The Holy Family: Crucible of holiness

The Holy Family 2024

 

1 Samuel 1.20-22, 24-28 ‘Samuel, as long as he lives, is lent to the Lord.’

1 John 3.1-2,21-24 ‘We are called children of God, and so we are.’

Luke 2.41-52 Jesus is found by his parents sitting among the teachers

 

‘See what kind of love the Father has given to us,

that we should be called children of God; and so we are’

(1 John 3.1)

 

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The carol, ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ tells us that:

 

Christian children all must be

Mild, obedient, good as He.

 

Despite the carol speaking of his ‘wondrous childhood’ and saying that Jesus is ‘our childhood’s pattern’, it sometimes sounds like Jesus wasn’t a mild, obedient child.

 

Take this morning’s gospel reading, for instance.

 

Jesus joined his earthly family on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover, ‘according to custom’ (Luke 2.42).

 

So far so good.

 

But when his parents returned to Nazareth, Jesus was not with them: that wasn’t mild and obedient. 

 

They supposed him to be with a wider family of relatives and acquaintances.

 

So they turned back and spent three days searching for him.

 

Mary and Joseph’s search echoes another search for Jesus in Jerusalem when on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to search out Jesus (John 20.15).

 

The upshot of both those searches is that Jesus is in the Father’s house.

 

The searching Mary Magdalene found him and is told by Jesus that he must ascend to the Father, to be, as it were, in his Father’s house.

 

Mary and Joseph found him in the Temple, which he calls ‘my Father’s house’. (Luke 2.49)

 

‘Why were you looking for me?’ Jesus answers.

 

The answer is obvious to any parent: we couldn’t find you; we were worried; we were scared.

 

The one who shows the way was not lost.

 

Rather he points the way to where we are all called to be, in the Father’s house, much as he did to Mary Magdalene at the resurrection.

 

Little do we understand the implications of this, and what it means for us as the Church.

 

That’s important as we celebrate today the Holy Family of Nazareth.

 

They’re not called the model family, or the ideal family, less still the perfect family, but the Holy Family.

 

To celebrate the Holy Family is to celebrate what family life is, and why it is so significant and important, because it is the crucible of holiness.

 

The family is the place where our character is forged, for good or ill; the wider family, at its best, gives us scope to stretch our wings in discovering who we are; the widest family of all – the Church - is the place where we bring who we are into relationship with other brothers and sisters to whom we are not biologically related.

 

It is in the Church family – which as we know is not a model, ideal or perfect family – but a holy one which shapes and forms us as Christians, true sons and daughters of the Most High.

 

The family which dwells in the Father’s house is defined by those who gather around Jesus, a family defined by fidelity to God the Father: “Here are my mother and my brothers!” says the Lord, “For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3.34, 35)

 

This doesn’t cancel out his family ties with Mary, Joseph and his wider earthly family – quite the contrary - he extends his family, so that those who walk in his way can reach the same level of intimacy.

 

As our second reading put it, ‘See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are’ (1 John 3.1)

 

May God bless the families from which we come and together may we, as his holy family, dwell in the Father’s house all our days.

 

 

Beholding the Mystery

Christmas Morning 2024

 

Isaiah 52:7-10 ‘All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God’

Hebrews 1:1-6 ‘God has spoken to us by his Son’

John 1:1-18 ‘The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us’

 

No one has ever seen God.

It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart,

who has made him known.

(John 1.18)

 

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Happy Christmas to you, as together we hear the proclamation of the birth of the Saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

Our gospel reading has just unfolded for us, in the most wonderful way, the mystery at the heart of our celebration of Christmas: that ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ (John 1 .14)

 

And the curious thing is that in that passage there was not one mention of an angel, shepherd, manger, donkey or star.

 

That itself sounds like a mystery!

 

But a mystery in Christian terms is not like a puzzle, an enigma or a conundrum, but rather something of the divine to be unfolded, unveiled, revealed.

 

You don’t deconstruct or solve a divine mystery; you behold its totality, for God reveals himself in beauty, goodness and truth.

 

The proclamation of St John’s Gospel presents the totality of the mystery to us: of who God is; what God has come to us to do, in human flesh and blood; who his first witness was; what his presence makes happen in a human life; and his relationship of love with the Father.

 

Go back and read today’s gospel, not just today but frequently: it is one of the texts we should all know, and even learn off by heart.

 

Those few verses give the most intense presentation of the mystery of the Incarnation, which means the presence of God in human flesh and blood, in a particular person who is the true light coming into the world, who, when received, gives the right to become children of God, born of God.

 

As the mystery is unveiled we learn that the fullness of God dwells in the person of Jesus Christ.

 

The mystery is summed up by the letter to the Hebrews telling us:

 

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1.1,2).

 

It is all leading us to understand that if you want to see God, or know what God looks like then look to Jesus, contemplate Jesus: as John puts it:

 

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.’ (John 1.18)

 

This Son, Jesus Christ, says Hebrews, is, ‘the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature’ (Hebrews 1.3).

 

What Christmas does for us is begin to make visible the image of the mystery of the invisible God and make knowable the mind of the unknowable God, through what we learn of Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus Christ is not simply the teacher, he is what is taught!

 

God declares, ‘Let all God's angels worship him.’ (Hebrews 1.6)

 

And this is where all unfolds in our apprehension and comprehension of the mystery: the angels of God worship him and then, as messengers of the Most High, call others to that eternal worship that takes place in real time.

 

They start with shepherds, and ultimately call us all to come, to gather to adore.

 

Today we take our place in beholding the mystery afresh, with angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, with Magi, saints and all holy men and women throughout the ages.

 

‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth’. (John 1.14)

 

The mystery is no puzzle, but draws us close to the loving heart of our heavenly Father.

 

Come, let us adore him.

A Saviour has been born to us; who is Christ the Lord.

Midnight Mass 2024

 

Isaiah 9:2-7 A Son is given to us

Titus 2:11-14 God's grace has been revealed to the whole human race

Luke 2:1-14 'In the town of David a saviour has been born to you'

 

Today a Saviour has been born to us; who is Christ the Lord.

(cf Luke 2.11)

 

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Happy Christmas to you, as together we hear the proclamation of the birth of the Saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

We are drawn, tonight, in wonder to the mystery at the heart of the Christian faith: that God - the creator of all that is, be it visible or invisible, known to us or unknown - that same creator God comes to his creation fully, as one of us, and fully as himself: Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary.

 

This wonder is told in old, familiar ways that we know so well from Bible stories, nativity plays and Christmas carols.

 

Yet sometimes it is possible that the stories of angels and shepherds, inns and mangers can obscure the truth of what unfolded in Bethlehem that night which ripples out through the millennia since, down to our day, and beyond.

 

We can think that the account given by St Luke, which we heard just now, is quaint, reassuringly familiar or really meaningful because it comforts us.

 

Or we can think that the stories get in the way of the pure message of Christmas, as told famously by St John who declares, ‘In the beginning was the Word…’

 

But the point of the Christmas story, as told by Luke, is precisely to tell us that the mystery is found in the mess of human existence as much as in the majesty of it.

 

And it propels us on to learn more of him, and what he does in our lives.

 

If we go to Bethlehem to meet Jesus and then go no further - to engage with the rest of his life, teaching, death and resurrection - then we miss the point of the Incarnation, God’s coming to us in flesh and blood.

 

If we only go for the purity of the theory, for the esoteric, and miss out the human and mundane details, then we miss the point that it matters that Christ came in real time, was born in a real place and shares our human experience.

 

The celebration of the birth of the Saviour is not a matter of antique curiosity and warm feelings, but of the urgent, vibrant, transformative presence of the holiness of God in our midst.

 

Our salvation, our being rescued from human entanglement in that which is deathly, corrosive and corrupting - what the Church calls Original Sin - is not a cosy event or a bit of theory, but is truth worked out in the reality of the world in which we exist.

 

Just think of the world into which Christ was born two thousand years ago.

 

The gospel account of his birth is a name check of some of the most tense and unsettled parts of the Middle East.

 

We heard of Syria, annexed to the Roman Empire, some 70 years before the birth of Christ and governed by someone called Quirinius: Syria’s present government is unclear and less stable than the Pax Romana.

 

We heard of Nazareth and of Bethlehem, also Roman occupied: both cities now in the Palestinian controlled West Bank of the river Jordan held by Israel.

 

Jesus Christ was born in real time and in real places, where people live now, and where violence, tension, inhumanity and war abound.

 

The message of peace and goodwill brought by Jesus Christ is not warm story or pure theory but is incarnate reality, in other words, the presence of God in human flesh and blood truly meets the reality of the world.

 

If the Christian message is too heavenly then it is of no earthly use, and if too mundane then there is no capacity for us to be sanctified and made holy: the Incarnation brings heaven and earth, divinity and humanity together for the transformation of what it means to be human.

 

The human heart is still in need of salvation, of hope, joy, peace, tenderness and love.

 

If your love for Christ is dimmed at the moment, or on the brink of flickering out, then know that opening your heart afresh to him will enable you to know and feel that you are forgiven, healed, loved and saved from the chill of being cut off from God’s loving purposes: may this Christmas rekindle your love for Christ.

 

If our celebration of Christmas is to mean anything then in all times, and in all places, we should open ourselves, our souls and bodies, to the Divine Mystery revealed in the child of Bethlehem.

 

Our second reading told us that ‘the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people’ (Titus 2.11).

 

That grace is available to you, tonight, every day of your life, in the  mirk, in the mix ups in the misunderstandings of life.

 

Tonight the rod of oppression of our fears, delusions and conflicts that beat us down, is shattered and we are freed to be a people not walking in darkness, but in the light of life!

 

That’s what drew the shepherds to the manger; that is what the angels sang about; that is what we are invited to receive tonight hidden in bread and wine, yet present to us as we taste his glory and know his peace.

 

Today a Saviour has been born to us; who is Christ the Lord.

(cf Luke 2.11)

 

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Leap with joy in His holy presence

Micah 5:1-4 He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord

Hebrews 10:5-10 God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will

Luke 1:39-45 Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord?

 

In those days Mary arose and went with haste

into the hill country, to a town in Judah.

(Luke 1.39)

 

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Today’s Gospel passage we know as the Visitation.

 

The Blessed Virgin Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth immediately after the archangel has told her she will be mother of the Messiah.

 

And Elizabeth confirms what the Archangel had announced: that Mary is uniquely chosen and worthy of bearing the Son of God, the Messiah, as her child.

 

Gabriel addressed Mary saying ‘Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you’ (Luke 1.28).

 

Now pregnant Elizabeth greets her pregnant visitor saying, ‘“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!‘ (Luke 1.42)

 

The two unborn children who are present – Jesus and John the Baptist – are connected both by family and that their conception was announced by Gabriel, the messenger of God.

 

The child in Mary’s womb is the new David; Jesus will fulfil the promise of the shepherd-king, the anointed one of God, born in Bethlehem.

 

You can make the links – the Gospels so richly connect with past prophecy – a king, a shepherd, an anointed one, Bethlehem.

 

All those are features of David, and why he held such power in the imagination of the people of Israel before the birth of Christ.

 

But all those things can be said of Jesus too: King of kings; the Good Shepherd; The Messiah and saviour; born in Bethlehem.

 

Micah’s prophecy of our first reading is also being fulfilled.

 

In Micah the Lord declares that Bethlehem, the city of David, is too insignificant to be one of the twelve tribes of Israel, but,

 

from you [Bethlehem] shall come forth for me

    one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

    from ancient days.

 

This speaks of Jesus’ coming birth in Bethlehem; the little town with a great task.

 

And there are other places of significance in this morning’s Gospel reading.

 

It is from Nazareth that Mary sets out into the hill country of Judah.

 

That sounds like a trivial detail perhaps, but it’s not trivial.

 

Elizabeth, you’ll recall is married to Zechariah, a temple priest: the archangel came to Zechariah to announce John’s birth while Zechariah was in the temple, at the hour of incense.

 

Zechariah had entered into the Holy of Holies, the most significant part of the Temple where the Ark of the Covenant, holding the holiness of God, was to be found.

 

We’re told that in the temple there was ‘the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant’. (Hebrews 9.4).

 

The Ark had been present with the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 25.6-22; Exodus 33.14), where it rested in the Tabernacle, and as they entered the Promised Land (Joshua 3); it circled Jericho with them (Joshua 6), causing the walls to tumble down; it was brought by King David to Jerusalem from the hill country of Judah (2 Samuel 6.16; 1 Chronicles 15.29)

 

And there’s our key to opening up the meaning of the Visitation – the hill country of Judah where Mary visited.

 

Mary goes to the very place where the Ark of the Covenant was taken from by David; except now Mary brings the ark of her body, containing the New Covenant, to the hill country: she is bearing the presence of the Most High in the child in her womb.

 

The ark of the first covenant came in from the hill country; the Ark of the New Covenant goes out into the hill country.

 

Holiness is on the move again, the temple of Christ’s body, held within Mary’s, and soon to be born into the world is the dwelling place of holiness.

 

The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth calls us back to locate holiness in Jesus Christ, the presence of the Most High, and to know that his holy presence brings life, and joy, and sanctification – the process of being made holy.

 

On bringing the Ark to Jerusalem we read that David danced unrestrainedly because of the holy presence in the Ark; now John the Baptist, unborn yet still discerning, dances in his mother’s womb at the presence of the Ark of the Covenant, Mary, bearing the holiness of the Most High, Jesus Christ: ‘For behold, Mary, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy’. (Luke 1.44)

 

And Elizabeth asked ‘And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’ (Luke 1.43)

 

Our question on the threshold of Christmas question should be ‘why is this granted to us that the Lord, born of Mary, should come to us?’

 

The answer is, in Christ’s own words, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’ (John 3.16)

 

This Jesus is the Word made flesh, who in the tabernacle of flesh and blood, makes his home with us, and comes to us now in his body and blood, so that we become bearers of Christ going out into the temple of his world.

 

The next time we see the Ark of the Covenant in the scriptures is when John the Divine, in the book of Revelation, declares, ‘Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple.’ (Revelation 11.19)

 

May God grant us a vision of his glory and may our hearts, minds and bodies leap with joy in his holy presence.

Rooted in joy

Zephaniah 3:14-18 The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst

Philippians 4:4-7 The Lord is very near

Luke 3:10-18 'Someone is coming who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire'

 

 

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;

shout, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

O daughter of Jerusalem!

Zephaniah 3.14

 

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Last week I was at the Minster Junior School for their Advent School Eucharist.

 

We explored the theme of preparation - after all, it’s Advent - and they told me their morning routine of preparing for school: have breakfast, brush teeth, have shower, put on uniform, and one girl, rather impressively said that she makes her bed!

 

And then we turned to how we prepare for the coming of the Lord and welcoming God into our lives.

 

I asked the children how they think we should prepare for the coming of the Lord, and a sea of hands went up.

 

I really should ask you now to put up your hands and do the same thing!

 

What would you say is the way to prepare for the coming of the Lord?

 

From the children I got the following answers:

 

To prepare for the coming of the Lord we should pray.

 

To prepare for the coming of the Lord we should fast.

 

To prepare for the coming of the Lord we should ask forgiveness.

 

To prepare for the coming of the Lord we should lead godly lives.

 

To prepare for the coming of the Lord we should be joyful.

 

What a collection of wise and good counsel!

 

As Jesus reminds his hearers ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings [God] hast perfected praise’ (Matthew 21.16 citing Psalm 8.2)

 

He says that, having observed the children, with their exuberance and joy, waving Jesus into Jerusalem, with palm branches and singing, on the first Palm Sunday.

 

Children’s praise can cut through the jaded, world-weary, adult mind that lacks a sense of expectation and hope.

 

These themes of expectation, hope and joy within the context of preparation, all come out of our readings today, and actually flesh out what the children said in that School Eucharist.

 

Prayer, fasting, asking forgiveness, leading godly lives and being joyful.

 

Can we find those things in the readings today, is there more we should add?

 

We can certainly find prayer: ‘in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God’. (Philippians 4.6)

 

The promise is that lives soaked in prayer, will receive ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 4.7).

 

That peace, like prayer, is for heart and mind: it’s a whole person activity and blessing.

 

What of the next word a child suggested? Fasting?

 

We don’t explicitly find fasting mentioned in our readings today – although John the Baptist does talk about sharing food with those who have none.

 

I guess many of us would associate fasting with the season of Lent; but the practice of fasting can happen through the year, because it is about depriving ourselves of something – typically food – so that, first, we remember from who all good gifts come in the first place, God the creator, and, second, to appreciate the gifts we enjoy mindful of the needs of others.

 

Fasting in the midst of the pre-Christmas feasting is a good Advent discipline, so long as we do feast at Christmas.

 

That takes us to forgiveness.

 

John the Baptist proclaimed the intense preparation that is about getting ourselves in right relationship with God: smoothing the paths for him to come.

 

John’s proclamation is of ‘a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’, as we heard in last week’s gospel (Luke 3.3).

 

Being forgiven people, who are forgiving people is indeed how we are called to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

 

And that takes us to a phrase one of those children used, that is not on the lips of many people today, leading godly lives.

 

That is what John the Baptist addresses in answer to the crowds’ question, ‘what then should we do?’ (Luke 3.10).

 

He effectively says lead godly lives.

 

He goes on to say, ‘and this is what it looks like’.

 

For all of us, be generous: “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

 

If you’re a tax collector: “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.”

 

If you’re a soldier: “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

 

There’s a great Advent question for us all: what does leading a godly life look like for me?

 

And perhaps that takes us back to the title of this Sunday, Guadete Sunday, translated ‘rejoice Sunday’, from those verses of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.’ (Philippians 4.4)

 

This isn’t about banal, happy smiley Christians, but rather to be rooted in the deep joy that comes only from God.

 

A joy that doesn’t evaporate when times get tough, but sustains us through the tough times.

 

A joy that is expectant, even exuberant, as Zephaniah describes it: “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!” (Zephaniah 3.14).

 

This is the joy of the valleys, of which prophets speak, that ‘shall blossom abundantly and shall rejoice with joy and singing.’ (Isaiah 35.2)

 

This is the reverent joy, described in Revelation, of the exquisite sound of those gathered in heaven, ‘singing a new song before the throne.’ (Revelation 14.3)

 

‘So with many other exhortations [John the Baptist] preached the good news to the people.’ (Luke 3.18)

 

Pray. Fast. Forgive and be forgiven. Lead godly lives. Be joyful.

 

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;

shout, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

O daughter of Jerusalem!