Dio Christmas Carol 2023

In the meantime, some of us are still squeezing out the last drops while looking at a blank page that says [insert Christmas reflection here].

This insertion has felt very much like trying to create something out of nothing - so I appealed to a higher power: a lifeguard. Not a spiritual lifeguard, but an actual lifeguard named Geoff who wants you to know that you should always swim between the flags. But that’s not all.

I was chatting to him while wrestling with the profound language of the reading we have just heard: Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος…

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through him,
and without him, not one thing came into being.
What has come into being 4 in him was life,a
and the life was the light of all people.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.

“Geoff,” I said. “I am beached-as.” I thought that might be funny. Given that I was talking to a lifeguard, you might appreciate this was poorly judged.

However, being a better man than me, he replied, “It’s really about creation. Are you familiar with the early work of Ralph Hotere when he was exploring his Roman Catholic faith?”

Never underestimate a lifeguard.

And I replied [nodding], “No.” I knew I was out of my depth - way outside the flags. So he went on, “A black expanse, with bursts of white. It’s Genesis - creation unfolds.”

And I thought, “In the beginning … the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” All of this was nothing. It was like that empty tank, just waiting to be filled up – crying out for life and form.

But even before that cry, God already was, and Jesus already was, and the Holy Spirit was too. Through them, all things came into being. That’s why God looked at creation and saw that it was good because God is Good and manifests in creation.

We instinctively know that - because when we actually look at the world we are awestruck.

For you, it may happen when you see the sunrise, or you may recognise it in the wonder of a child standing before a Christmas tree with lights twinkling. These moments are the sparks of white in the darkness – little signs of the divine breaking in. This is part of what the Gospel writer is trying to do – to remind us that “What has come into being  in [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness [does] not overcome it.”

It’s a message of hope in a world where sometimes it is easier to see the darkness than the light. In 2019, Banksy (the street artist) revealed a new work in a Bethlehem Hotel. The hotel is situated on Caritas Street, immediately opposite one of Israel’s walls. As you can see, it’s called the Walled Off Hotel – a deliberate word-play on the international chain “Waldorf Hotel (Astoria).” It is the guesthouse/gallery brainchild of Banksy and has been created “to educate visitors about the complex history and politics of Israel’s five-metre tall concrete wall, the West Bank barrier, which stands a few paces away.” The hotel is marketed as having the “worst view in the world.” That’s because the wall is not only 5m high but 700km long – which is roughly equivalent to running a wall the length of State Highway 1 from Auckland to Wellington.

And here is the artwork he revealed at Christmas. This is the nativity reimagined - he calls it “Scar of Bethlehem.” Here, a new king is born: his parents are not married and have no money; they are refugees in their own home. The occupying force is brutal. Life is cheap.

The star in the wall is a bullet hole. It is perhaps a nod to God’s capacity to redeem all things. It is certainly a reminder of the conflict that remains in Israel 2000 years on.

Our God did not arrive, like Thor God of Thunder, with his Hammer raised. Jesus Emmanuel was born vulnerable, fragile and dependent. Jesus was God in a way that humans had never experienced the divine.

He came to turn all our ideas upside down.

He came from the dazzling light of heaven to illuminate the dark places on earth.

He came to fill up the empty spaces which are crying out inside us.

So, as we approach Christmas and prepare to celebrate this miracle, I pray that the world lets God in to fill up those dark places - and that the light of Christ that illuminates each one of us spills out - to make this nativity authentically merry. Kia mau te rongo, kia uu te rangimarie - may peace prevail in all things.

Amen.