MIDNIGHT MASS 24TH December 2015

MIDNIGHT MASS 24^TH December 2015 

                                                                                                                                                                    A colleague of mine in another part of Kent said that in his parish the Midnight Service had tended to be for the drunks who either had lost their way from the pub on Christmas Eve or who had suddenly been overcome either with an attack of nostalgia or an escapist desire to blot out the real world. ‘But’, he went on, ‘we now get a much more sophisticated clientele.’

Well, forgive me if you are a member of the latter group because my message tonight, though profound and potentially life-changing, is simple rather than sophisticated. On the other hand, if by some navigational misfortune you are a member of the former, don’t panic: rest assured we will get you home somehow or other after the service.  

But neither nostalgia for childhood memories, nor escapism from real world, nor the comfortable carapace of sophistication will save us if we actually take the Christian message of Christmas seriously and examine the facts and the evidence with an open and unprejudiced mind. Because the question before each one of us here tonight, the challenge offered to us by our carols and our readings, is, ‘Is it true?’ Is it true that there is a God who created the world, and that he interrupted the Laws of Nature to come into the world he had created to be born, miraculously – because that is what interrupting the Laws of Nature is - as a human. Christianity has never claimed that the birth of Jesus was not miraculous.

Now such an examination is actually quite difficult these days. Our minds are filled - whether we realise it or not – with so many unproven and often blindingly illogical facts about our world and about ourselves that it is difficult to clear our minds for such an important exercise. We have tended to swallow and take for granted as truth the secular or scientific ‘gospel’ - so many theories and assertions about our world and ourselves that are  – if you actually bother to study them – nonsense.

And nowhere are these theories and assertions about why the world exists and why we exist more called into question and shown to be false – on the basis of sound historical evidence - than at Christmas.

The incarnation of God, his choosing in one of his forms of being God to enter the world he created, as a human being, challenges the naturalistic view of the universe – a view proposed most famously perhaps by Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins – the view that there is no God and that eventually we will be able to explain everything about the universe, including its origin, purpose, and destiny, from the inside because the cosmos is all that exists and everything can be explained in terms of mass and energy.

But this belief in naturalism – not to be confused – be warned! - with naturism – is just as much a position of faith as my belief in God and in his coming to us that first Christmas: if Jesus was whom he claimed to be, it makes best sense of the evidence, it explains it. I don’t understand how God could be born as a human being, but on the basis of the evidence, together with trust in who it is we are actually dealing with here, it is perfectly reasonable and rational to believe that he could. And in his coming I also find the answers to life’s most profound questions, the one’s science by its very nature cannot answer.

 In some key areas Science only has best guesses: it’s surprising how much Science cannot explain. Scientists admit that they don’t actually know what consciousness is, what energy is, what gravity is, even what light is. But they believe in these things because they have explanatory power; that is to say, they explain, for instance, why we can see and why things fall.

And so it is with God. God has given us sufficient evidence on which to believe in him, to trust him. If God designed the universe, why could he not enter it? Why can he not break the laws of nature? After all, those laws are only humanity’s understanding of how a rational universe works.

Christianity not only claims to have a basis in reality – in hard facts and evidence, it goes on to claim ultimately to determine what reality is. The incarnation of God challenges the naturalistic view of the universe and says that the universe did not create itself out of nothing, or from a set of laws, was not a matter of chance, but was created by God, the personal agent who caused its creation and who can intervene in it. The view held by naturalists - that it all can be explained without the need for God - is as much a position of faith – though they often won’t admit it - as my faith in the existence of God and his entry that first Christmas into the world he created in order to save us.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that God and science are at odds, that they are incompatible: I am simply saying that science can only answer the questions science is equipped to answer; and that to rule out the idea of a personal Creator without considering the evidence is, frankly, unscientific. 

 But is it true? Well, why not examine the evidence? Why not put your doubts and preconceptions aside for a moment and consider the evidence of the Gospel record, the archaeological record, the changed lives of those who have come to faith? But also, examine the evidence and the arguments of those who dogmatically exclude God from the equation.                  

The claims made by Christians about the meaning of that first Christmas are the most profound set of claims ever made in history. If they are false then we should have nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity: but if they are true, then it is the most important matter in the world. Some people will say that they are perfectly content living without God and according to their own moral code. Well, yes, moral codes are important; but they cannot either forgive us or empower us to live as we know we ought. Only Jesus can forgive us – because he died for us; only Jesus can empower us to live as we know we ought – because he rose again for us and offered himself and his power to all who would humbly receive him. This offer of eternal life came at great cost and, he said, we refuse it at our peril.      

The Christian faith, the Incarnation, the virginal conception, the miracle of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus and his resurrection make the best sense of the evidence, of the facts, if Jesus was indeed whom he claimed to be. 

Christianity is an evidence-based belief; it is not a leap into the dark but a step into the light, the light not just of understanding the truth about the world and about ourselves, but also that the Creator of our world loves us so much that he entered our world with a specific purpose: that purpose was to save us, to save us, again he himself said, from the sins that separate us from him. This he chose to do through a person’s faith in Jesus. Through faith in him and through him alone, God our creator calls us to enjoy a relationship with him that can begin now and last forever. This is the Christmas story; this is the wonder of it; this is the truth of it that our carols and our readings speak of and challenge each one of us either to accept or to reject.

For those who are seeking him, and humble enough to admit their need of him, I pray that the words of the carol might become true for you: ‘O Holy child of Bethlehem descend to us we pray, cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.’

For those who are still not sure but would like to learn a more, do ask me afterwards; take a booklet from the font as you leave, or give me a call. May God bless you all this Christmas; but above all I pray that you will come to know him or to know him more deeply, his truth and his love for you, his saving grace in your life.

Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols 6.30pm 20th December 2015

        Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols 6.30pm  20^th December  2015

I can smell the mince pies from here! For some of you this evening, the question will be ‘How many’ mince pies can I fit in?’ But the question before each one of us tonight, whether we like it or not - after all, we’ve made a decision to come to this service and to join in the celebrations - is ‘Is it true’?   Is it true that there is a Creator of our world, the Creator of our existence, the one who built into you and me the very ability even to ask that question, who actually became one of us 2000 years ago in Bethlehem? That is what Christmas, God taking human form, asks us to believe.  Now it may be, for some, that your ‘world view’ - your view of how the world is and how it came into being - would not normally allow you even to ask that question, because you’ve heard somewhere or other that the world’s existence and its origin can be explained by chance rather than a Creator. But tonight our carols and our readings invite us, indeed they challenge us for this short hour of celebration, to consider the truth of the Christmas story – that God became man.

We have already read what scholars call ‘the infancy narratives’, the accounts of Jesus’ birth: and I have just read from the prologue of John’s Gospel which reveals to us the meaning and significance of those accounts. But are they true? Is that what happened? Is there a God outside of a world he created who chose to come, miraculously, inside it, in person, in order to reveal himself, and with a very specific purpose - to save us? Was Jesus supernaturally conceived, or is the whole shebang at best a naive myth, at worst a despicable hoax invented by the writers of the four Gospels?  Well, those gospels certainly don’t read that way. They read as four different records written by ordinary people for ordinary people in order to communicate an extra-ordinary set of events. Read Luke’s Gospel and we are compelled at least to admit that Luke was writing out of a conviction of certainty – certainty that he was recording events that actually happened. And we must note that whenever Luke’s historical accuracy has been called into question, the archaeological evidence has always found in his favour.

Of course, it’s very easy to avoid having to make a decision about all this, even if the evidence and this Creator are challenging us to do so. It’s very easy, not to mention convenient, to carry on either in the bliss of ignorance that it does not matter – ‘I’m very happy as I am, thank you, without having to stop and think about all this’ – or in a dogmatic refusal even to look at the evidence objectively and honestly - ‘I mean to say, in the light of all our knowledge and understanding  of the science of it all, it is just too ridiculous for words even to consider such an intrusion from outside - and by a virginal conception? Impossible! Why should we believe what we can’t explain just because the Church tells us to?’   Well, I agree the incarnation of God challenges the naturalistic view of the universe (a view proposed, most famously perhaps, by Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins), the view that there is no God and that eventually we will be able to explain everything about the universe, including its origin, purpose, and destiny, from the inside. Oh, yes, this intrusion by God that first Christmas raises huge doubts about so many of the scientific theories that dogmatically exclude him from consideration.

But this belief in naturalism is just as much a position of faith as my belief in God and in his coming to us that first Christmas: if Jesus was whom he claimed to be, it makes best sense of the evidence, it explains it. I don’t understand how God could be born as a human being, but on the basis of the evidence, together with trust in who it is we are actually dealing with here, it is perfectly reasonable and rational to believe that he could. And in his coming I also find the answers to life’s most profound questions, the one’s science by its very nature cannot answer. 

In some key areas Science only actually has best guesses: it’s surprising how much Science cannot explain. Scientists admit that they don’t actually know what conscience is, what energy is, what gravity is, even what light is. But they believe in these things because they have explanatory power; that is to say, they explain, for instance, why we can see and why things fall. 

And so it is with God. God has given us sufficient evidence on which to believe in him, to trust him. If God designed the universe, why could he not enter it? Why can he not break the laws of nature? After all, those laws are only humanity’s understanding of how a rational universe works.

One Nobel Prize winning scientist – not a Christian – said this; ‘It seems very clear now that some one has written his mind into every cell in the universe’. 

The Christian faith, the Incarnation, the virginal conception, the miracle of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus and his resurrection make the best sense of the evidence, of the facts, if Jesus was whom he claimed to be.  Christianity is an evidence-based belief; it is not a leap into the dark but a step into the light, the light not just of understanding the truth about the world and about ourselves, but also that the Creator of our world loves us so much that he entered our world with a specific purpose: that purpose was to save us, to save us, he himself said, from the sins that separate us from him. This he chose to do through a person’s faith in Jesus. Through faith in him and through him alone God our creator calls us to enjoy a relationship with him that can begin now and last forever. This is the Christmas story; this is the wonder of it; this is the truth of it that our carols and our readings speak of and challenge each one of us either to accept or to reject.

 For those who are seeking him, and humble enough to admit their need of him, I pray that the words of the carol might become true for you: ‘O Holy child of Bethlehem descend to us we pray, cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.’

And for those who are still not sure but would like to learn a more, do ask me afterwards; take a booklet from the font as you leave, or give me a call. May God bless you all this Christmas; but above all I pray that you will come to know him or to know him more deeply, his truth and his love for you, his saving grace in your life.

Acts 19 1-10 John 16 1-15

Both of today’s readings are about the third person of the Trinity – God the Holy Spirit.

And this morning I’d just like to say a few words about the Holy Spirit and then look briefly at these two passages and see how they’re relevant for us today.

Firstly, the Holy Spirit is a person – he’s not just an invisible force or power.

He shares the same nature as God the Father and Jesus, and he is referred to in scripture as the Spirit of God - or the Spirit of Jesus.

He speaks as for instance we see in Acts when he gives specific instructions to the apostles. And he has emotions and feelings and he can be grieved by our actions.

He was involved in Creation when we’re told he hovered over the face of the waters.

And he was the one who descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove and empowered him to do the miracles he did; and he continues to empower the church to spread the gospel and God’s kingdom today.

And Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that he is the one who raised Jesus from the dead.

By God’s mighty power Jesus was raised back to life and burst forth from the tomb with an explosion of light and life and energy.

And the Holy Spirit is the one who raises us from spiritual death to eternal life.

Initially, as it says in verses 8 to 11 of our gosepl reading, he convicts us of our sin and our need to repent and be put right with God.

And then, as we do this, He comes to live within our inner beings and imparts eternal life to us – the life of God’s kingdom.

Indeed the biblical definition of a Christian is someone in whom God’s spirit dwells. Without the Holy Spirit living in us, we remain spiritually dead and blind and cut off from God’s life and kingdom.

In today’s gospel reading Jesus tells his disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit.

John chapter 16 is the continuation of a long narrative that begins in John chapter 13 and takes place at the last supper.

Jesus tells the disciples that he is going but they are not to be dismayed because he will not leave them as orphans.

On the contrary – the Father will give them the Advocate or Helper as some translations put it - to be with them forever - the Spirit of truth who will guide them into all truth.

And we see this promise fulfilled a bit later in John chapter 20 - after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, when he appears to the disciples and breathes upon them and says, "receive the Holy Spirit.”

As Jesus breathes upon them the Holy Spirit comes to live within them and they become spiritually alive children of God.

Their spiritual eyes are opened and if any of them still had doubts about the identity of Jesus, they don’t any longer.

Indeed the revelation that we receive when the Holy Spirit comes to live in us is that Jesus is Lord, that he is God – and that we are to worship him.

The other place we see the Holy Spirit come is of course at Pentecost, where he comes in power upon the disciples to empower them to continue the work that Jesus started.

He empowers them to preach the good news about the Kingdom of heaven and to demonstrate the power of that Kingdom by healing the sick and casting out the powers of darkness from people’s lives.

And in today’s reading from Acts we see Paul laying his hands upon some disciples of John the Baptist who hadn’t yet experienced this empowering by the Holy Spirit.

And as Paul lays his hands upon them and prays for them, the Holy Spirit comes upon them and fills them with the life of God and imparts new spiritual gifts to them – and as a sign of this, they speak in tongues and prophesy.

Bible commentators have different views about the spiritual condition of these disciples of John before Paul came to them – and whether they were true believers - but I don’t think this is the most important thing.

What is important is that they are open to receive God’s empowering. They don’t resist it or turn away from it.

They don’t come up with theological reasons at to why they don’t need it. 

And they don’t shy away from it because of imagined fears.

And of course these passages are highly relevant for us today – because just like those first disciples,  we too desperately need the comfort and guidance and empowering of the Holy Spirit in order to live as Christians.

Just as an engine cannot function without petrol and a sailing boat cannot function without wind – so we cannot function as Christians unless we have God’s life giving spirit living within us.

We need to welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives in order to become Christians in the first place - and then we need the continuing empowerment and filling of the Holy Spirit in order to make Jesus known and to bear fruit – just as those first disciples did.

So how can we receive the Holy Spirit today? Well the answer is simply by asking God – but when we ask the desire in our heart must be genuine.

God is more than willing to come into our lives – He longs to come and live in us – but He comes where He is wanted where there is a true desire and thirst in people’s lives to know Him.

Jesus said “let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.”

I’m sure all of you here have been really thirsty and have really longed for a cool refreshing drink that will quench your thirst.

As well as being physically thirsty we can also be spiritually thirsty, and Jesus says that those who are spiritually thirsty should come to him and he’ll give them a drink to quench that thirst.

And the drink he will give us is the Holy Spirit. So as we drink in and receive The Holy Spirit – our spiritual thirst will be quenched.

And we will become spiritually alive as he enables us to know Jesus and to understand the bible, as he enables us to know God’s love and peace and joy in our hearts.

Without him in our lives, our faith will remain parched and dry. Jesus will remain just a historical character and the bible a confusing book.

Perhaps some of you here have been coming to church for a while. You’ve heard lots of talks about Jesus and you’ve read your bibles a bit but somehow it’s all just head knowledge.

You’ve built up a picture of Jesus but like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle - there’s still a bit missing.

Well the missing piece of the jigsaw is the Holy Spirit.

As you receive him into your life – your faith will become real and alive and you will come to know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.

When you pray you will no longer just hope that God might be listening to you - you’ll know that He is listening to you. You’ll have the assurance that God is with you in your life.

The Holy Spirit is very quiet and gentle and unobtrusive and a lot of the time you won’t be conscious of his presence with you.

But he will always be with you to help you to live your life as a Christian – to guide and empower you, to help you to pray and to understand the bible, and to love others.

There may also be some of you here who have been Christians for a while, who have received the Holy Spirit into your lives in the past – but you also feel spiritually thirsty.

You may feel a bit like a battery that has lost its charge or a bit like a dry lawn that desperately needs some rain.

You would like Jesus to refresh and revive you – to pour out his spirit upon you and fill you afresh.

Of course God is love – so when you receive his Spirit – love will enter your heart. And this love is the love of Jesus which desires to reach out to and help other people.

So the question we need to ask ourselves this morning, is do we want to receive more of God’s presence in our lives?

Are you spiritually thirsty? Do you want to know Jesus? Do you want to be a Christian rather than just a church goer?

If you’re already a Christian do you want to be able to serve God more effectively? Do you want to be filled with and empowered by his Holy Spirit?

Do you want to your Christian life to be more vibrant and alive so that you can serve God more effectively?

I think one of the things we at Brenchley Church need most over this coming year if we are going to grow, is to be a church who are more filled with and open to the Holy Spirit.

But that can only happen if we will open our lives to receive more of God.

I’m going to close with a time of quiet where we will have the opportunity to ask God to send His Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives.

A time for you – if you want to - to ask Jesus to give you his Spirit to quench your spiritual thirst.

If you’d prefer, I’d be very happy to pray with you after the service - a simple prayer asking Jesus to fill you with his Spirit– or for any other need you may have.

So let’s close our eyes and focus on God.

SHORT PAUSE

Lord Jesus thankyou that you stand among us now.

Lord you see our hearts and you see those of us who are spiritually thirsty.

Lord Jesus we ask you now to send us your Holy Spirit to quench our spiritual thirst.

Lord come to all those of us here today who are thirsty and fill us with your your life giving Spirit. Fill us with life and your love and your power.

PAUSE

We ask this in your name Jesus. Amen