Midnight Mass - 24th December

The Christmas Eve midnight service has got to be in my top 5 favourite services of the year. So much comes together in this service, it is the culmination of the preparation, longing and excitement for the returning Christ. This is the final moments before the knock at the door and the guest of honour arrives.

Advent is of course this great season of preparing for the second coming of Christ, and all of advent that is all you will ever hear me talk about, except for this service. Tonight, I get truly excited for in about …… minutes it is Christmas Day!

The Church thought quite rightly, I think, that the time for a season of preparation for the return of the triumphant Christ would be best placed before a season of celebration for the arrival of the infant Christ. The birth of the Christ cannot be separated from the Easter story and the of course the day we all long for when He will return to gather us up to Himself.

Last Sunday we looked a little at Elizabeth’s encounter with Mary and the beautiful song that comes from Mary, a song quite possibly inspired by the Song of Hannah found in Sammuel. Mary, this dutiful young woman, is given a task by God that would have caused any confident and mature person to have pause, yet she accepts it willingly and with great humility.

This gift to the world entrusted to one so young and vulnerable. The Angel had to go and calm Joseph and assure him of the situation. Mary could have lost everything in saying yes to God and his plan.

And in many ways Mary is the example of the kind of faith we all should have, a faith that says yes to God regardless of the cost, a faith that is humble, obedient and willing.

There is in the New Testament this theme of childlike faith isn’t there? And I wonder whether had God given this great but risky gift to another who was older would they have been so willing or could they have been able to have carried it with such grace.

As a child I loved Christmas, and even now as an adult Christmas holds two meanings for me. There is the truth of Christmas, the coming of Christ and great significance that that holds for my life. The second meaning is the totally superficial secular Christmas, the specials on tv, the presents under the tackily decorated tree, the lights and sparkle amongst the dark evenings and the family that gathers to sit and eat and be merry. I love them both!

As children my brother and I would search the house from top to bottom to see where mum had hidden the yet to be wrapped Christmas presents. Far too excited to wait a mere 25 days so advent became like a military operation to find where the presents where hidden.

A part of me even still believes Jolly Saint Nick comes down the chimney to deliver an extra special present. Odd really seeing as I grew up in a house without a chimney! Santa had to deliver the presents to Dad’s van to be brought in in the morning. Dad used to have to unlock the van before bedtime, we wouldn’t go unless we saw the lights flash.

One year my dad had spent the entirety of November and December trying to convince my brother and I that he personally knew Santa Clause. Part of that was taking us to visit the local Santa’s grotto in our local shopping centre. I think my dad got the biggest shock when Santa said Hello Rich as we walked through the door! Turns out dad didn’t know an old school friend was playing Santa that year, I think for a moment he started to believe his own story!

The point I’m trying to make, I think, is that children believe. That childlike faith comes more easily then than it does now as an adult. Now a present can linger under the tree for the entirety of advent, and I don’t even pick it up to shake it to see if it’s a book, puzzle, or the customary box of Maltesers! It’s the longing that dies away over of time I think.

As an adult there is much to distract and occupy our minds. Especially in a time such as ours. The world is in a bit of a mess, and I don’t know about you, I don’t see a lot from our world leaders that inspires. But maybe that’s because I’m looking in the wrong place.

Mary was not a queen; she wasn’t particularly wealthy or important. She was a young, faithful and obedient person. From her, God brought to earth the literal salvation of humanity. The reconciler and saviour we were so desperately in need of. And today, in the small and unexpected places I see people bringing Jesus to earth. People that carry in them the light of Christ and actively strive to make the world a better place.

It's easy to grow up and to leave the excitement and anticipation of Christmas behind. Some would even say that it would be silly to hold on to that feeling as an adult, its childish and should be left behind. To that I say nonsense!

It is exactly that childlike faith we should be clinging on to. Not only should we be excited and longing for Christmas day to hurry up and arrive. We should be living as people desperate for the return of Jesus. Because when we live as people expectantly awaiting the arrival of the coming king our lives, our actions and our entire mindsets radically change. We start to find the meaning in even the most mundane of things and stand in awe at the majesty of God. It’s that kind of faith that gives us the courage to say yes to God when he asks the seemingly impossible of us.

I may have longed for the presents under the tree, but the greatest gift was given to us some 2000 years ago when God stepped down into our world and walked as one of us.

I can’t tell you why God chose a young unmarried virgin to bare the Incarnate Christ Child, but I can tell you I’m thankful that he did.

Merry Christmas!