25.12.2010
Christmas Sermon by the Archbishop of Dublin
CHRISTMAS DAY 2010
CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, DUBLIN
Sermon by the Archbishop of Dublin
The Most Revd Dr John R W Neill
Each year since this Cathedral Church was founded, the people of God have assembled here on December 25th to celebrate the birth of Christ. This celebration has taken place against a wide variety of backdrops, sometimes of war, at other times that of peace, sometimes in a context of prosperity, but at others in an atmosphere of desperate want and need. Each time has been proclaimed that wonderful message – Glory to God in the highest, peace to God’s people on earth – Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, a baby has been born – a new beginning has dawned. The cynic might be tempted to say that it was all far removed from the reality of life outside the Cathedral, but that is to miss the point.
Tuesday of last week was the feast day of St John of the Cross, that sixteenth century Spanish mystic. In a wonderful poem which lists the joys of God’s love, each verse ends with the refrain “Though it be night”. So the last stanza goes like this:
This living fount which is to me so dear
Within the bread of life I see it clear
Though it be night.
Christmas as a celebration of God’s love is real even against the harsh backdrop that is December 2010 on this island of Ireland - Though it be night. It may indeed seem like night, and for many people it really is the darkness of night, but there is another reality that cannot be wiped out. As the Gospel of St.John puts it so beautifully –
The light shines on in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.
Christmas is a story of hope, and the message that underlies this whole celebration is that the darkness does not have the last word – that beyond the pain, there can be joy. This Though it be night hope lies in the nature of God’s love – it is not just a nice sentimental idea, it is a costly self-giving – a self-emptying love – it is a love that challenges our clinging, our grasping, our attempts at keeping all for ourselves – it is a love that makes us want to give, to serve, and to love others. God’s love places deep within us the seeds of hope though it be night.
The wonder of Christmas – Shepherds receiving the angelic message, a baby born in a stable, a young mother rejoicing and yet not knowing what lies ahead – this is a story that is timeless, attractive, and compelling. Its meaning is taken up in countless ways, but for me that early Christian hymn quoted in the letter to the Philippians says it all:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.
The love shown at Christmas is a love that never clings, but is prepared to let go, whatever the cost.
Much of the mess that we are in as a nation in the sphere of economics is about the grasping for wealth, even beyond clinging to what we have, grasping for more and more. In the world of politics it is about clinging to power at all costs and pursuing narrow self-interest. As a nation, we have still much of the trappings of religion, but little of the self-emptying that is at the heart of Christian faith, that is at the heart of the message of Christmas.
The wonder of the Christian hope is that it is not dependent on everything changing in the world around – it is not dependent on economic “Green shoots” or a General Election – it is dependent on a change of attitude, a conversion, among individuals, and families, and local communities, yes and churches too, to God’s was of changing things – self-emptying and self-giving love.
To return for a brief moment to those lines from St John of the Cro ss that I quoted a few minutes ago:
This living fount which is to me so dear
Within the bread of life I see it clear
Though it be night.
We will be invited at the altar to receive that same Bread of life – which can only be received because of the costly self-giving love that is given in that Bread –
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death- even death on a cross. If the Bread is not broken, it is not shared. But because it is broken, love in all its beauty is revealed, the love of God made visible – the power of that love released into the world though it be night.
May God grant you each and every one that true joy of Christmas – in giving of ourselves to receive, so that immersed in the love of God, even though it be night, that you each may have a truly happy and blessed Christmas.