The kindness of strangers

If I asked you to tell someone the Christmas story – briefly! – it would probably go a bit like this.

There was a young woman called Mary. She was engaged to be married to Joseph. One day an Angel appeared to Mary and told her she would be having a baby who was the Son of God. God was the father not Joseph. Mary told Joseph this and he accepted this.

A little while later the Romans said that all the people were to be taxed or entered on to a census. And to do this they had to go their home town. As Joseph was from Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph set out for that town. Mary rode on a donkey.

When they arrived, all the rooms in the inns were taken. But a kindly innkeeper said they could use a stable. And that’s where the baby – Jesus - was born. Mary wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.

Meanwhile, in the fields outside Bethlehem angels appeared to shepherds. The angels told the shepherds to go to Bethlehem and worship the baby. Which they did.

At the same time 3 wisemen from the East followed a star to where the baby was lying. They had to stop and ask for directions from Herod in Jerusalem. Herod wanted to know all about the baby and asked them to tell him where he was on their return journey. But they didn’t tell him.

In just over 200 words that is the Christmas story.

The Christmas story as we think of it is in Luke’s Gospel and Matthew’s Gospel. We get the whole story from them both. But they don’t contain all the same information.

The shepherds are in Luke but not Matthew.

The wisemen are in Matthew but not Luke.

In Luke Mary and Joseph were living in Nazareth and had to travel to Bethlehem. Whereas in Matthew we are told that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. There is no mention of travelling from Nazareth. Maybe they were living in Bethlehem all the time.

If we were so inclined, we could get hung up on these differences. But I don’t think we need worry. The important thing is both versions give us a picture of what was happening at that time. Jesus was born in a country under occupation of a foreign power – Rome. And he was born into a territory over which a despot – Herod – had sway.

And what is clear from both stories is that the turbulent times in which Jesus was born meant that his parents were on the move. They had to move from Nazareth to Bethlehem according to Luke or, if we take Matthew’s Gospel, they had to flee from Bethlehem and their homeland to Egypt.

I stopped my recap of the Christmas story with the departure of the wisemen. And let’s face it, that is usually where we stop the story. But in fact after the wisemen leave, Herod realises they have tricked him and orders that all boys aged 2 and under must be killed in the Bethlehem area. Matthew tells us Joseph was warned of this in a dream and consequently, Joseph, Mary and the baby flee to Egypt.

A wonderful children’s story called “Refuge” has recently been published. It is written by Anne Booth and Sam Usher. It is an imaging of that journey as seen through the eyes of their faithful donkey. Proceeds from the sale of the book go to the charity War Child – a charity that helps children whose lives are disrupted by war. And of course many such children are refugees.

As Christians, we believe that Jesus was the Son of God. We believe that Jesus was in fact fully human as we are but was also fully God. And as Jesus was fully God he was without sin. But as he was fully human he experienced the kind of things humans experience – including the experience some humans have of being refugees.

Matthew doesn’t tell us how long the family lived in Egypt. All he tells us is that after Herod died – and the hunt for the baby was called off or forgotten – an angel appeared to Joseph and told him it was safe to return.

22 But when he heard that Achelous was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.

Bethlehem is in Judea. And they way Matthew words this suggests that Bethlehem was really home. But it was not safe to return there so instead they went to Nazareth in the north of the country.

In the latter part of the Christmas story then, we get a glimpse of what it means to be a refugee. To have to leave one’s home and go to a foreign land where, presumably you don’t speak the language, where, presumably you are reliant on the kindness of strangers to offer you somewhere to live etc.

Whenever I see the images of the refugees fleeing Syria I cannot help but think of how Jesus would understand what they are going through. According to a report in The Guardian in September 2015, more than 4 million refugees have fled Syria since the war there began in 2011. According to the UN’s refugee agency, almost 1.8 million have gone to Turkey, more than 600,000 to Jordan and 1 million to Lebanon – a country whose population is just 4 million.

And as a follower of Jesus, I wonder what the response of Christians should be. I know of course it is a huge issue and a hugely complex issue. We know that immigration is such a hot topic in this country. And following the Paris shootings where – apparently – some of the terrorists posed as Syrian refugees to get in to Europe, there is an even greater reluctance to welcome in the stranger.

Yet always in the back of my mind – and I hope in some of yours too – are the words of Jesus. Jesus is talking of himself as King

34 ‘Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
37 ‘Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you ill or in prison and go to visit you?”
40 ‘The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Refuge ends with these words:

And I kept walking, carrying my precious load, and the woman held the baby close to her heart, and she and the man talked about journeys, and dreams and warnings, and the love of a baby, and the kindness of strangers.
And when we rested , ad they were frightened, they took hope from each other, and from the baby’s first smile.
And we entered Egypt and found refuge.

Refuge Anne Booth & Sam Usher 2015 Nosy Crow Ltd London

Turn around when possible

This is an abridged version of a sermon preached at Lyneham Methodist Church on 6th December 2015 - the Second Sunday of Advent.

At this time of the year people often say to me “It must be your busiest time of year?” It is busy, but it is no busier in many ways for me than it is for you. This time of the year seems busy for everyone as we get busy preparing.

Advent is a time of preparation. It should be a time in which we are preparing solely for Jesus Christ and his coming in to the world. But at home people are cleaning, getting out their Christmas decorations, writing Christmas cards, baking, purchasing a tree, hosting parties, attending parties. Then there is shopping. And in the church context there are often extra services to attend and take part in. At times our preparation may seem distracted from the real event.

I’m reminded of the T shirt I saw once “Look busy Jesus is coming”.

We seem to think that if we are busy that is sufficient preparation for Christ coming into the world.

We are so busy doing so much at this time of the year that we don’t want to be interrupted. But every year we are interrupted – by John the Baptist. He features largely in the preparation of Advent. And his appearance means that our plans are interrupted and in fact we have to make preparations of a different kind. For John comes as a reminder of what we really should be preparing for – the coming of Jesus.

John’s arrival on the second Sunday of Advent is a reminder to us that before we can wallow in the joy of Christmas, and bask in the birth of a special baby, we have to examine ourselves and our world.

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Luke 3:4

This message from John is a reminder of the work we are called to do as Christians in the wider world. The message reminds us of the preparation we have to do for Christ’s coming. But we mustn’t forget that we need to prepare ourselves too.

When I was a boy, I’d look forward to the times when we’d travel from my home in South Wales to the exotic place that was – Swindon! My mum’s sister and her family moved to Swindon from South Wales in the late 1960s and once every couple of months we’d visit them.

My Uncle Len was great company. He had a great sense of humour. And a standing joke when we’d visit was something like this. “Ooh you can tell we’ve got visitors we don’t normally have corned beef pie.” Or “These are new plates. You’ve bought them because the Grays are here.” Every time there’d be a comment on these lines and every time my Aunty Jenny would fall for it. “Leonard! We had corned beef pie 3 weeks ago!” “Leonard! You know we’ve had these plates for ages!”

But of course whilst this was a family joke, like all good jokes there was an element of truth behind it. For Aunty Jenny would have prepared for the arrival of guests just like most of us would do.

And depending on the guests, and how long they may stay, the preparation may be more than a quick tidy up and a run round with the hoover. When we had some friends from America come to stay with us earlier in the year, I was surprised at the number of odd jobs I was given to do. The wobbly shelf in the bathroom which had been like that for some time now needed to be fixed. The bags of garden rubbish that had been perfectly happy lurking behind the shed now had to go to the dump. And “Please go through the cupboard in the spare bedroom to make some room. There’s things there you’ve not worn for years.”

Preparing for company often causes hosts to look at their home, to examine their surroundings with a whole new perspective. Preparing for guests involves self-examination and a long “to do” list. Preparing for guests involves putting things right, cleaning and decluttering.

Somehow I don’t imagine John the Baptist would have been too concerned about a wonky shelf in the bathroom. Someone who, we are told, lived in the wilderness clothed in the skins of wild animals, would not be too fussed about the finer things in life I suspect. John the Baptist would not have bothered to run the hoover round.

John was much better at understanding another kind of preparation. His message was all about how people should prepare to welcome God into their lives. His preaching called people to examine their lives, to see their lives with fresh eyes. His message called people to clean their lives. To repent. He gave people a “to do” list of the things they needed to do in order to receive the one coming after him.

We all know the kind of preparations we go through at home to celebrate Christmas. But John reminds us that, in the words of the hymn “Joy to the world” we are to receive the king and therefore “let every heart prepare him room.”

John’s challenge is for us all to repent and prepare. I gather that in the Greek, in which the New Testament was originally written, the word we translate as “Repentance” was “metanoia”. This can also be translated as changing your mind, or turning around or to reorientate ourselves. If we think of it in this way, what we are being asked to do is to face towards God and turn away from sin. To ask for God’s forgiveness. And then having done this John calls us to prepare the way for the Lord.

Repentance is not just changing our minds, or feeling sorry for something that we have done, or even making bold resolves that we will never participate in certain conduct again. Instead, repentance means to turn around and go in another direction. To walk away from sin and walk to Christ. What John the Baptist wanted his audience to hear was: Turn your life toward this one called Messiah.

My Sat Nav says "Turn around when possible" when I have take the wrong direction. That is what John is calling us to do.

Several years ago I had someone tell me after a sermon during Advent: The problem with John the Baptist is that he takes all of the fun out of Christmas. He couldn't have been further from the truth. It is this weird eccentric called John the Baptist who puts the joy back into Christmas. For John is the one who calls us not to Christmas the way it is, but to Christmas the way it is meant to be.

“Joy to the world the Lord is come!”