Don’t worry if you’re not prepared for Christmas
By The Revd Ivor Cornish
Malcolm was woken very early on Christmas morning by the ringing of the phone. It was his Vicar. “The wife’s gone into labour early, Malcolm”, he said. “I’ve got to take her to the hospital. Sorry, but you’ll just have to cope. ’Bye”. Malcolm, recently ordained deacon, but not yet a priest, wondered how he was going to cope, completely unprepared, not at all sure what was supposed to be happening, unable to celebrate communion, no sermon prepared, and with some of the largest congregations of the year. It was only later that the irony of the situation struck him. What should have been carefully prepared and meticulously executed worship celebrating the arrival of Jesus, the Saviour of the World, born as a baby at an inconvenient moment and unprepared for, had been disrupted by the birth of a baby born at an inconvenient and unprepared moment. It was, in its own way, supremely appropriate.
I thought of Malcolm a year or two later when my then Rector phoned me up one day just before Christmas. “I’ve got a migraine – you’ll have to cope with the Ladies’ Group Christmas Service”.
Then there was another Christmas Day when I had taken a morning service, then took communion to two of our parishioners who were in the same ward in the hospital. They had both lived in the village for some years, and not very far apart, but they had never met each other. We were given a corner of the ward, and on our side of the screen we celebrated the birth of Christ in the Sacrament, while on the other side the rest of the ward celebrated exuberantly and noisily. I had no idea until that day that there are certain serious medical conditions which are best treated with liberal doses of alcohol and plenty of song, in fact the noisier the better. I was very much aware of the presence of God, and He seemed to be smiling. “You know”, I almost heard him say, “This is exactly like it was at Bethlehem”.
So, are your preparations for Christmas going according to plan? If not, celebrate the fact that Christmas is about the ability and willingness of God to arrive in our midst when everything is unprepared and the best laid plans have gone severely wrong. Think how much of the ministry of Jesus – the teaching, the miracles, the incidental meetings which changed people’s lives – happened because his plans had been interrupted. Think too of the Nativity, unprepared and inconvenient, yet able to speak to us and draw us as the most carefully prepared birth at home in Nazareth might not have done.
So enjoy Advent and Christmas, and be ready to find God in the things that don’t go according to plan.