All Saints Church Marlow

Over the Christmas season most of us know what it is to have overindulged. There is that uncomfortable, full feeling that can only be satisfied with yet more rich food and the reason is that we’ve got used to it. There is the steady build-up through December and, by the last week of the month, it seems to have become part of our system. Maybe the short days and the colder weather don’t help. Perhaps it’s something akin to hibernation.

When I was growing up – we had never had it so good! – my parents certainly ensured that Christmas fare was plentiful and of good quality. It was a small extended family which included a maiden aunt and my two grandmothers. By the time I had left school there was only one grandmother as well as my parents.

But then Miss Horowitz came to Christmas dinner. She had come from Eastern Europe with her parents to the Jewish part of the East End and, after her parents died at the end of the war, was resettled near Epping Forest. A few years later, Miss Horowitz had died and I had married. Until our children came along (and parish life meant that we stayed in the parish for Christmas lunch) we went over to my parents and noticed that my mother always set an extra place: “to remind us of those in need and who are hungry”. Whilst it was a sobering gesture it always left a rather uneasy feeling.

Is that necessarily a bad thing? Certainly many preachers feel uneasy with the responsibility of preaching over Christmas. Yes, many are aware that it is their “busy time” (Lent, Holy Week and Easter is far, far busier) but that is not the issue. Rather it is what to preach. To be sure it is easier to dwell on “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild”: it won’t cause offence and most will turn up for some sort of reinforcement next year.

The real message of Christmas, however, is bound to leave most with a sense of unease. Not only are there the circumstances surrounding his birth but it marks the arrival of a true revolutionary: an infant who grew up to see that working for God’s Kingdom meant challenging the world’s ways of measuring things and turning it upside down. The message accompanying his birth is that of peace and justice – for all. Before that, his mother rejoiced that the arrogant and insensitive would be put in their place and the humble would have more status. God would satisfy the hungry with good things while the rich would be sent away empty-handed.

As Mary looked forward with hope and joy, she would soon be given a reality check. The jealousy and insecurity of those in power meant that this small family with a young child would become refugees. Three decades later a sword “pierced her heart” as she saw this child, now an adult, hanging innocently on a cross. To be identified with Jesus might make one gulp at the prospect and hide behind the tinsel.

Yet are we in such a different world two thousand years later? The populist mood encourages us to be watchful of those who seek economic betterment as, for example, the European Union extends eastwards. People like Miss Horowitz’s parents are, a century later, still on the move and people leave these shores for new lives and opportunities elsewhere. In order to try for “life in all its fullness”, individuals leave the safety of their known world and become vulnerable. They take menial jobs at the bottom of society despite being well-qualified in their home country: jobs that most of us wouldn’t consider doing.
So, across the nation, what are our preachers to do? Should they play safe or try to explain how they think it is and leave the comfort zone and risk yet more discomfort and indigestion?