WHAT A MESS!
A sermon preached at the CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION, Washington St. Brighton for the Midnight Mass on 24th December 2015
Our crib service this year teetered once or twice on the chaotic, as is quite normal. The children cast as Joseph and Mary got stagefright and wouldn’t act. The day was saved by a scintillating performance from a pantomime camel called Cedric.
But any dodgy moments were as nothing compared with a recent primary school nativity play in Australia which I read about.
Ahmed, a Muslim boy, had his heart set on playing Joseph but the producer thought that part ought really to go to a Christian pupil. Bad idea. Because a disgruntled Ahmed ended up as the innkeeper. And he refused to open the door to Joseph’s repeated knocking.
The producer started to intervene: Ahmed, you know what to do, darling, just open the door and make your little speech. No dice. More knocking. Ahmed, your mum and dad are here, darling, they’ll be so proud of you. Nothing doing.
Then a loud African bass voice from the back of the hall: AHMED, OPEN THAT DOOR OR I’LL GIVE YOU WHAT FOR! And the father, an immigrant from Sierra Leone, started striding down the aisle towards the stage.
The door magically opened but Ahmed was not done yet. You can come in, he said to Mary, but Joseph can “Foxtrot Oscar”.
That was it. Joseph burst into tears. The shepherds and the angels started to hit the innkeeper because he had said a rude word and the children in the audience caught the mood: Fight! Fight! Fight! they screamed. The producer came centre stage and waved her arms for order. This isn’t the way I rehearsed it she said.
What a hilarious shambles!
Some messes are not so hilarious. The mess of Jesus’s own birth in a real stable where animals were housed. The cow pats and the sheep droppings and the stench. The mess of Jesus’s own death, choking to death hanging by nails from two pieces of wood.
But then God is perfectly at home with mess and He can always cope with it. Christ’s messy birth and death are simply how far He was prepared to go to show us his love and to hope for our love in return.
As for our messy world today, we have to understand that God is not a puppet master and we are not robots. He gave us free will That means that in every age, some human beings will choose evil instead of good. They will think nothing of torturing and murdering to get their way.
And we also have to accept that God did not make this planet as a one-off well-oiled precision instrument. He made the world to go on making and re-making itself with our help or hindrance and, in the process we get accidents and natural disasters, earthquakes and floods.
But then God’s speciality is clearing up messes (or if you like bringing good out of evil) and He does it by using the care and goodwill of those of His children who respond to His love and show it shining through their own lives.
The ones who give their time, efforts and money to help disaster victims, refugees, the homeless
· The Paris widower who told Islamic State I will not give you the one thing you want – my hatred
· The passer-by who cried You ain’t no Muslim, bruv at the Leytonstone tube stabbings.
Those are, for Christians, the voices of God, the God of love and vulnerability whom we welcome into the world this night.
It is so easy, when angry, to lash out in retaliation or revenge and it’s also easy to throw up our hands in despair when everything goes wrong. But all that does is to add to the mess.
If we look at the helpless baby in the manger and the young man on the cross, we too can learn to be gentle, generous, positive and forgiving. To be the hands of God clearing up the messes.
A very happy Christmas to you all!