Other Homilies

• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010

Homilies by Rev. Andrew Collis unless indicated otherwise.

Christmas 1, Year A
South Sydney Uniting Church
January 1, 2017

Isaiah 63:7-9; Psalm 148; Matthew 2:13-23

‘Expanding on Christmas Day’

God be with you ...

John Fleming, the leader of the massacre of 28 Aboriginal men, women and children at the Myall Creek Station on June 19, 1838, was never captured, and was allegedly responsible for further massacres throughout the Liverpool Plains and New England regions. A memorial to the victims of the massacre was unveiled in 2000, consisting of a granite rock and plaque overlooking the site of the massacre. The memorial was vandalised in January 2005, with the words "murder", "women" and "children" chiseled off, in an attempt to make them unreadable.

Faysal Ishak Ahmed was a 27 year-old Sudanese (Australian government-certified) refugee. A loving husband and father, he had been held at the "illegal" detention centre on Manus Island since October 2013. Medi-vacced from Manus to Australia on December 23 after collapsing and suffering head injuries the day before, he died on Christmas Eve. Faysal had suffered numerous black-outs and collapses in the previous month. Only last week, more than 60 Manus refugees signed a complaint letter regarding the contracted medical service's failure to properly treat him. On Friday night a vigil for Faysal was held in Hyde Park, hosted by the Refugee Action Coalition, which insists that those on Manus and Nauru have the right to come to Australia.

How does it feel, in the midst of Christmas celebrations, to hear of such things? Genocide. Brutal regimes. People displaced and mistreated.

It is often noted that our Gospel from Matthew, known as the "Massacre of the Innocents", is the least well known of stories surrounding the birth of Jesus. "And yet," says one commentator, "is it not this story, of all the nativity stories, that most clearly connects the birth of Jesus with some of the most pertinent issues of our own day?" (Nathan Nettleton).

Generations of children taken from their families on the say-so of colonial powers and their partners. Refugees fleeing violence and seeking asylum in foreign countries. Children held in offshore detention centres (currently there are 45 children in Nauru). Governments and terrorist organisations employing violence (overt and covert) -- in Mosul, Mogadishu, Kabul, Aleppo, Bethlehem -- to achieve political ends. Exploitation and destruction of natural beauty/resources (innocent beings, habitats, community) in the pursuit of wealth and domination. Fearful competition, greedy consumption -- selfish, disrespectful and tyrannical attitudes ...

Every Hebrew child grew up on stories of Moses floating in the bulrushes to avoid the slaughter of the infants, and of the adult Moses coming out of hiding after the death of the pharaoh who had sought to kill him. Jesus, Matthew is saying, is God's chosen agent of liberation, just as Moses was. And so, in its context, Matthew's message was a real message of hope, loaded with promise. It was a message of good news for an oppressed people.

This act of liberation may have begun with a baby in Bethlehem, but is to be continued by all who bear the name of Christ in every place where there is suffering, distress, injustice, poverty, despair ...

I never heard the story of the massacre at Myall Creek when I was a child. It wasn't until a Newtown artist, Chris Wyatt, exhibited paintings depicting the massacre that I encountered it (the show was held at UTC in 2005).

As we weave together such truths here at the table (including the stories of our own exile and escape -- times we chose to withdraw from conflict rather than engage whatever threats or bullies or systems of oppression -- we encounter again the Christ who hears the cries of all who suffer, comes to lead us out of slavery and into the embrace, the wide-open space of God's love.

Herod stands for defensive, paranoid fear and tragic self-preservation. One commentator writes: "This brand of insecurity never leads to anything good. Ironically, it most often backfires, shrinking rather than enhancing the one who fears ... and seeks to douse the light of other lives" (Kathleen Norris).

Mary and Joseph, by contrast, exemplify a full-bodied and expansive faith that includes trembling before the mystery of transcendence and trusting in the tenderness of immanence. Some Bible translations call this "fear of the Lord" and link it with holy wisdom. Reverence may be more apt a term.

Reverence is the beginning of our being able to say, with Mary, "Here am I, a servant of YHWH. Let it be ..." (Luke 1:38). It is the source of Joseph's wordless obedience (Matthew 1:24). Reverence opens us to the comfort and stamina God offers even in times of undeserved and acute suffering.

Reverence is the impulse that shuts our self-righteous lips when we look upon the suffering or mistakes of others. It impels us, rather than retreating in horror or cold judgement, to reach out with comforting, capable hearts and hands.

When, by the grace of God, we exchange our paranoid, self-centred fears for holy fear or reverence, we look out upon the unknown with the assurance of light and love. The God who accompanies us will never abandon us. The God who accompanies us will ever expand (on) us -- make more of us, make us more hospitable, more gracious, wise, tactful, sensible, sensitive …

By the grace of God, we become the body of Christ -- the spiritual community of Jesus, a wide-open space, and a holy family.

In the context of genocide, brutal regimes and people displaced and mistreated, some of us are called to be angels, sympathetic messengers and supporters. Some of us will resemble Joseph (of testaments old and new), attuned to dreams and committed to the welfare of the community and nation. And with Mary we can all come to embody hope and new life -- her "yes" to God a faithful rendition of God's own motherly compassion, God's own yes to the world.

Is there somebody you'd like to see at peace within the circle of God's love? You're invited to bring a name and to place a ribbon beside the Christ candle. We pray in the name of Rachel who weeps for children lost, and in the name of Jesus who regards each and every child precious … Amen.

Homily