"So What?" Sunday

My sermon for Evensong on the Second Sunday of Christmas, or as I like to call it, "So What?" Sunday:

1 John 4: 7-16

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.


¹³ By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. ¹⁵ God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. ¹⁶ So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

Jemima was taking an afternoon nap on New Year's Eve before the festivities. After she woke up, she confided to Max, her husband, 'I just dreamed that you gave me a diamond ring for a New Year's present. What do you think it all means?'

'Aha, you'll know tonight,' answered Max smiling broadly.

At midnight, as the New Year was chiming, Max approached Jemima and handed her small package.  Delighted and excited she opened it quickly. There in her hand rested a book entitled: 'The meaning of dreams'.

How was your New Year’s Eve? Did it disappoint or was it wonderful? Did you spend it out partying, with friends, family, quietly at home or fast asleep in bed?

How do you feel about the passing of 2015 and the arrival of 2016? I have always found this part of the year quite melancholic – I’m not sure why – I guess it is something about reflection, about the unstoppable passing of time. I remember as a child feeling that once New Year had been and gone then the Christmas holidays were really over, school was on the horizon and the decorations were about to come down. Christmas decorations had a big impact on my home as my late mother used to decorate the place like a grotto – seriously, you couldn’t move for tinsel, baubles and cheap plastic Santas everywhere. It was wonderful and on the evening before they came down I remember standing by the Christmas tree and examining each and every one of the decorations hanging there so that I could remember it ready for next year.

How are we feeling as this part of the Christmas celebrations draw to an end and we look towards Epiphany on Wednesday? Then of course there’s Candlemas on 2^nd February and before we know it we are in Lent and Easter is on the horizon. Time marches on and Christmas becomes a distant memory of either a good, bad or mediocre period of time. Is there any lasting effect to what we have been doing over recent weeks?

I had the privilege of preaching at Evensong on the Second Sunday of Christmas last year. I renamed it the day – I wonder whether anyone was there and can remember what I called it? “So What?” Sunday. Christmas has been and gone, we’ve celebrated the birth of the Saviour of the World in a small smelly stable, we’ve remembered the visit of the shepherds, hosts of angels singing on hillsides and we are about to remember the visit of the wise men. So what? Has it been any more than an excuse to eat and drink too much, to spend time with family and friends? Now they of course are perfectly good reasons but surely something as momentous as the coming of the divine into humanity and the lifting of humanity into the divine needs to have some kind of a lasting impact? The ‘So What?’ factor as I called it last year.

Does the annual celebration of the Christmas story of God stepping into our messy, dark, world, bringing light and hope have any lasting effect on how we lead our lives? Are we truly committed to being disciples of Christ throughout the year not just at this time of peace and good will to all?

I still think that this Sunday should be called ‘So What?’ Sunday and I think that our second reading from the First Letter of John helps us to understand what kind of impact the Christmas story should have.

“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him”

The Christmas story is God revealing his love to us so that we might live life to the full  And of course we read earlier in this passage that God is love. So not only is God revealing his love to us in the Christmas story, God is revealing his very self. Not in a “Here I am aren’t, I marvellous!” kind of way but in a get stuck into the dirt and mess and grime kind of way. In a live as one of us and experience all that we experience kind of way. To live and enjoy, to suffer and die as any of us. But with a difference, to live that life with love, unconditional love, love which led ultimately to a rejection and a crucifixion. But even then to continue to love. So for Jesus what are the implications of living that kind of life, well it seems to be putting your neck on the line by speaking out against injustice, by standing with, supporting and touching, yes even touching, those considered unclean and outcasts. It seems to be about challenging religious structures and organisation, calling them back to sharing the love of God for which they were intended. Including everyone rich and poor, healthy and sick, male and female, Jew and gentile within that love of God. It seems to be feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner, healing the sick. It seems to mean forgiving those who persecute you, even those who crucify you.

“Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

And there it is. The “So What?” clause – this is what the impact of Christmas should be – we should love one another because that is how the divine becomes manifest in humanity today – through our love for one another.

Not in a wishy washy hugs and kisses kind of way. This kind of love is hard and gritty and tough. It isn’t based on whether we like someone or not – that isn’t love. Why else would Jesus tell us to love our enemies – impossible if we also had to like them? No this love we are talking about is an act of will. A wanting the best for someone irrespective of whether we like them or not. A will to support and help them even if they are not the kind of person we would choose to spend time with.

As we return to a normal routine tomorrow, as we go back to work or encounter that person whom we struggle with how will we respond? As we walk past that homeless person will we speak to them rather than ignore them? When we see an example of injustice or discrimination by Government, local or national or by the church will we question it or let it proceed unchallenged?  

As we look into 2016 we look at a block of time. We see 12 months, 52 weeks, 366 days, 8,784 hours, 527,040 minutes, 31,622,400 seconds. And all is a gift from God. We have done nothing to deserve it or to earn it. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us.  The gift of time is not ours alone. It is given equally to each person. Rich and poor, educated or not, strong and weak—every man, woman and child has the same twenty-four hours every day. Another important thing about time is that you cannot stop it. There is no way to slow it down, turn it off, or adjust it. Time marches on.

    And you cannot bring back time. Once it is gone, it is gone. My intention to be committed in all aspects of my life following “So What?” Sunday last year has had varying degrees of success but I cannot do anything about that now. What I can do however is think about how it will be going forward.

Obviously, time is one of our most precious possessions. We can waste it. We can worry over it. We can spend it on ourselves. Or, as good stewards, we can invest it in the kingdom of God by loving as God loved us.  The new year is full of time. As the seconds tick away, will we be throwing time out the window, or will we make every minute, every second, count?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ….And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

So what?

“Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another”

Amen.