Friday 2 January 2015

The world did not know him - A New Years thought


The gospel writer John is hardly the most romantic or sentimental of the gospel writers. His vocabulary is technical and his approach seems more the work of a theologian than an eyewitness telling a story that has a beginning middle and end.
       
If you go to John’s gospel for shepherds or angel choruses, or kings following bright stars, friendly beasts, harsh innkeepers, or strange dreams, you have gone to the wrong gospel.

Jesus walks onto the stage of history full grown when John first takes any interest in his life. And John writes like an intellectual, like a philosopher... in circles. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, And immediately we know that this is not a word like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. It is a Word that has theological meaning.

Of course the Word is translated from the original Greek Logos, which is more than just a word, it is more like a concept, a thought that wants to be uttered rather than a word that must be defined.

So as January begins with the Christmas decorations still around us, our minds finally clearing from the excess of New years parties we have a moment to pause and reflect on this first Sunday of the New Year, before we take up the story anew next Sunday with the beginning of Epiphany.

John’s prologue, the first eighteen or so verses of the gospel, take us back to the beginning of all time. In the beginning, John begins, and if it sounds a little more like Genesis than John, it’s supposed to. John wants us to think about the beginning of everything, when the earth was formless and void. It was at that time that the idea, the Word, was already in God’s mind. God knew from the beginning that a Word would need to be said, a Word would need to be born.

In contrast to St Luke the birth story did not begin with the annunciation. For St John the genealogy of Matthew and Luke is trumped  by tracing the lineage of Jesus not with Adam or Abraham but with God before time began. John states that from the beginning of time, God meant the Word to be. He wants to know from whence all things come. And he gives us a mystery to ponder - the fact that even though the Word was the first thought God ever had, the reception of the Word, the child born of Mary,  by God’s people was the last thing of theirs.

 “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own,” John goes on, “and his own people did not accept him.”

His own people may have missed the point, but what excuse do we have?

I am struck by John’s words which echo into this new year of our Lord two thousand and fifteen.
Have we really not seen him, not known him?
He was in the world, John says, and the world did not know him. If not, then what is this annual exercise we have just been through?

We have transformed our city with lights and placed candles in our windows. We’ve hauled living trees into our homes and decorated them with strings of bulbs and bows and tinsel. We’ve spent Billions of pounds in our shops.

But maybe “knowing him” should not be confused with the gaudy display and orgy of spending that Christmas has become for so many, pretty as it may be, and relief to the longest nights of the year that it is. Because if all there was to the Word’s coming into the world were pretty lights and tightly wrapped packages, then the only people who gain are those in the business  of retail and advertising, when what Christmas holds out is hope and life for the whole of creation.

We are always challenged to look beneath the surface, to look deeper in to the Christmas story for meaning as Anghard reminded us last Sunday when she preached taking us beyond the perfect night with a nuclear family of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus to something a little more gritty and uncomfortable, even painful but certainly more inclusive and hopeful.

It is for St John to point us to this in his beautiful words that form the first verses of his gospel, the prologue. For here is the real heart of what we have been preparing to celebrate through the weeks preceding Christmas, the coming of One who would be for us light and hope, joy and strength, the Word become flesh and dwelling among us full of grace and truth. And in the place of the inhospitable Inn keeper of Luke’s gospel John states , “He was in the world, yet the world did not know him.”

As we strive to make our New Years resolutions in a world that is still divided and torn apart by ideology, wealth and religious values that deny our common humanity let us hear the words of hope that St John gives us this morning as we look out to the year beginning in the darkness of our making as well as that of this winter season and pledge ourselves to the hope that we celebrate at Christmas even though “he was in the world, and the world did not know him.

It’s John’s clear if somewhat minimalist message, without angels or shepherds, stars, strange dreams or magi, nevertheless a message that makes all the difference once you grasp its implications, that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of a parent for an only child, full of grace and truth.

If there is any hope for this world I am not sure that it lies in images and messages that we are constantly bombarded with but is does lie in the pages of Scripture that we turn to every day of our lives and read and meditate upon.

In a world that does not know the one sent to be its light and life; as we make our New Year resolutions let us look for the evidence that God is indeed with us. Let us commit ourselves to look for those places where there is kindness expressed, and comfort offered, and prayers are said, and people are encouraged, and the dying are soothed, and the ill are not alone.

This is how God is made known in the world, in this and every season. When the Word is expressed in flesh and dwells among us, full of grace and truth.

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Feast of the blessed Nativity 2014


Luke 2. 6. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
7. and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Because there was not room for them in the inn!

All this time I was under the impression that the reason Mary and Joseph ended up in the stable was because the inn was full -- that's what we sing in our  Christmas carols -- that's what we see in all of the movies about the birth of Christ and in all the nativity plays across the country, even of our own childhood  "There is no room -- the inn is full -- you can stay in the stable out back"

But, that's not what Luke says happened here, he doesn't say the inn was full -- he just says that there was no room "for them"
what does that mean?  - "For them" - what was it that made the innkeeper turn them away I wonder on this special night?

Tonight we are celebrating the wondrous gift that came from heaven to earth – the birth of Jesus Christ and we do so at a time when the making room for others is a highly contentious issue in the world of politics and for many of us here in West Hendon very close to our own front doors as we see the regeneration of the West Hendon estate gather pace.

Thinking of Front doors reminds me of the presentation last Sunday by our Sunday school on the great I am sayings of Jesus and linking them to the Christmas story - I am the Door – Jn 10.7

In the book of Revelation 3:20, Jesus said, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." I wonder if John the author of the book of Revelation  thought back to that time in Bethlehem -I wonder if He thought of the innkeeper as He wrote those words. when Mary and Joseph showed up at the door of the inn and knocked, it remained closed to them.

 In Jesus' time here on earth, many doors were closed to Him.  He knocked on the door of the synagogue in Nazareth and proclaimed the fulfillment of prophecy, and was thrown out.
He knocked on the doors of the temple and proclaimed His deity, and was crucified .
He knocked on the door of all that He created, the created order and the hearts of everyone created in his image, and He was rejected.

Tonight there are many in our city for whom the door of hospitality, hope and joy is closed to them. While we sleep tonight and as we feast tomorrow there will be those in our own community, city and the countless refugee centers around the world for whom the door is firmly closed to them. but because of the love and generosity of the few that door is for a moment opened and through the crack of that open door the light from the other side will reflect in their eyes and provide a glimmer of hope in their hearts that have become so used to despair.

There are many who will testify as to when Christmas begins, for me it's the Saturday morning before Christmas when we are able to join with Jesus House and offer a Christmas Hamper to those who open the door of their homes wide enough to receive them. This year 68 hampers were given and received in West Hendon.


Returning to the nameless innkeeper who for reasons known only to him, refused to open his door on that night long ago we may choose to speculate why the inn keeper refused to let in Mary and Joseph, and in doing so touch upon the temptations that we suffer from when trying to live up to the example of this child born of Mary.

Was the door closed to them because of their appearance?
because they weren't wearing fine clothes
because the innkeeper thought they were too poor to have the money for a room?
or did he turn them away because he had heard their story? and did he think that Mary had been unfaithful to Joseph?
Was it that he did not want he didn't want that type of person mingling with his righteous guests?

In retelling the Christmas Story year upon year is so that we can, year after year, pledge ourselves to be open, in mind and spirit and strive to accept all who come, the rich and the poor, the saved and the sinner, without judgment or prejudice. This is the good news of Christmas that we see displayed for all the world to see - that the child born of Mary accepts all who come to Him, all who knock on the door and seek His face: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3.16

Amidst all that we could speculate upon, the one thing seems irrefutable is the fact that the Inn Keeper didn’t have an open mind or heart. That he could have opened the door and let Mary and Joseph into the inn from which they were barred.

 As we celebrate on Wednesday night,
as we gather in these precious days of Christmas,
as we encounter the wondrous birth of our saviour anew in the dark sacred night
as we kneel before the crib at the Altar and receive into our outstretched hand the bread of life and into our parched throats the wine of the new covenant with the promise of a renewed life, a fulfilled life….

let our prayer be that our hearts, our minds and yes the doors of our homes and our community will be open to those who come to us in their need, and that this will be true not just at Christmas but on every day of the year

Monday 22 December 2014

Barnet refugee service end of year party

This has become a regular feature of life for us here at St Matthias. The Barnet Refugee Service has for many years used at Matthias for a weekly drop in and from an initial "mustard seed" grant in 2008 from the Church Urban Fund runs English classes for its members. 
This annual party is put on with the support of Aylth Synagogue and ourselves working together. 
Santa is late this year but we have the Mayor and his wife covering his absence!! 






The  mayot welcomed everyone present to the UK 



Santa proves popular with everyone now that he has arrived. 


Saturday 20 December 2014

Last Sunday in Advent


Mary is a great inspiration to Christians throughout the world as she said YES to God, who through the message of an Angel, choose her of all women in all time to bear the Eternal Word of God, whose birth we recall and once again celebrate in four days time.

However it is sad to note that for all the devotion and inspiration she engenders through her obedience she is also for many a source of division and contention, in particular within the great Protestant denominations that took life at the Reformation 400 years ago.

Why is such an easy thing – to say yes – so hard when it comes to God?
Well the fact of the matter is that in saying yes to God we are never really sure what is to come next! Saying Yes to God inevitably means saying no to ones own ego and motives, agenda and will.


As it was for Mary, so it is for us.  The life of God is conceived and nurtured in each of us when we are willing to let it be so.  It happens through God's power, not our own. 

The transforming presence of Christ is not just for Mary - nor just you and me, it is for all who call Jesus Lord. For when we become followers of Jesus Christ we become part of a larger hope for all God's people: and where better to see hear that hope articulated than in the song of Mary that we just hear read in our Gospel reading – the Magnificat

- the hope, indeed the reality, of God's acts of mercy and justice on behalf of those who love Him in every generation,
- the hope that sees God lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry with good things.

But let us turn to this morning, this the last Sunday in Advent, and as we do so there is another choice that has to be made here today

The God who spoke to Mary through an angel now speaks to us through Holy Scripture, announcing that we too have been chosen to give birth,
- to give birth to the "coming again" of the Christ child.

For our celebration of Christmas, when it comes, tells of a story, of events, that happened a long time ago  and at one level still have the power to touch the human spirit and inspire us to live even if only for a day peacefully and cheerfully if not a little merrily!

However the story we will recall in a few days time is really a story about you and me to day, and it is one about letting the holy Spirit touch us, to mould us to challenge us and lead us on. It is an  opportunity to let Christ once again stir in our hearts and minds, as he did in the hearts and minds of those who witnessed his birth in Bethlehem long ago

We have been chosen, at our baptism, we have chosen to be here this morning as a sign of our discipleship and we have a choice to make this morning – and it is this – how will we prepare to receive this gift of new life that we celebrate in four days time?

That, in the end, is what Christmas is about.  It is a story about our lives today and about how each has the opportunity to answer the angel as did Mary and receive the gift of new life.

The Angel is telling each of you this morning,
and will continue to whisper in your ear:
Greetings to you, O Favoured One, the Lord is with you. 

What we do with that greeting, that message from an angel, the message of Scripture is up to you and me