Jesus, welcome to our world
Jesus, welcome to our world on Christmas Eve.
John 1:10-14
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
I feel a conflict in the two words in the title – welcome and world.
I am excited by the thought of a welcome. It is fun to hear someone knocking at your door and opening it to see an honoured guest or good friend coming to share an evening with you, perhaps over a meal? Especially at Christmas, many reunions and family get togethers. “Welcome” – it is a warm word.
But I am deeply distressed by the mess we have made of this world. This is Christmas, a time of celebration of the birth of the most significant and wonderful person ever to walk the face of the planet. And yet we just make a mockery of it:
• We were in town last Friday afternoon and it was noticeable that the shoppers were intermingled with increasingly unsteady revellers, celebrating with increased amounts of booze and with decreasing awareness of their world.
• Alison and I did one of our midnight shops on Friday and noticed the staff taking down the Christmas decorations (3 days before Christmas).
• I went into a shop yesterday and noticed a sign on the door, “Open on Sunday 24 December” – it didn’t say “open on Christmas Eve”, just open on another day of the week – no different from any other except that it provides good selling opportunities.
• And Alison tells me that when she was shopping in town yesterday she saw Easter eggs being displayed.
I suppose it upsets me that our culture does not notice Jesus.
I am reading a book about the First World War which is profoundly depressing - about what man will do to man and to God’s creation. Sometimes I hesitate to turn on the news or open the newspaper to the international section for fear of discovering how another young man or women has blown themselves up and taken the lives of several innocent people with them.
I know that Jesus is the answer to the world’s pain and yet, just as we have the occasion to welcome him into our lives we switch to chocolate eggs.
Have you ever let someone borrow your house, maybe done a house exchange or let your teenagers use it for a party; and then come back to find it a complete mess? Have you ever lent your car to someone and when it was returned found that it had been in an accident or that the tank was empty?
Has anyone ever done a house swap? A couple of years ago we did one with a family in Sweden. They actually looked after our house really well but they had a problem with the car. We swapped houses and that included cars. So before we left we spring-cleaned the house and I had the car valeted. Neither had been so clean since they were new!
This was July and the plan, at the end of the house swap, was for them to drive from Leeds to Manchester Airport and leave the car in the 24 hour car park. We would pick them up from the airport in Sweden and take them to their home nearby and then the next day they would give us the tickets for the car park and our car keys and put us on the plane from Sweden back to Manchester.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, as our guests were driving from Leeds to Manchester on their way to catch the plane at the end of their holidays, on a hot summer’s afternoon, their young daughter fell ill and threw up all over the back seat. They were running short of time and were unable to do much more than wipe up the mess, throw some water over the seats and run to catch their plane.
By the time we got to the car it had been sitting in a car park for 24 hot July hours and when we opened the door, pleasant it was not.
That is a very, very small picture of what God might be faced with when he peeks under the clouds to see how we are getting on down here. “Oh my goodness, what on earth has been happening?”
What have we done to his world?
How welcome does he feel in his world?
How welcome does he feel in our world?
Is he welcome in your world?
Actually, God doesn’t peek under the clouds, he does not just come back to be surprised by what we have done. He is always here and experiences every moment of every day with us. It’s just that we don’t always acknowledge him. It isn’t as though he is a Big Brother with CTV cameras everywhere watching. He is much more than that, he is just with us.
We read about this in John 1
Though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
I believe God made the world, one way or another. I believe that behind this wonderful creation lies the will and mind of a loving, creator God. And I believe that he has revealed himself to us and communicated with us in many ways.
The story of Noah tells us about the time when God looked at the creation he had made and saw how man had ruined it and so he decided to wipe it out and start again.
The history (it is not just a story) of Christmas tells us that when God again looked at the creation he had made, he decided it needed saving and so came to the world as a baby! Born of a woman! A baby who grew up to be a boy and then a man. A man who lived life in a broken and spoilt world and who went on to suffer and die a tortured death on another sort of tree in order to give us another chance to be rescued.
But the most important way he communicates with us is, of course, through the person of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God but God constrained to human form for a time.
But being God, this man, once he had died, inevitably came back to life. He could not have been God and stayed dead. He came back to life and offers us life too. We know his presence here with us every day - by the power and presence of his Holy Spirit.
John 1 goes on to say that in the Christmas story we have seen and heard the history of how we welcomed Jesus, the Son of God into our world. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only.
Jesus is the person, the meaning and the story of Christmas. Most around us don’t know Jesus (except as an expletive) and even his followers struggle to remember who he is whilst taking part in the fun and feeling the stress of the yuletide rituals. We find that as the Day approaches we are sliding remorselessly toward the glitter and twinkle that is Christmas in 21st Century Britain.
One thing does not change – the good news and the truth that God loves us so much that 2000 years ago he was willing to step down from his high place to take the form of a vulnerable baby and be born as a man. And so accelerated the rescue plan that sets us free to lift our heads from the tawdry and the tinsel and to celebrate healing and forgiveness for the past, new life for today and hope for tomorrow.
So I can lift my face from my sadness and know gladness, instead.
This is the rescue plan that re-unites us with the creator God who loves us and calls us
• to welcome him personally and
• to work together to share his love with the world.
That is why we call ourselves a community of faith and that is why we remember the Christmas history together. Like this.
It is quite possible that you have spent the last few hectic days and weeks negotiating the Christmas rush without giving much, or any thought to Jesus, the Christ of Christmas. It is quite possible isn’t it?
Whilst we celebrate and enjoy Christmas, let us be aware that Jesus came to be with us and that he is here with us today. Let us welcome him. Welcome him as he queues with us at the supermarket checkout, welcome him lounging beside us as we watch Christmas TV, welcome him sitting with us as we tuck into turkey and we sip our sherry.
He crouches in the doorway with the homeless, he stands beside the hospital bed, he marches with the fighters at war, he dwells with the poor.
Although we ignore him much of the time His Spirit is with us everywhere and in everything.
What have we done to his world?
How welcome does he feel in his world?
How welcome does he feel in our world?
Is he welcome in your world?
If your world is like mine and if it is part of the same world, then frankly we welcome him into a bit of a mess, that’s true. A mess like my car was or like a house lent to teenagers for a party. But that is OK because that is exactly why he came as a human being. He comes with forgiveness and power to clean up the mess and set us free to start again.
I invite you to welcome him into your world. He does not advertise with flashing lights and inane music, he doesn’t shout and plead. He stands knocking gently on your door waiting for you to open it and let him into your world.
David Flowers, 02/01/2007