13^th January 2012

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Christmas Eve 2011

Lessons -- Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-15; Luke 2:15-20

All who heard it marvelled at what the shepherds told them. But Mary
treasured all these things (NRSV) and thought deeply about them (JB Phillips). Luke 2:19

Luke's Christmas story is greeted by a mixture of astonishment and profound thought. Shepherds join the angelic chorus to 'glorify and praise God'. Spectators are amazed. Mary 'turned over in her mind' (JB Phillips) the meaning of the unfolding events. A sense of holy awe and deep reflection are the proper responses to news of God's remarkable and unexpected presence in history.

How strange this sounds to us. A sense of wonder has been largely replaced by banality. Hyped-up excitement is cultivated to sell products and get TV ratings. Few people value profound thinking, particularly if asked to stretch their minds beyond immediate concerns. Our 'consumer culture', in which everything is geared to appealing to 'the masses', has inoculated us against the deep and thrilling sense of mystery that should accompany Christmas worship.

This situation has serious implications for our Christmas celebrations.
The mystery of the incarnation of Jesus, that should evoke in us a joyous and thoughtful response of heart and mind, is now widely ignored in favour of customs centred on family, community and gift-giving.

Cartoonist Michael Leunig is typical of social commentators who see the incarnation merely as a time of 'new birth and renewal' that can help us better to enjoy nature (The Age, 24/12/11, p1). It is clear that as a society we have now become blase about the single event that has humanised the world!

We need to rediscover the wonder of Christmas. Christ's coming into our midst -- as the embodiment of God's unshakeable commitment to humanity -- is of such earth-shaking significance that normal responses are inadequate. The story must re-shape our thoughts, experiences and hopes so that what is all-too- familiar may gladden our hearts, sharpen our minds and steel our wills.

We must look for the unexpected amid the familiar!

* The presence of shepherds is odd. They were not high on the scale of social worth. Their work made it almost impossible for them to perform religious duties. They were despised by orthodox believers. Yet they, not the pious, are the first to receive news of the coming of grace -- the first of all the obscure, despised and irreligious folk who have been joyful recipients of grace.

* Spectators too are astonished by the turn of events (v18). They do not try to explain away what they have just heard. They simply marvel at the audacity of God's saving presence in this child. They are the first of countless unknown folk who have been amazed at the presence of grace in Jesus.

The shepherds and the onlookers point us to the mystery of God's appearance in the humanity of Jesus: an event so wonderful that it cannot be contained within everyday thoughts and experiences about what is possible and knowable. In Christ, they see that God has broken through what is familiar, predictable and comfortable to reveal his grace and evoke astonished praise. Through them we learn that a sense of holy awe, unlike the hyped excitement that surrounds us today, is the proper response to Jesus' birth.

* But Mary, even more than shepherds and spectators, shows what this remarkable event means. She is not distracted by euphoria surrounding Jesus' birth. She shares their profound sense of wonder. But it leads her to 'treasure these things and think deeply about them' (v19). Unlike many folk, who were 'amazed' at God's presence in what Jesus said and did but were unwilling to become disciples, Mary 'heard' and 'understood'. Of all in Luke who glorified God at the birth of Jesus, she penetrated the meaning of the events -- events that she was part of throughout Jesus'
life.

Mary encourages us to think deeply about the nativity in the context of the whole of Jesus' ministry. Remember! The infancy stories were the last, not the first, to be included in Luke and Matthew. They are profound reflections on the completed ministry of Jesus. Mary herself is present at key moments: the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-5), the crucifixion (John
19:25ff) and the upper room (Acts 1:14).

We can say that her reflections on Jesus' birth are borne of conviction that his adult life displayed his divine origin. The Jesus she knew in his incarnate, crucified, risen and ascended ministry was Lord of all from birth!

In Mary, wonder, thinking and action go together. The mystery of God's becoming flesh in the Christ-child is an event of such earth-shaking significance that it propels her to worship wholeheartedly. Mind, emotion and will are united in praise of God who, in this single event, has humanised the world in a way that we could not have imagined if Christ had not been born into the real world!

We are invited to share the sense of holy awe and deep reflection of these early witnesses to the incarnation. It is not easy in a society where the sense of mystery has been dulled -- where banality and hyped-up excitement work against us reorienting our thoughts, emotions and wills to God's grace.

It is not easy, but it is necessary! For us to be open to the unexpected presence of God in the Christ-child is to be in the company of folk, like shepherds and bystanders, who have been overwhelmed by the mystery of grace. And to be open to this singular event is to know, with Mary, that responding to God's grace involves our whole being in worshipping the Lord of heaven and earth: the incarnate, crucified, risen and ascended Jesus.

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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.