Christmas Eve Midnight Mass 2009 - Canon Stephen Carter
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CHRISTMAS EVE MIDNIGHT MASS 2009 Luke 2: 13 And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host Do you believe in angels? I do. I’ve seen one. And I hadn’t been on the Farmers Ale. But I’ll tell you about it later. However not all clergy believe in angels. In Colchester we had a wonderful old priest, Canon Cyril Bolson, who was for many years Rector of Myland. On one occasion, Canon Bolson came clean in the pulpit .He confessed that he did not believe in angels. There was a certain irony in this, as his church was dedicated to St Michael and All Angels. But the angels did have the last word. When Canon Bolson died, his memorial was a new altar frontal. And what did it depict? Yes you’ve got it: an angel: complete with halo and wings. But perhaps many people share Canon Bolson’s doubts about angels. This may be one reason why a recent survey suggested that four fifths of the British public and a fifth of churchgoers don’t believe the Christmas story. There are always a number of television programmes this time of year that delight in challenging the historical reliability of the Gospel accounts of Christ’s birth. And yet, the airing of such doubts does not diminish the power of the Christmas story, bearing in mind the number of people who flock to our churches in this season. Even those who can’t quite believe it still want to be part of it. So why is the Christmas story difficult to believe? I suspect part of the problem is that for many people all the talk of angels by Luke and Matthew, makes Christ’s nativity feel a bit like a fairy story. I have to say, I’ve never had a problem with angels myself. I’m not suggesting that they always have wings and halos and resemble the sort of image conjured up in the school nativity play. But it seems to me, if you believe in God, you must be open to a reality beyond this world. To know that there are dimensions in our lives beyond that which can be measured in scientific terms. At Christmas, we affirm that the Word became flesh. That God entered the world of the physical and the material. So Christianity is involved in the world, and the world’s problems, because God is committed to the world. But that does not mean that the world of the physical and material is ALL that there is. But it does mean that there is a deeper reality beyond what we can touch and see. In the Eucharist we affirm that we worship in union with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven. The veil is briefly lifted so that we can glimpse the vision of heaven.
But angels never speak about themselves: they always point beyond themselves to God and to the things that are eternal. So we may not understand what angels are; but only what they mean. In my last church we had some wonderful carvings of angels above the organ. I would often look up at them in the Eucharistic prayer. They had golden wings and were depicted blowing trumpets. They reminded me that in the Eucharist we are united with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven. No doubt, for the person of faith, on that first Christmas night, the veil was briefly lifted to see the birth of this child within its eternal context. When the world of the physical met with the world of the heavenly. Who can say that those shepherds on the hills did not see visions and hear heavenly voices? And what of us? We may not have seen angels with wings, but that does not mean that we have never encountered angels. For the Greek word “angelos”, which the New Testament uses, simply means “messenger” - One who conveys a message from God to the world. But the trouble with God’s messengers is that they are not always easy to recognize. Don’t be fooled, because they don’t always fly in with wings, or glow with halos. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews recognizes this. “Don’t forget to entertain strangers” he tells his readers, “for by so doing some have entertained angels without knowing it.”- or in the more memorable language of the Authorised Version “some have entertained angels unawares”. I knew an angel in my last parish. He has no wings nor halo. His name is Yurgen .He would not fit most people’s picture of an angel. He was quite often abusive and would swear at me. He was a nuisance. He turned up at the most inconvenient times, sometimes the worse for drink, and often pestering the congregation for money. He slept under the entrance to our hall behind the church. But this visitor was, for me, a messenger from God. An “angelos” in the New Testament sense. And what was the message that he brought from God? What was the message this unlikely angel brought from the world of the heavenly to the world of the earthly? Every time I met Yurgen, this gentleman of the road, he disturbed me in my comfortable world. He spoke to me of a world outside my own pleasant existence. He reminded me of those who sleep in the doorways of our streets. Of those who for whatever reasons, cannot cope with the pressures of life, and find solace in world of drink or drugs. He spoke to me of a world where so many live in poverty: without the necessities most of us take for granted. And whenever I saw him, I reflected on the ministry of Jesus who reached out to the outcasts; and who gave his love to the most unlovely of people. And whenever I saw him, I heard the words of Jesus, ringing in my ears, “In as much as you did it for one of the least of these my brethren, you did it for me” And when I had to evict Yurgen from our church hall, because he was being a nuisance, I watched him pack up everything that he owned in the world, and put it onto his bicycle. And he rode off into the distance to find somewhere else to spend the night. He never returned to our church again. And as I looked at him, I was reminded of the way I am weighed down by my possessions and my concern for money. And in a funny sort of way, I realise that Yurgen has something I haven’t got. God can speak through the most unlikely messengers. And so often the messages they bring are not what we want to hear. Our gentleman of the road has a detachment from money and possessions. Perhaps such a person is an angelos not only to me, but also to our society, as he travels light through the world. We will begin the New Year with a colossal national debt. Many of us will recognize that the charge of greed is not only to be laid at the door of City bankers .It is rather a greed in which we all share as a society. I know how greedy my Christmases and my life have become. Of course, our society couldn’t function if everyone lived like Yurgen.. But maybe it takes an angel, a messenger from God to make us realise that making money cannot be the sole purpose of society. That money and possessions can never be enough to satisfy the human spirit. But don’t be blind to those messengers of God: be prepared to talk to them and see the world through their eyes. Talk to the man who sells the Big Issue. He doesn’t just want your money. He wants your interest and respect. Talk to the young woman you see begging when next you go to London. You may not wish to give her money: it may not be wise to give her money. But ask her name and take an interest in her. For in so doing you may be entertaining angels unawares. And tonight. On this holy night, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, be still and allow yourself to glimpse that heaven has come to earth. And who knows, if you are attentive, and still your mind- perhaps you too will hear the song of the angels and feel the brush of angels wings. And perhaps you will hear the message they bring “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill to all people” |
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