wfn.org | ACNS3724 Archbishop of York's 2003 Christmas Day sermon, York

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ACNS 3724     |     ENGLAND	|     29 DECEMBER 2003 

Archbishop of York's 2003 Christmas Day sermon, York Minster

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it"
(John: 1.5)

And it's the Gospel of St John that declares the real meaning of
Christmas - without anywhere giving us an account of the birth of Jesus.

Yes, we are familiar with the angels and the shepherds and the birth of
the baby in the outhouse of an inn in Bethlehem, and subsequently with
the visit of the wise men - the details of which are to be found in the
Gospels of Luke and Matthew. Indeed what would Christmas be without them
- the cards and the carols and the nativity plays?

In sharp contrast, rather than beginning with the birth of Jesus Christ,
John takes us right back to the very beginning - to the birth of
creation. The opening words of his Gospel ... "In the beginning ..."
reflect the opening words of the whole Bible - "In the beginning ...
God". And in so doing, he signals at once that whilst here in the birth
of Jesus Christ is a birth as with every other human birth - the waiting
and the anxiety, the expectancy and the exhilaration - here is a birth
like no other birth, a birth whose origins are in the beginning and from
the beginning of all things - the birth of God with us and among us -
Emmanuel.

The God who said right at the very beginning - "let there be light; and
there was light" - the brightness of His very being and life flooding
that primordial chaotic black darkness, to bring colour and life to a
new created world, now himself comes forth and shines forth in Jesus
Christ: the one who brings sight to the blind, who opens the ears of the
deaf, who heals the sick, who brings the dead to life, who announces
that in him God's kingdom has come on earth as it is in heaven.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome
it".

That image of light shining in the darkness is surely very apposite for
our own times. The darkness of war and terrorism stalks our world in
many places; where the promise of peace still seems so elusive, even
impossible. The road map to peace in the Middle East has so far led
nowhere; the armed intervention in Iraq, though resulting in the capture
of Saddam Hussein, seems only to have led to more casualties in the
peace than in the war; and the recent elections in Northern Ireland
appear to have left the Good Friday Agreement even more fragile than at
any time in its albeit brief existence.

And if we were to turn our attention to the Church the picture is not
much different either, given the past few months of debate over the
subject of human sexuality, and where the exchanges have at times been
shrill and unrelenting. Many quite outside and beyond the Church have
looked on in disbelief, wondering quite what all the fuss is about; and
asking whether in so focussing on this one issue (almost to the
exclusion of all others) we have not lost sight of more pressing and
vital priorities for our world and its peoples. Others within have
sought to use their best efforts to promote a more informed and
dignified debate on what clearly is a controverted and disputed issue.
But a more fundamental question emerges too about our ability to live
together, with and in difference, and the extent to how far that is
possible given such passionately felt views on this - and for that
matter on any other deeply disputed question.

"The light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome
it".

Today, Christmas Day, is God's word both of love and of hope - a word of
love and hope given to us in the birth of Jesus Christ.

The fact is that we have not been abandoned to the darkness of chaos and
disorder. The birth we celebrate this day is ours also. As one Anglican
divine put it so well - "Christmas Day is the greatest birthday of the
year ... it is the birthday of the best hopes of mankind ... the
birthday of true human dignity ... it is the second birthday of the
human family".

We may feel overwhelmed by the dark side, both of world and church, but
the clear message of St John is that from the very beginning and until
the very end of all things the light of God's healing hope and love,
given us in Jesus Christ, continues to shine. It has not and will not
and cannot be overcome by the darkness.

It shines on surely in those who, despite all the setbacks, continue the
delicate and precarious business of peacemaking, often at considerable
cost to themselves and their lives; in those individuals and groups in
both Church and world who amidst differing political and religious
ideologies seek to hold the ring - working patiently for a greater
understanding and tolerance, respecting (as the Chief Rabbi puts it) the
dignity of difference, for the altogether larger goal - namely the
effecting and realising of the message of the angels as they announce
the birth of the Saviour - "peace on earth and good will among the
peoples of the world".

And constantly, given all the column inches about sex and the Church
over these last months, I rather wish there had been as many column
inches about the way in which, often in concert with other denominations
and other faiths, the Church of England continues faithfully and
unswervingly in its worship, witness and service in a variety of places
and through very many people - in town and country, in hospitals and
hospices, in schools and colleges and universities, in prisons and
parishes - and many other settings too.

Just in this last month I have had the privilege and the pleasure of
opening two new schools in the Diocese - Church of England Voluntary
Aided Schools - one primary the other secondary. Already they are making
a difference - for good - beacons of light and hope for so many of our
young people.

Similarly I have also opened two new centres contributing significantly
to neighbourhood and community renewal in two of our most deprived urban
areas, and where it has been the Church which has been at the centre of
each of these initiatives - initiatives which are clearly already
bringing fresh hope and new life both to the neighbourhoods themselves
and more importantly to people young and old.

And then there are the rural communities too - many feeling threatened
by a Government which they say simply fails to understand the country
way of life and where often the Church is the last remaining "centre"
for the whole village and where again I have been invited to celebrate
with them the restoration, the renewal, the reordering of their village
church, of which quite rightly they are immensely proud.

Here are the many good news stories which through the Church continue to
reflect the light and life of Jesus Christ for all - the fulfilment of
the Saviour's own words - "I came that all may have life, life in all
its fullness".

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome
it".

Perhaps, though, the most vivid expression of light shining in darkness
came to me when I was in Romania, just six or so weeks ago now, and in
the course of visiting a hospice or home for young children with
HIV/AIDS and other terminal diseases - a place funded and supported by a
charity here in the UK.

There before me in one bed was a little girl about fourteen months old,
born with no eyes and with other severe complications. She had been
abandoned by her mother who simply could not cope. She will almost
certainly die. She may already be dead. But there she was warm, cared
for, nourished, held - above all loved - the light and compassion and
care of that love which came down at Christmas, and which is God's
eternal and everlasting love given us for ever and always in Jesus
Christ whose birth this day we celebrate.

We may often be tempted to despair about the world and the Church - even
ourselves; yet this day gives us every reason why we should not - indeed
there are signs all around us of individuals, groups, organisations
which are not prepared simply to yield to oppression, to poverty, to
disease; who are prepared to persevere in the most unlikely and
unyielding of situations and circumstances - the dark places of strife
and conflict, of war and wounding - thus keeping alive both the hope and
the possibility of reconciliation, restoration, of healing and of peace.

Today through God's grace, given us in both Word and Sacrament here in
this Eucharist, we are invigorated afresh and anew both to be and to
live out in word and in deed the good news of His kingdom - a kingdom of
justice and truth, of uprightness and integrity, of love and of peace -
a kingdom which daily we pray may come among us and be among us here on
earth as it is in heaven.

May the peace and joy of God's kingdom be with you and yours this
Christmastide. A very happy Christmas to you all.

(c) Dr David Hope

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