Christmas Midnight 2014: Witnesses to the Light
The prophet Isaiah once declared that, “the people who walked in
darkness have seen a great light”. This was his message for the people
of Judea and Jerusalem early in the eighth century before Christ, who
were living with an ever-increasing threat from the great military power
to the north, the Assyrians. The Assyrians had annexed Syria, and were
now coming south, ravaging territories all the way to Jerusalem.
Ultimately, the city itself became subject to Assyrian rule.
Within this traumatic political context,
Isaiah of Jerusalem crafted a vision for the future which gives us some
of the bible’s most beautiful, poetic images for the promise of another
world that will emerge from the brokenness of the present. And in this
world, says Isaiah, the nation will be “multiplied”, the “yoke of their
burden” will be “broken”, and a child will be born, one who will rise to
rule as king, who will be a “wonderful counsellor” a “mighty God” and a
“Prince of Peace”, and “there shall be endless peace”, and justice and
righteousness shall reign supreme – and for ever!
It is little surprise, then, that on this Christmas night, when we greet the
salvation coming forth from the child of Bethlehem, it is this vision of the
prophet Isaiah that so often accompanies our exultant celebrations.
Because it captures for us that deep note of reassurance, of present
and future hope, that there exists beyond and within and underneath the
realities we know, a golden thread of divine promise and purpose which
is greater, more enduring and stronger than all that flows contrary to it.
And a sense of this promise, coming forth from God, from eternity to
eternity, is captured supremely for Christian people, in the words of the
opening of the gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning
with God.”... For these words declare that the Word who now is become
flesh in Jesus, who is bringing light into the darkness, has been in
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existence from the very beginning!...... Thus the promise of salvation, of
the rebirth of hope, which we celebrate in this wondrous season, has
always been there, and it will always be there!... as an offer from the
God of love, who longs to bring treasured gifts to humanity and creation
of peace, justice, mercy, compassion and hope for the future – and who
is full of grace and truth!
And it is our Christmas calling, surely therefore,
that we will choose to welcome the light, and live by the light and so be
witnesses to the light! Just as an age of light was being promised to the
Judaeans and the Jerusalemites by Isaiah, so light is dawning tonight in
our midst and we are invited to embrace it and reflect its glory!
Quite clearly, there are plenty of reasons this Christmas to be cautious
or even profoundly concerned for the welfare of humanity. Over recent
months we have witnessed some very threatening acts of violence that
have been conducted by nations and interest groups and individuals, for
example in Syria, and eastern Ukraine and coming from IS, especially in
northern Iraq, where local Christian and Muslim communities have been
living in a state of fear for months. And here in church we have been
lighting our ‘Justice Candle’, Sunday by Sunday, to sharpen our prayers
for them and for people everywhere who are being oppressed by
violence and injustice....
Also, here in our own nation, only a fortnight ago, we heard that
significant levels of food poverty in Britain are now being experienced
right across the nation, with Foodbanks unable to keep pace with ever
increasing needs – also that the income gap between rich and poor is
now wider than it has ever been in our lifetimes. For people in work, the
poorest now earn nearly ten times less than the richest. Something is
very wrong, and our Archbishop has called on us to do much more to
tackle poverty, and not only practically but politically. We have to find
new ways to create genuine wellbeing for low earners, to incentivise
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small businesses and to tax ourselves fairly and appropriately. How we
are doing things at present is not producing a just and fair society. For
far too many people, there is no light at the end of the tunnel at all. As a
national church we have been asked to support local credit unions, for
example, in an effort to create a more secure and enduring base for
safe and accessible lending and borrowing where it is much needed.
The fact is that there is a very great deal that you or I, from our various
perspectives, might identify as part of what is wrong in the world – or
part of the ‘darkness’ to use John’s imagery. And we could have a
healthy debate about it I’m sure!.....
But on this Christmas night, when we
reflect on the coming of the light into the darkness, now is not the time,
surely, to be oppressed by the darkness, but rather to look towards the
light, to welcome the light and to seek to live by the light, and so to live
and work to dispel the darkness! – for as John says, “the light shines in
the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it”. And one of our
local signs of hope and light is the work of our St George’s chosen
Christmas Charity this year, the Karis Neighbour Scheme, who have
their premises in this parish. Their strapline (as you can see from the
back of the service booklet) is “Offering practical support, friendship and
advocacy in the local community, with volunteers”. They work with both
long term residents and newly arrived families and individuals to provide
a very wide range of neighbourly support, including befriending, advice
and advocacy work, running a Foodbank facility, debt counselling, a job
club and teaching English as an additional language. Their aim is to
enable people to tackle day to day issues that arise, especially for those
who lack friendship networks and support in the community or who don’t
yet know their way around. Karis sees hundreds of clients each year
through a group of about eighty volunteers and a core group of four paid
workers and enables many not only to survive but to thrive within our
own locality of Edgbaston and Ladywood. It is about ‘street-level’
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support, direct and personal, all of which serves to build confidence,
build community and build human capacity. They bring a lot of light into
this community, and we are very fortunate to have them in our midst. I
hope you will want to support them in the retiring collection tonight.
Tackling poverty and disadvantage is very challenging, for the practical
and the political have to work together if lasting change is to be
achieved. A great deal has happened to welfare provision over the last
three decades and much of it is very questionable. It is not only people
out of work, for example, but people in work who visit Foodbanks. It is
very apparent that we have not yet found satisfactory ways to undo the
poverty trap. Only this last week it was reported that low earners are
paying 40% of their income in tax – when taxes like VAT are taken into
consideration. We need not just charity in this challenging environment,
but creativity and that much sought after commodity, political will.
On this Christmas night, however, I want to remind us that
notwithstanding the challenges – and these may be as much the
personal challenges that you and I face as they are the social and
societal challenges faced by us all – that we are people of the light!....
We are those who are choosing to come to the light, welcome the light
and live by the light. And as we do so, we seek the empowerment and
encouragement of the good news of great joy that is given through the
child of Bethlehem, to carry us forward. This does not mean that we are
ignoring the difficulties which surround us – rather that we are seeking
the deep inspiration of the Word made flesh face them with new hope
and confidence.
Therefore, in this holy season, let us take courage and take heart, that
within, underneath and beyond what we experience, there is a promise
from God that salvation is being brought forth, wholeness is being
nourished into life and a way of sacrificial love is being disclosed in the
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child of Bethlehem that is setting us free and creating new possibilities
for our lives and the life of the world. There is a journey of hope to be
undertaken – in the power of the Spirit and in the joy of the birth of the
Saviour. Let us go there!
Reverend Julian Francis
24.12.2014
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