The things that move us deeply are embodied perfectly in the Christ child whose birth we celebrate this night.
I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting old and soft in the head, but I find myself with tears in my eyes more than I used to. I feel deeply moved when I watch the sufferings of millions from war, poverty and natural calamities. How long can hope and courage last? The tears speak of the intense love which as human beings we have one for another, a divine love seen in a baby in a manger.
And I think of a little girl who was assaulted and how people from all over New Zealand had swamped her with Christmas gifts- so many that her parents were now sharing them with other sick children in the hospital. The generosity of Jesus moves us to reach out to others.
Like those young people today who dream of a better world where people care for the earth and for each other, and go out with Greenpeace, or move to the poorest parts of Africa where they act as doctors, or teachers, or agricultural mentors, often putting their own lives at risk in the process. And let’s not forget older people who likewise follow such visions and dreams in their compassion and work for justice.
I am moved also when I watch and listen to young mums and dads, and grandparents too, talking to their kids, as they take them around town. Here one generation is passing on Jesus’ love and wisdom to the next.
And I can be moved by the generosity and goodness of others, or by the richness and beauty of life and nature which surround us.
Now if you connect the dots you can see easily why deep feelings are a very Christmas theme. Because the things that move us most are embodied perfectly in the Christ child whose birth we celebrate this night. His nature was one of love and compassion; he stood with the poor and the outcast; he responded generously and unstintingly, and challenged the untruths of institutions and the fickleness of the powers that be, eventually dying on a cross. All this was possible because he walked closely with God at the heart of life.
Love, faith, prophetic courage, sacrifice, justice, peace – such are the things that make up our spiritual DNA; they are timeless in nature, a timelessness captured by the words of tonight’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. These things have always been. In Jesus the divine building blocks of human life are there for all to see.
His was a light that illumines our darkness: ‘The light shines in the darkness’, says John, ‘and the darkness has never overcome it’.
After that it becomes a question of discernment. Can we see the light in our midst? Can we make it part of our life so that we live the divine truth revealed to us? Many of the people of Jesus’ time could not see it, or would not. John again: ‘he was in the world, yet the world did not know 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 flesh, nor of human will, but of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of God’s only son, full of grace and truth’.
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