Christmas Day, 25 December 2011, John 1:1-18

The Nativity

I was listening John Moriarty telling a story recently. He had introduced us to his niece, Amanda, earlier on in the story and now he brought her in again. This time it was Good Friday, and while Amanda's granny, John's mother, went to the Good Friday devotions, John and Amanda stayed at home to look after the cow that was calving. When they went out to check on the cow, they discovered that she had already begun to give birth to her calf. Amanda squealed when she saw the little hooves coming out the back of the cow. According to Amanda, this was wrong. The calf was coming out wrong! John enquired why, and Amanda declared that she herself had come out of her Mummy head first!

Eventually, after the calf had been safely born and the cow had carefully cleaned it, Amanda and John retreated back into the house where the story developed. John was curious to find out all that Amanda understood about where babies come from. Amanda told him that she had come from her Mummy's tummy. So, John enquired further: where did Mummy come from? Amanda thought for a minute. "From granny's tummy!" Then, the really hard one. Where did granny come from? Amanda was vexed. What answer could there be to this question? Eventually her furrowed brow changed into a smile. She had an answer: "Granny came from her own tummy!"

John mused for us about this. For Amanda, there was nothing or no-one before granny. Therefore granny was the beginning of everything. John was worried about this; he described Amanda as being vulnerable to experience. Eventually she would discover that her statement of fact was not true.

I think that John's line is a wonderful one. We are all vulnerable to experience. The facts that we hold dear can be demolished very easily and quickly.
Like the children in C.S. Lewis' Narnia series. In "The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" the children are transported to Narnia where they meet Aslan, the lion. C.S. Lewis is famously known for his conversion to Christianity and the many talks and lectures he gave about Christianity. The children's stories of Narnia are replete with Christian references. Indeed some say that Aslan, the lion, is the figure of Christ in the stories. Aslan features in all the stories of Narnia. In "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" the children are suffering persecution and enter Narnia through a wardrobe full of fur-coats. When someone tries to follow them, they cannot. Imagination and wonder are the core values that are needed to make the journey to Narnia. It mimics the gospel where it says in Matthew: "unless you change and  become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3)

This morning's gospel is kind of cryptic. It does not lend itself easily to listening and it is not the gospel story of Christmas and the Nativity that we hold so dear. No, rather this gospel from the beginning of John's gospel is just that: a beginning. Jesus is the Word, and "the Word was made flesh".

How are we to gain access to the Narnia of the gospel message of Christmas? How can we be like the little child and the little children that we celebrate this morning? How can we see beyond the limitations of our crisis-stricken world? We have to be changed. Christmas does not end today. Today is just the beginning. Enter into the joy and celebration of this day. But don't forget to push through the fur coats to tomorrow. Don't allow the 'facts' of your mind quosh the wonder of your imagination. Grant the Lord of all life permission to enter in.

Pope Benedict put it like this last night in St Peter's Basilica:

Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity.  Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light.