Christmas
Eve
24
December 2015
Saint
Faith’s Anglican Church
Vancouver
BC
It
was midnight when the secretary finally got around to drafting the notes from
the meeting he had attended earlier that day.
Senior officials from various government agencies had come together to
discuss the growing shortfall in tax revenue from the provinces. All the officials present were deeply aware
of the risks of cutting programmes in order to live within the existing
revenue.
Some
senior officials began the traditional game of suggesting cuts to the
programmes overseen by their colleagues.
Social services were an easy target, but it was pointed out that these
services did keep the populace calm, an advantage in these troubled times. One official was bold enough to suggest a
reduction in the military budget, a heretical suggestion to almost all his
colleagues. So this only left one
option: raise taxes. But how to do this?
As
the secretary completed his notes and moved on to drafting the memorandum to go
out to the provincial authorities, he allowed himself a little smile. He was the one who quietly raised his hand
during a break in the discussion. “The
problem,” he said, “was the absence of accurate census data. If we order every head of household to return
to their place of birth, then we can generate accurate records of where they
presently live, what they do for a living and how many members are there in the
household.” And so he was ordered to
draft a memorandum, under the signature of the head of the government to be
sure, but all the senior officials had noticed the secretary. Several officials had sent notes inviting him
to lunch at their ministries.
And
so the memorandum went out to every province.
To make sure that people knew how serious this was, the memorandum was
delivered to each community within each province by a squad of heavily-armed
soldiers. Their presence left no doubt
in anyone’s mind that the memorandum was to be obeyed.
Throughout
the provinces the heads of households gathered up their families and prepared
for the journey back to their birthplaces.
There were a fortunate few who had never moved from where they were
born, but these were hard times. Work
was not easy to find and skilled workers often left their hometowns to seek
places where their skills were in demand.
One
young man closed his shop and left the key with a trusted neighbour. Who knew how long he and his pregnant wife
would be away? Best to leave the shop
under the watchful eye of a friend rather than leave things to chance. The wives of several of his friends were
skeptical of taking a young woman so late in her pregnancy on a long and
uncertain journey. As the couple left
town, he noticed the disapproving looks but chose just to smile and to wave.
Just
outside of town, on the main road south, the two young people realized just how
difficult a journey this would be. The
road was jammed with people moving in both directions. Wealthier folk who could afford to bring
along a few servants were not above using those servants as ploughs to part the
crowds and speed along to their destination.
Most nights were spent out in the open or under make-shift shelters.
Food
was a valuable commodity in scarcity.
Most people had planned to buy food along the way, but the residents of
the small towns and cities were reluctant and not a little afraid of the swarms
of people passing through. Many of the
travellers lacked money to buy food any way, so thefts were not unknown. The young man spent many sleepless nights
guarding his wife and their supplies.
Finally
they arrived at his hometown. Hotels
were full; homes full of relatives; fields full of travellers. The young couple were fortunate to find warm
lodging in one of the outbuildings of small inn. And there the child was born, the child of
young couple forced to travel far from their home to satisfy the needs of a
government bureaucracy even further away.
Eventually they were permitted to return home where the child would grow
into adulthood and, as you and I know full well, change the history of the
world.
I’m
sure that you quickly figured out the identity of this family. But I wanted you to hear the story told in a
way that connects this ancient story we celebrate tonight with the stories of
so many millions of people who are far from their homes. Luke the evangelist tells us that Jesus was
born in Bethlehem because of the needs of the Roman imperial government not the
needs of the people living in what we know as Israel and Palestine. Joseph and Mary travelled south not out
nostalgia for the old hometown of Joseph but because of the power of the Roman
army. Unlike many contemporary refugees,
Joseph, Mary and Jesus would eventually return to the north, to the town Joseph
and Mary called home.
Tonight
is a night of joy and wonder. It is a
night that warms the hearts of young and old alike. Children and grandchildren return to visit
parents and grandparents. Friends visit
friends and festive meals are shared.
Gifts are exchanged and most of us experience a certain lightness of
spirit, even in the midst of the darkness of winter and the busy-ness of
shopping malls. Many charities will
benefit from the generosity that blossoms at this time of year.
I
give thanks for all these benefits of the season. I even like to keep an older English
tradition that extends Christmas from twelve days to forty. It keeps me a bit more sane and I’m sure no
one minds getting a gift or two after the wrapping paper has been cleared away
and eggnog is no longer available in the dairy section.
It
is right and a good and joyful thing to celebrate the birth in time of the
timeless Word of God. It is right and a
good and joyful thing to be with friends and family and to enjoy a time of love
and cheer. It is right and a good and
joyful thing to exchange gifts to reinforce the bonds of affection between us
and to express our appreciation of the gifts our families, friends and
neighbours are to us and to each other.
But
we must not forget that the mystery of this night is rooted in the story of a
young family who found themselves on a road not of their own choosing. We must not forget that the story we tell
tonight is still being lived tonight all over the world. It is in our power to be the townspeople who share
our resources with those on the same journey as Mary and Joseph. It is in our power to be the innkeeper who
opens the door to welcome the holy families into places of warmth and security.
And
then the mystery of this season will be made plain for all to see: the Christ became a human child so that all
the children of humanity may know that they are children of God, holy and
beloved, and there is room for us all.
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