continued to the present day. The conversation has ebbed and flowed, it has been dominated by strong opinion or held together by deep spiritual insight. The conversation has been misinterpreted and misreported but still it remains. The key we must address and be honest about is whether we have a conversation about him or a conversation with him. If it is the latter then his life will bring light to that which we talk about and through that light we will know the true meaning of life. The life that is God's continuing 'Yes' to us. For now and through eternity.

Thirdly, 'there were people who knew the language but who did not respond and those who read the signs and responded and became a new creation, this conversation about the nature of life was a glorious opportunity not to be missed.'

This Christmas we celebrate the fact that Jesus came and dwelt among us, we remember that he chose to come and make his home with us and we are invited yet again to have a conversation with him. Conversations with Christ won't come via the mobile phone, by text or by email; they will only come if we respond to his invitation to turn towards him and respond to him with the 'Yes' he has already spoken to us.

Conversations with God take place when we meet with him in prayer, when we listen to scripture, when we receive bread and wine and when the conversations that we have with each other allow for God to be present. Conversations with God go beyond the superficial chatter and glitter of Christmas, they reach into the depth of who we are, they bring light into the dark places that we often dare not look, even within ourselves. Conversations with God can be honest and questioning, conversations with God are those that search for truth and meaning, conversations with God allow us to be fully ourselves and to know that God so deeply loved and yearned for us, that He came to earth to be in conversation with us.

This Christmas turn off the mobile phone and the computer, turn from the words of the world and make time to engage with the Word who was from the beginning and who ever shall say 'yes' to us. It all began with a conversation, may it continue and be part of our being now and always. Amen.

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay