Christmas Day Service
backwards
December 2010
Introduction
Christmas, it seems to me, seems to be very much about
childhood and children. I’m sure that the children here
today would agree, but even if we’re no longer children,
the point still applies. Besides the fact that many of us
have children and so spend a great deal of time, effort
and money at time of year trying to ensure that they
have the best possible time – thus keeping the world
economy afloat – many of the activities and rituals that
we ourselves enjoy at Christmas stem from our
childhood memories.
Bearing this in mind, perhaps then, life should be lived
I think that the life cycle is all backward.
You should die first and get it out of the way.
Then live twenty years in an old people’s home.
You get kicked out when you're too young.
You get a gold watch, you go to work.
You work forty years
until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement.
You go to college;
you party until you're ready for high school;
you go to primary school;
you become a little kid;
you play.
You have no responsibilities.
You become a little baby;
you go back into the womb;
you spend your last months floating;
and you finish up as a gleam in somebody's eye.
We were all children once…
Who’s Who baby pictures
I want to briefly about Jesus’ words recorded in Luke
18.17
15
People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place
his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked
them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the
little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the
kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you,
anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little
child will never enter it.”
Jesus is not saying here that all children are angels even
if they sometimes look like angels. He must have
known what it was like to grow up as the oldest of
several brothers and sisters (cousins if you are a Roman
Catholic!). There are lots of things about children that
are not commendable e.g. impatience, tantrums,
squabbling, moodiness, boredom, lack of consistent
sleep patterns and a failure to co-operate.
However, there are also things which we can learn from
them.
I. A sense of WONDER
Pears Soap advert and Jim’s essay for Giggleswick
School…
Children have a wonderfully vivid sense of imagination
and at times, it seems, they will believe anything
e.g. story about my first Christmas assembly in
Birkenhead.
Is it a real one?
Perhaps, you might say, children believe too much.
Possibly. Looked at the other way around, however,
perhaps we adults believe too little. We want
everything to be proven beyond reasonable doubt, we
want all the angles covered and we want all the loose
ends tied up. Which is why so many people find it
difficult to follow Christ, the theme of this section in
Luke’s Gospel.
It’s not that there isn’t evidence for the Christian faith -
there is – and so people like Richard Dawkins who place
the Christmas story of a par with other well known
legends are being completely unreasonable and I think
they know it. The point is that in life there are few if
any absolute certainties. All knowledge is only ever an
approximation and a provisional one at that.
c.f. John Henry Newman ‘A Grammar of Assent’
Perhaps, then, we need to be a little more childlike in
our thinking this Christmas. Not suspend our critical
faculties, but at least be more open minded, exercise our
imaginations, allow the story to take root in our lives.
Quote The Pope
“God is always faithful to his promises, but he often surprises
us in the way he fulfils them.”
II. A need for HELP
A child passes on many stages on their way to
adulthood. That’s why being a parent can be such a
challenge! Just as you get to grips with one stage, your
kids move on to the next.
POEM
The children Jesus welcomes in this passage are small –
little children (vv.16,17) – though that does not
necessarily mean ‘babies’ in spite of the NIV translation
of v.15, for the same word is used in 2 Timothy 3.15 to
describe someone who could understand what was being
read to them. What is in important is that, in the world
of Jesus’ day, these were nobodies, those of low status.
Hence the disciples indignant reaction, literally ‘even
infants’ (Greek?) (Note by the way Jesus’ implicit
rebuke of the disciples: there is a sermon on hospitality
here somewhere)
What is being emphasised here, then, is that those who
wish to enter the Kingdom of God, that is, live their
lives in the new way God intends, have to acknowledge
their dependent status. Or to put it another way, they
need to be able to receive.
This is a constant feature in the Gospel’s, particularly
Luke
c.f. Luke 1.50-55
c.f. Publican and Pharisee
c.f. Rich Man and Jesus
As adults, many of us have learnt a false sense of
independence and so need to learn, once again, our need
of others including God. Deep down all of us need what
Jesus Christ has to offer:
- forgiveness
- direction
- strength
Perhaps that is why brokenness can lead to blessedness,
because when we are broken we are not too proud to ask
for the help of another. It is something most of us
dread, but something we maybe all of us need.
III. A load of TRUST
Children have an amazing capacity for trust. That is
why they have to be protected.
e.g. my nephew David who thought he was Superman
and so jumped out of a window.
If TV has taught me anything, its that miracles always happen to
poor kids at Christmas. It has happened to Tiny Tim, it
happened to Charlie Brown, it happened to the Smurfs, and now
its gonna happen to us! Bart Simpson
Part of growing up is to learn not to be so gullible,
learning to be independent. However, in the process our
capacity for love can be seriously diminished, for to
receive – and to give – love, we have to open up our
lives to others. The same is true of our capacity for God.

Where meek souls will receive him still the dear Christ enters in

c.f. the entrance to the Church of the Nativity

c.f. the open hand of faith

e.g. Ken Longman

An unwillingness to trust is another adult behaviour that Conclusion
has to be unlearnt for there is one word that God expects
all of His children to know (and to say), ‘Father’ (abba) Stewart Townsend

c.f. Jesus
c.f. Paul

This applies in good times and bad

The Good News of Christmas is that God is trustworthy.

He never renegades on His promises