Bishop Steven delivered a sermon on Christmas morning at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Watch on YouTube or read below.
Breaking the fourth wall
A very happy Christmas to you and to your families.
The angel’s words to the shepherds: “…to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is the Messiah, the Lord”
There is a convention in theatre, film and television called breaking the fourth wall. In the middle of the drama, one of the characters turns aside and speaks directly to the audience.
The fourth wall takes its name from the theatre. A stage is normally surrounded by three physical walls at the back and sides. There is an imaginary fourth wall across the front of the stage which separates the audience from the drama.
Occasionally, a character will break this convention and offer a commentary or a joke. In pantomime this happens all the time (and this is where you call out together: Oh no it doesn’t). Miranda breaks the fourth wall in her sitcom often with just a raised eyebrow or a look to camera. So does David Brent in The Office. Steve Martin in Father of the Bride. See how many you can think of over Christmas lunch.
But I think there is a moment like this in our gospel reading. One of the characters breaks the fourth wall and speaks from the page of the gospel directly to all of us as we gather in worship this morning. The character I have in mind is the angel of the Lord.
A different message
This is the third time the angel appears in Luke’s story bringing messages from God. The first time is to Zecheriah to announce the birth of John the Baptist. The second is to Mary, to announce the birth of Jesus. Each time we listen to the angel’s words about the child who is to come.
But the angel’s message to the shepherds on the hillside is different.
“Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people”. And then, I think, the angel breaks the fourth wall and speaks not only to the shepherds but through the shepherds to all of us and each of us:
“…to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is the Messiah, the Lord”
And then message becomes one mainly for the shepherds again. “This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger”.
But just for a moment the angel is speaking to all of us and each of us. ‘To you is born this day’. The fourth wall is broken. Then the angel’s message is underscored by the multitude of the heavenly host:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace among those whom he favours”.
A universal truth
This child is born to you, the angel says. It’s striking language. The angel does not say: the child is born to Mary. The angel does not say: the child is born to God’s people, Israel. The angel does not say: the child is born to all who will believe. The shepherds stand in the story for the poor, the night shift workers, the ordinary, the representatives of all the earth, of every generation. They stand in our place in the nativity story. That is why the angel says: this child is born to you.
This is an extraordinary, universal message: glad tidings of great joy for all the people – not only all the people of Israel but to all the people of the earth; all the generations who will follow. Everywhere and for all time. This is the child who will bring peace, well-being, healing and wholeness to all the earth.
Messiah
This is the child who will be the Saviour. The name Jesus given by the same angel means Saviour. He will be the Messiah or Christ. The promised king who would come though born in a stable and announced to shepherds. He is and will be the Lord not of an earthly empire but of all creation for all time and all eternity.
Luke begins his story of the nativity with the Emperor Augustus, the greatest Emperor the world had ever seen. Augustus controlled more territory; more armies; more wealth; more power than anyone in history to date. Augustus is already known throughout the Empire as Saviour of his people; as the anointed king; even as Lord and God.
Yet the angel claims each of these remarkable titles for Mary’s son, born into poverty, a refugee and stranger. And the same angel turns aside, as it were and speaks across the generations. This child is born to you: entrusted to you; for your blessing; for your healing and salvation; for your peace. To reveal the very nature of God. In the words of Titus, in Jesus the goodness and loving kindness of God has appeared. For you.
What will you do with this most wonderful gift, this most precious gift in history, this Christmas Day? To you is born this day…
Rekindle faith, hope and love
This gift is given to rekindle in each of us today the gifts of faith and hope and love. These three great Christian virtues are set in the pavement of the sanctuary of this Cathedral; they are commemorated in the Edward Burns window at the rear of the south aisle. You might want to make a little pilgrimage to both at the end of the service. I like to think they also form part of the original crest of the Diocese of Oxford as three crowned women – but this may be St Frideswide and her patron saints.
Allow this gift – this child born to you – to rekindle faith. Faith that God is, and that God is kind and merciful and wills the best for this beautiful world. Faith that God saves and rescues us in mercy and love through the water of rebirth. Faith not in the Church – for the Church is fallible and fallen and sinful, as we have seen in recent weeks. But faith and trust in God’s own Son, Jesus, who comes to us gently and as a gift.
Allow this gift to rekindle hope. Each year we see the darkness in the world more clearly: wars and atrocities on every side; poverty and inequality; the degradation of the earth; the threat of technology; the cruelty and pain we inflict on one another; the reality of death and our mortality. All of us who see this darkness need to hear these words afresh. To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. A Saviour who brings healing; and justice; and a kingdom of peace; and the defeat of death and life eternal.
And above all allow this gift to rekindle love. To you is born this day this Christ child who calls us back to love of God and love of neighbour as the purpose for our living. Who calls us back to forgiveness as a way of life, for we have been forgiven and lives and families and churches and nations will not work without forgiveness. Who calls us back to love as the very centre of our living and through that love to bring light to this dark world.
Receive this gift
There is no fourth wall in this Eucharist. This Christ Mass is not a performance but an act of worship by the whole congregation. We all sing. We all pray. We all listen to the scriptures. We all are invited to receive bread and wine or a prayer of blessing. We all remember Jesus words: this is my body which is given for you. This is my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
We all receive this gift today, promised by the angel, and leading us again to set faith and hope and love in the very centre of our lives; in the very centre of our world.
To you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.
