Journeys in Community pages 9b.qxp_Layout 2 21/07/2020 17:46 Page 28
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Journeys in Community
Introduction (John and Ruth) Advent and Christmas are all about incarnation, and the mystery of the whole season. John can date that feeling back to his early childhood, and the first watch night service he was taken to, at the age of seven. Apart from the thrill of being allowed up – and out! – so late, he still remembers the atmosphere of the service – no long sermon, quiet, reflective, and the mystery of God becoming a human being. Until then he had experienced the story of Christmas on a very horizontal level – presents, parties, food. It was then that he became aware of the vertical level of the story. Fast-forward to the Christmas house parties he was responsible for running in the Abbey in the early 1970s, where the mystery was the main thrust of the story as the programme developed. There was the quietness, the waiting, the expectation – the sheer size of the story as well, opening up everyone to a new experience of God – so huge, and yet so personal. ‘Mystery’ is sometimes confused with ‘magic’. George Mackay Brown, the great Orcadian poet, once wrote: ‘Transfigured by ceremony, the truths we could not otherwise endure come to us.’ 1 Mystery – and ceremony – are surely the right words to use about this season, emphasising that we are never in control of God – God cannot be manipulated. In the Gospel narrative, a very powerful emphasis is placed on this by the fact that it is the angel Gabriel who brings Mary the news that she is to be the mother of Jesus. In Hebrew angelology, Gabriel is normally the messenger of doom. Small wonder, then, that Mary is terrified when he appears! It was the Jewish Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel who wrote: ‘Whenever an angel says: “Be not afraid!” you’d better start worrying. A big assignment is on the way.’ 2 True – but along with the big assignment comes the big promise, that ‘nothing will be impossible with God’. It’s missing the point to ask ‘how did it
