Christmas 2020 focus of joy and sorrow the world over.
These two human realities are merged into our celebration tonight/today just as Jupiter and Saturn have been brought into conjunction in the heavens.
Weather permitting you may have seen the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky this week. It happens every 20 years but this year’s has been their closest approach since 1623 and closest observable since 1226. There is talk of the grandest conjunction being the source of the immense light appearing as a guide ‘when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the King’ (Matthew 2:1,2)
The events of that night bring joy and sorrow to godly focus in such a way as to inflame the faith, hope and love that burn in our hearts tonight/this morning.
Of this focussing Thomas Merton wrote: ‘As a magnifying glass concentrates the rays of the sun into a little burning knot of heat that can set fire to a dry leaf or a piece of paper, so the mystery of Christ in the Gospel concentrates the rays of God's light and fire to a point to set fire to the human spirit’.
The movement of Jupiter and Saturn to conjunction lifts our physical eyes into the sky at night. The conjunction of God and the world in Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, sets fire to our spiritual perception building faith, hope and love in the face of the sorrows of 2020.
We find faith in a God who, having made us and put us at risk in the cosmos, brings knowledge of his love for us and for all things to light by taking flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Child Jesus builds our faith as ‘he concentrates the rays of God’s light and fire to a point to set fire to the human spirit’. ‘He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it’.
We find hope in the Christmas Feast and not just for 2021. If, as the psalmist writes, ‘this is the day that the Lord has made’ so is tomorrow. Tomorrow also is God’s, and ‘tomorrow, and tomorrow unto the last syllable of recorded time’. Many ask where we find hope at this season. Others say the pandemic has underlined the value of religion as keeper of the flame of hope.
It’s not a matter of where there is life there is hope but where there is hope there is life, life worth living, life with fullness beyond fullness of years. People with hope, especially those caring for others this year against the odds and at risk to themselves, bring to focus what matters ultimately.
We find faith, hope and thirdly love, which is of ultimate significance, kindled tonight/today. As Jupiter and Saturn draw close in the sky, joy and sorrow are united in the humble Crib of Bethlehem - God is made one with us.
To see this we must take the step of receiving and believing invited at the start of John’s Gospel: ‘God in Christ was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God’.
I can set forth arguments for the existence of a God who is love but arguments will only go so far. The story of Jesus in the Gospels is accepted as historical by scholars in a way that is impressive compared to the qualifications they make about the historical claims of non-Christian religions. Even Christ’s resurrection is said by non-believers to have an enigmatic ring of truth. To move from the ring of truth to entering truth, living in faith, hope and love, is a matter of ‘receiving him… believing in Christ’s name… and welcoming power to become children of God.
One of our leading theologians, Rowan Williams, said last week that believers who strive to make rational arguments for the faith in conversation with secularists should have more modest aspirations. Our humble role is to keep a “foot in the door” until a saint comes along. Williams offered the example of Malcolm Muggeridge, a celebrated British journalist and satirist who was attracted to Communism in his youth and later converted to Christianity under the influence of St. Teresa of Calcutta. I quote, ‘it was not argument, but seeing something fleshed out that did it, but Muggeridge wouldn’t have committed without steady engagement over the years with the arguments’.
Christmas 2020 is the focus of joy and sorrow across the world. The conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sky symbolises the bringing to himself God desires for every human being. Our role as believers in advancing this is advanced as our faith, hope and love are refreshed into overflow tonight/today.
God bless each one of us as we set forth to our circle the argument for Christ and pray for them to embrace what he brings – belonging for the isolated, purpose for the lost, empowerment for the overwhelmed, forgiveness for sinners and direction for those who’re feeling lost. ‘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’.
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