“THE WORD MADE FLESH” –
a sermon for THE Sunday BEFORE CHRISTMAS
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A sermon preached at Reading: |
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Top Left: “The Birth
of Christ” by Carl Bloch |
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“The Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us”
(John
1:14)
A driver
is in a terrible rush –
she is driving right on the rear bumper of the car in front
and flashing her lights and sounding her horn, trying to get past.
The two cars approach some traffic lights
which go from green to amber –
the car in front could have put his foot down
and got through the lights,
but being a good and careful driver,
he slows down and stops at the lights.
This is too much for the woman behind,
who winds down her window
and screams abuse at the car in front.
Still in
mid rant, she suddenly notices a police officer approaching.
The policeman orders her out of her car and into his.
He tells her she is under arrest and takes her to the police station,
where she is searched, fingerprinted and placed in a cell.
After a
couple of hours, the same policeman
opens the cell door and apologises.
“I’m awfully sorry for this mistake” he says –
“You see, as I pulled up behind your car
when you were blowing your horn,
gesticulating in a rude way and turning the air blue with your language,
I noticed the chrome plated Christian fish symbol
and the “Jesus is my Saviour” sign on the boot of your car
and the “What would Jesus do?” sticker in your back windscreen.
I am sorry for my mistake, but you see,
I naturally assumed you had stolen the car….”
At the end of the day our actions
need to match our slogans.
The words on the windscreen need to be consistent with the way we live.
Yesterday
Tony Blair was in trouble with Anne Widdecombe –
who complained that he says he is a Roman Catholic
but his voting record told another story –
Ands that
raises a question for all of us -
whether we agree with Tony Blair or Anne Widdecombe,
we all have to ask if our words about God are lived out in our lives.
This week
someone bought a 700 year old copy of Magna Carta for
$21M.
The purchaser said afterwards,
“I don’t think you can put a price on freedom or on this document”
Of course there is quite a
difference between being free
and owning a document about freedom.
There are a lot of words in the
world, but like the lady at the traffic lights,
we don’t always practice what we preach.
The governments
of the world have signed up to the Bali Accord -
if they do what they say, climate change may yet be halted –
but what if Bali turns out to be just like Kyoto -
just words and sound bites?
· And what if God had decided just
to talk about love,
but not actually do anything about it?
· What if God had simply put a sign
on his windscreen
or issued a press release embargoed to Christmas Day
extolling the virtues of love?
· What if he had just stayed in
heaven sending text messages and emails?
· What if he had just sent the
prophets and kept himself at a safe distance?
Thank God, that’s not what
happened:
In the beginning was the Word – and the Word was made flesh –
That is, the Word dwelled with us
and met with us and shared our darkness and heartache –
Thank God for the gift of
Christmas – not just words but love in action.
I
recently watched again the film “Breaking
the Waves”
starring Emily Watson – it is not an easy watch,
and I should say that it contains
some very graphic and disturbing scenes.
It
concerns the trials and tribulations of Bess,
a simple girl in a very traditional and religious village
in the North East of Scotland.
Bess is a
victim, but her character is ambiguous –
some viewers have seen her as simply foolish, others as a Christlike
figure.
What is
clear is that she shows her love
in a socially unacceptable and deeply threatening and disturbing way –
so much so that in the end
she is thrown out by the pious Church community
and condemned to hell.
Her brand
of Christianity is very different from that of the Kirk.
In one
scene in the chapel –
where of course as a mere woman she may not even speak -
she is bidden by the Minister to love the Word of God.
She bursts out “How can you love a word?”
You can only love people.
In the beginning was the Word –
and the Word was made flesh –
God comes not as the cold and
heartless messenger of distant doom,
casting out sinners
but as the incarnate word, as the warm and living word of love,
taking them in his arms.
And so how about
us?
How do we respond when we see
the needy and the sad and the sorrowful and the sinful this Christmas?
· Do we analyse their problems,
allocate blame,
· Tell them where they have gone
wrong,
· Advise them on remedies for their
situation
· Or – heaven help us – write them
of as hopeless and undeserving?
Or do we stop talking and start
loving?
Do we get alongside them, and hold
them, and love them,
and promise never to leave them?
After all, that is what our God
did
when he came as a vulnerable babe into our dark and sinful world,
one cold winter’s night in Bethlehem, long long ago –
What he did for me and for you,
let us do for others.
Order of Service
Communion for the
4th Sunday of Advent
Hymn 81
“Come thou long expected Jesus”
Prayers (Methodist Worship Book p.117)
Reading: Luke 1:26-38
Hymn 87
“The Angel Gabriel”
Reflection: “The Word made flesh”
Hymn 108
“It came upon a midnight clear”
Prayers (MWB p.121)
Lord’s Prayer
The Peace (MWB p.123)
(Members
of the congregation greet each other
with a handshake or other sign of peace)
Collection
Hymn 112
“Silent night”
(Please remain standing at the end of
the hymn)
Communion (MWB p.124)
Prayer (MWB p.128)
Hymn 120
“While shepherds watched”
Blessing