Sermon for Watchnight

That was a lovely poem by Kavanagh, wasn’t it ?

What I love about the poem is the way in which his own local landscape becomes the landscape of the Christmas story – the three whin bushes on the horizon like the three kings, the stable where his mother does the milking becomes the very stable of Bethlehem. For the child – and the adult poet - Christmas is not just about remembering an event from long ago – but encountering the Christ-mystery right here and now. In the light of this mystery, everything around him is transfigured.

It’s often said of Christmas that its main attraction is as an escape from the realities, pressures and struggles of modern life – and I suppose that for many people it is just that. I would like to suggest, however, that Christmas can – and should be more than that – much more. The Christmas message is not just for Christmas !

The writer CS Lewis responded well to the accusation that imaginative stories - such as his own Chronicles of Narnia - were bad for children as they encouraged them to escape from reality. His response ? “Tell a child the story of an enchanted forest – you don’t take him out of the real forest – but you make every forest enchanted for him.”

How sad it is that as we grow older that we lose much – and probably most – of that sense of wonder, of our awareness of the strange and beautiful mystery lying at the heart of things. No wonder Wordsworth said the child is father of the man. No wonder Jesus said, “Unless you become as a little child you will never enter the Kingdom of God” – that Kingdom which is here and now and in our midst if we would but see it.. Don’t we talk about being dis-enchanted with life ? Is that our problem in the western world - that we have become world-weary, cynical, disenchanted ? The mystery of Christmas needs to re-enchant us.

A French theologian said memorably that … “ the whole of life lies in the verb seeing.”

Is it not significant that in the gospel stories, there are several stories of Jesus enabling blind people to see ? I’m quite sure that such stories are intended to work on more than one level. Could it be that we adults- so often world weary and cynical adults – are the ones who need to pray, “Lord – I want to see” ?

It’s surely the poets, the artists, the tellers of stories and the playwrights who open our eyes – and it’s worth remembering that most of the Biblical writers - and Jesus himself - were poets – bards, creative and imaginative people. Listen to a contemporary bard, Canadian songwriter Bruce Cockburn, in his song simply called “Mystery”

You can't tell me there is no mystery
Mystery
Mystery
You can't tell me there is no mystery
It's everywhere I turn

Moon over junk yard where the snow lies bright
Snow lies bright
Snow lies bright
Moon over junk yard where the snow lies bright
Can set my heart to burn

Vision – seeing – eyes being opened – lies right at the heart of the Christmas story – especially with two groups – wise men – magi – astrologers – and shepherds.

The wise men are themselves visionaries – mystics – seekers and pilgrims. They are brave men who are not content with the limited horizons of their present vision. They are for ever pushing back the frontiers of human and spiritual experience – their watchword is- “there must be more…” They are looking for more vision, more wisdom, more understanding.

These men are not just armchair philosophers, fond of a cosy discussion over a glass of wine….they are voyagers.. explorers - men who are ready to follow the signs wherever they lead. So when their charting of the stars brings something new into their own orbit, they are ready to embrace the new thing – and to follow it.

The shepherds are very different. Mystical vision is the last thing on their mind as they huddle together against the cold and dark. They are rough men, men on the fringe, looked down upon and scorned by the strict religious sects of their day as being ignorant, irreverent and uncouth. I love American storyteller Garrison Keillor’s version of the nativity where the shepherds are not only terrified of the angel but desperately trying to hide the empty pile of beer bottles stacked up behind them ! That’s pretty much the kind of reputation they had in the eyes of the unco guid of the time…

Suddenly and totally unexpected, the shepherds are confronted by blazing mystery, blinding glory and annunciation….Totally unsought and unlooked for, they discover that life is bigger – infinitely bigger than they ever imagined. The curtains have just been thrown back and they are summoned into this expansive life…..no longer can they see their lives as meaningless and of no significance.

Two groups – wise men and shepherds.

Some of us are like the wise men – we search we question, we discuss, we mutter to ourselves “there must be more…”

We are malcontents, seekers…thinkers…And yet, we seem so often to be going around in circles – and like Omar Khayam we find ourselves coming back through the same door by which we entered…

But suddenly – what was a circle begins to look like a path.. a way. And we know that if we are to be true to ourselves, we have to follow.. to journey – to step out. We have to set our life’s compass by this new star that is rising….

Some of us are like the shepherds – quietly getting on with the mundane ordinariness of our lives when we are suddenly confronted by the mystery at the heart of things – perhaps through a birth, a death.. a new beginning,. and we know, we just know….that there is something bigger going on here – much bigger than we ever imagined…and we are part of it.

Tonight we have come to a Watchnight service – to hear familiar words being read- and to sing again carols that connect us with our child-self – words and melodies that take us back to our earliest days.

It’s all about vision – it’s all about seeing. The poet Kavanagh through childhood memory, looked out upon an enchanted landscape. A disenchanted world – a world that has lost its sense of mystery and wonder – a world disconnected from the child’s vision - is a very dangerous place in which to live.

Jesus said, unless you become as a little child, you will never enter the Kingdom of God. Truly the child is father of the man. If you came here dis-enchanted, a bit jaundiced with life, embittered or cynical, may you leave here and make your way home in a landscape – and in a world - that is transfigured by the light of Christ.

Amen.