| Date | 24 December 2007 |
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| Sunday | Midnight Mass |
| Preacher | Revd Dan Tyndall |
| Readings | Isaiah 52. 7 – 10 Hebrews 1. 1 – 4 John 1, 1 – 14 |
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I don’t know what you were expecting when you came to church tonight? Where
you expecting to come to a place lit up brightly, ready to celebrate
Christmas, and to walk in to a solo voice singing “Once in royal David’s
city” as they do at King’s College? If you were coming to church expecting
that, well then, welcome to the church that celebrates to Christmas from the
moment Christmas starts: midnight. That’s when Christmas started. That’s why
all the lights came on and we started singing “Yea Lord, we greet thee”.
If you felt a bit confused coming into a dark church and to a service that started very quietly, then I am sorry. But it’s quite good to get a bit confused on Christmas Day. After all Mary and Joseph must have got a bit confused as to what was going on with them – to say nothing of the shepherds up on the hillside. What on earth was going on? But I just love this time of night. The darkness is all enveloping, and yet the light breaks through. Through the cracks and crevices of the darkness the light penetrates. Despite that overwhelming darkness, it floods in, in new ways and in new engagements. I love this time of night. Here we are, once again, gathered around the fireside of our faith, gathered around the hearth, coming home to hear once again, not so much the facts as they are presented to us in Matthew’s, Mark’s and Luke’s gospels, not so much the facts of donkeys and shepherds and wise men, but truths. The truths as presented in that wonderful and glorious opening to John’s gospel. Let’s leave those facts for the cold light of day, and let’s enjoy the truths in this darkness of night. I love this time of night. For it is a time when we are duty bound to break forth into singing. It is a time to proclaim “Your God reigns”, to hear those words spoken, not by the prophets any more, not by our ancestors any more, but by the Son. It is time to hear the words of the Son spoken. To see, not an image of God, but God’s very imprint, God’s very being in the heart and soul and face of one individual in time. To see God’s glory reflected in the cracks and crevices of our human condition. A time to hear of the wonder of time before time, and time beyond time. A time to grapple with truths outside of time. A time to embrace the dark, for the dark has no power any more. I love this time of night. I’m not denying that the darkness doesn’t exist: it’s out there and it’s in here. We’re not denying that darkness can be full of fear and trepidation. We’re not denying that darkness can be very, very real: international darkness, national darkness and personal darkness really exist. But what we are proclaiming, what we are declaring, what we are shouting from the rooftops, this night of all nights, is that darkness is not the end of the story; indeed darkness is the beginning of the story. For out of darkness God called the light, and God saw the light, and God saw that the light was very, very good. And the light was before the darkness, and the light shall be after the darkness, and the light is within and beyond the darkness. For the light shines in the darkness and the darkness shall never overcome it. Oh yes, I love this time of night.
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