THE Dean of Jersey, the Very Reverend Mike Keirle, shares his Christmas message with Islanders.
“Peace on earth and good will toward all people”! Yeah, right – not a lot of that around at the moment is there?
The irony is that, for many of us, including myself, Christmas is far from peaceful! If it’s not endless carol services, nativity plays, events, concerts and parties, it’s the anxiety and exhaustion of getting ready for the big day and stressing out over food preparation, buying presents, who is going to sit next to whom at the dinner table and will they get on?
Even if you don’t do any of those things, Christmas can still be a time of heightened anxiety and loneliness.
Mental health often takes a dive at this time of the year while domestic violence statistically increases. Peace on earth? You must be joking.
A survey commissioned by a national newspaper found that, after getting up to see what Santa has brought them, tired and over-excited children and stressed parents will fall out just before 10am and have their first argument on Christmas Day at 9.58am. Efforts by parents to tidy up the house spark most rows, along with arguments over what to watch on TV and children spending too much time on social media.
And if that hasn’t cheered you up, take a good look at the world at the moment. Not a lot of “peace in our time”, is there?
As I write this, Assad has just fled from Syria; everyone is trying to get a strategic piece of the action as a regime topples. Israel, Gaza and Lebanon are still at war; people are displaced, hostages still missing. Ukraine and Russia are still embroiled in conflict, with Ukraine recently declaring that 43,000 people have died. With new regimes across the world, who knows what awaits us.
And what about all the child abuse scandals in all the major institutions (including the Church) and the terrible suffering of the victims and survivors? When will they ever have justice, let along peace? Happy Christmas. Peace on earth and good will towards all people!
The irony is those words were uttered to a group of shepherds on a hillside, who were woken up in the middle of the night by a bunch of angels telling them that “Jesus had been born”.
To be honest, that’s not very peaceful either.
If I was lying down in the middle of the field at night after a hard day’s work and a squadron of angels suddenly appeared and started singing, I’m pretty sure I would not be thinking peaceful things and goodwill would be in short supply!
While we are on the “lack of peace at Christmas” theme, let’s travel to Bethlehem with those shepherds for a moment and visit Jesus – a baby. No such thing as peace there, if my children were anything to go by. When my kids were born, that was the end of peace for the next 28 years!
For that matter, it wasn’t exactly peaceful at the first Christmas for everyone else either. Shepherds being woken by angels, the populace being forced to travel for a census; Mary and Joseph with the anxiety of nowhere to stay and, when Jesus was born, the fear of an angry and jealous King out to kill all opposition. Peace? Well… I think I’ve made my point!
Having said all that, one of the things that I love on Christmas Eve at Town Church, at our service that takes place at 11.30pm spilling over into Christmas Day itself, is hearing the carol “Silent Night, Holy Night”. The music was written by Franz Gruber. He was asked by his local priest, who had written a poem, to put it to music that could be played on the guitar because the organ in the church had been damaged by floods. It is now the world’s most recorded Christmas song – yes, even more popular than the songs by Slade and Mariah Carey.
The carol takes us to a place of peace after the trauma of labour and exhaustion of childbirth. In the midst of a noisy and rousing service, the carol itself serves as a moment of peace, and points us to the manger where the baby sleeps in “heavenly peace”.
There is something intangible and profound about the words of the carol, that leaves us wanting to peer over the edge of that manger and through the hay and to see, in the presence of this tiny baby, the presence of God and the peace that could be ours as we look him in the face.
Whilst shepherds are filled with terror at angels singing in the dark; whilst people’s lives are disrupted and jealous kings commit unspeakable violence and whilst the world continues to rage in conflict; love enters the world and, later, stands resolutely and calmly against evil and injustice, suffering and abuse, offering a new way – peace instead of conflict, love instead of hate.
We know that much of the world and much within our own lives lack peace. Jesus is God’s peace. Take a look in the manger. You may be surprised by what looks back at you.
May God give you true peace this Christmas. Glories stream from heaven afar, heavenly hosts sings Alleluia; Christ, the Saviour is born! Christ the saviour is born.
