8^th January 2013

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Christmas Day 2012

Lessons - Psalm 98; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:8-20

But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for see / behold, I am
bringing you good news of great joy for all people; to you is born
this day in the city of David a Saviour who is the Messiah / Christ
the Lord.' (Luke 2:10,11)

GK Chesterton once said that 'joy is the great secret of the Christian'.
CS Lewis spoke of being 'surprised by joy'. Despite criticisms about Christians being 'kill-joys', Christianity is a joyful way of life. 'Our chief end,' as the Westminster Catechism says, 'is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.' For many, Isaac Watts' hymn 'Joy to the world'
captures this joyful spirit at Christmas.

Sadly, this sense of deep joy is often lost on us at Christmas. As the constant repetition of this popular carol washes over us, joy easily turns to weariness and despair. We still may be able to identify with the Jesus who was born to humble parents in less than salubrious conditions, but find it hard to share the joy experienced by the first witnesses to his birth (as recorded by Luke).

We also find it hard because (due to the influence of Sigmund Freud) many people now mistake 'pleasure' for 'joy'. As Professor Chris Cordner points out (The Sunday Age, 23/12/12 p13), there is no mention of joy in Freud's 'pleasure principle', which has become the defining passion of a generation pre-occupied with satisfying its desires. Now, 'happiness' is widely equated with the absence of poverty, affliction, conflict, persecution and death which stand in the way of my pleasure.

The result of this way of thinking - so deeply embedded in our culture - is that the distinctive joy that is central to the Christmas message and the Christian life is weakened and dulled. Joy is associated with times when we are feeling good about ourselves and happy with the world! To those who, for one reason or another, are exhausted with life, the 'news of great joy' is not 'good' but a cruel and unrealistic ideal that embitters them.

The situation is not improved with the announcement of the birth of a Saviour 'for all people'. Not only do we think that 'pleasure' is defined by what we want but the same goes for 'salvation'. We are wary of a message that is not about 'a' Messiah who might appeal to some people, but not to others. It is jarring to say that Christ is 'the' Messiah.

This unique claim is at the heart of New Testament testimony that 'there is salvation in no-one else . . . by which we must be saved' (Acts 4:12).
Once thought to count for the truth of Christianity, it is now widely discredited.

The words of a Sikh guru speak for many of us: 'There is no justification for any one religious group to claim that theirs is the only true way to salvation and that it is only by following their particular master that all mankind can be saved.' (cited by Bruce Barber, 'The one and only name', in Jesus Christ for Us, 1982, p29). Perhaps it would be best to scale back this singular claim in the interest of inter-religious tolerance and, as Barber says, to treat 'Jesus as one of the respected figures in the religious hall of fame'.

This raises a serious question for the Church. How may we continue to preach the message that God's 'saving grace' has come into the world in Christ alone, and that what has happened in him is for all people, without becoming loveless and joyless fanatics? The black writer, James Baldwin, who was raised in a pious home where often visitors were asked whether they were 'saved', later expressed disgust at this pre-occupation with saving souls.

In 'Charter for an atheist Christmas' (The Saturday Age, 21-22 Dec, 2012, pp18,19), Anson Cameron also assumes that the Christmas message is about saving us from life in the world and ensuring life after death. His conclusion, though, shows the poverty of his faith. Atheists should celebrate Christmas by thanking Fate that they can 'celebrate the miracle of life born through sluttish evolution' (p18) - an apparent dig at the virgin birth.

How could anybody think 'salvation' is to be found in mocking the personal God who loves, heals and restores us to wholeness, and by entrusting our destiny to the impersonal processes of Fate and evolution?

At the same time, such criticisms should alert us to the fact that, because 'salvation' has become an empty symbol to be filled with whatever takes our fancy, we must recover its meaning 'in Christ'. In him it has to do with 'saving' us from pride and despair that abandons the world to dark forces so that we may 'enjoy' life to the full! We are 'saved' to a life filled with deep joy at knowing that our sins are forgiven, lives are being transformed, broken relationships healed and the future is full of hope.

This is the biblical understanding of 'salvation', in contrast with its caricature. The Greek word for 'salvation' also means 'healing' or 'wholeness'. The accent is always on God's action in restoring us to fullness of life. 'Being saved' does not mean being taken out of life into a spiritual sphere - an inward-looking sect or holy huddle. It does mean being set in the midst of life with all of its brokenness, affliction, persecution and death, to gladly glorify God who has triumphed over evil in 'Christ the Lord'.

This is splendidly set forth in 'Joy to the world'. Based on Psalm 98, Watts' hymn (1729) was written in anticipation of Christ's triumphant coming again at the end of the age - when the evil defeated in his life would become a reality for all people and for all time. Interpreting the Psalms as pointers to 'Messiah's coming and kingdom', he drew on their exuberant faith in God. The heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1); shout with joy all you lands; let the sea make a noise and the rivers clap their hands (Psalm 98).

The whole creation is enlisted. 'Heaven and nature sing' (vv1,2) in concert with all people (v2) to 'repeat the sounding joy' (v2) at the final coming of God's truth, grace, righteousness and love (v3).

However, the full significance of the hymn is distorted by the omission of the original third verse:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground;
he comes to make his blessings flow
far as the curse is found.

The language of 'curse' is jarring to modern ears. But its omission contributes to serious misreading of this popular carol - and the message of Christmas. Jesus is not the dispenser of general goodwill and bonhomie.
He is the Christ who reveals and embodies God's eternal purpose in restoring sinful humans to communion with him and others!

Remember that Genesis 3:14ff depicts God's reaction to man's idolatrous attempt to become like God as 'losing the blessing' which God had bestowed on them so lovingly. Therefore, the message of salvation announced by the angelic choir and expressed in this verse of Watts' hymn is that, in 'Christ the Lord', the blessing has been restored for all people and the whole creation; that is, as 'far as the curse is found' - wherever sin and
death spoil the good creation!

This is good news - unheard of in other faiths! 'Salvation' is to be found in the Christ in whom God's healing and restorative truth, grace, righteousness and love have been revealed 'for us'. This good news enables us to live joyfully even in the midst of the broken world as we await the 'coming' of the future which God has purposed for the whole creation.

Whether it can be heard in a culture that mistakes 'pleasure' for 'joy', believes that there are many paths to 'salvation' and is increasingly hostile to the singular message of the Gospel remains to be seen!

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.