Three Ships

Homily for Christmas Day at St Mary’s, Pembroke Dock

“I saw three ships come sailing by on Christmas Day in the morning.”

When I was asked to come to Pembroke Dock to celebrate Mass this Christmas, I wondered if I would see any ships sailing by the harbour, and it reminded me of this traditional yet mysterious Christmas Carol. Why would anyone see three ships on Christmas Day? Certainly not in Bethlehem, which is 20 miles from the nearest coastline! So what might these three ships represent? As I prayed about it, I was led to the gifts of faith, hope and charity.

The gift of faith is the gift of knowing that God is real. That’s what we’re celebrating here today. God loved us so much that He did not wish to remain apart from us in heaven, but stepped down into the messiness of life on the earth He had created. The baby born today was fully God yet fully human. This is why one of his names is Emannuel, which means “God is With Us”. And it is because God is with us that we worship – that’s our first ship today. For the four weeks of Advent we have refrained from singing Glory to God in the Highest, but at the start of today’s Mass we once again joined in the song of the Christmas angels. When we pray the Creed in a few moments we will kneel down as we declare that God became flesh and dwelt among us; this too is worship. The shepherds came to the manger to offer their worship; we have come to this church to offer ours. And a manger is a place where food is placed – God wants to be with us so much he feeds us in the form of the Bread of Heaven. When we take time to receive the gift of Holy Communion, or make an act of spiritual communion, we truly worship God.

Our second ship is less welcome, for it is hardship. We are living through difficult times – covid, Ukraine, inflation, the cost of living. It is to get us through the challenges of life that God offers us a second gift, the gift of hope – the gift of being confident that things will get better. God does not always protect us from hardship; the baby whose birth we honour this morning would have to go into exile in Egypt and later be whipped, crowned with thorns and nailed to a cross. Yet we have a promise in Scripture that God turns all things to the good for those who love Jesus. Sometimes healings and miracles come in this life; the greatest hope, though, is that our earthly life is only an appetiser for a life of happiness in heaven which never ends. If we choose to follow the teachings of baby Jesus, we will be safe, because that very name, Jesus, means “the God who saves”.

Faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love, sometimes called charity – the selfless love which puts the needs of others before ourselves. It is in the Christmas season of goodwill to all people that we are reminded of so many stories – in fiction and in real life – of people who put others before themselves. In times of stretched finances we cannot always give generously from our wallets, but we can always give generously from our hearts. A smile, a kind word, a few moments of our time: if we cannot afford to give anything else, we can at least give these things freely. Another of our Christmas carols celebrates Good King Wenceslaus, known for his kindness to poor citizens. Maybe it is no coincidence that his royal coat of arms featured three ships. Our third ship is friendship – the friendship God has shown to us, and the friendship we are called to offer to others.

Sometimes friendship can be strained. How many of us will go from this Mass to eat with members of our families we may not see at other times of year? We may not agree with all of the decisions made by our relatives and loved ones. We may be reminded of old grudges and resentments. But God is offering us a gift this Christmas – the gift of letting go. If you know there is someone you must spend time with today or in the days to come who makes you uneasy, come to the manger and speak to Jesus about them. Does the behaviour of someone you know offend you? Another person might try to give offense, but it is in your control whether or not to take offense. Is there some past wrong you find it hard to forgive? Forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling. It’s a choice not to punish the other person, but to treat them with goodwill.

At every Mass, shortly before Holy Communion, the priest prays “Look not on our sins but the faith of your Church.” Will the Lord see enough faith in this church that people choose to forgive? To forgive is not to excuse or agree with bad behaviour; it is to love a person despite the choices they have made in their life. If you cannot do that by your own strength, come to the child in the manger and ask for his strength to love and to forgive this Christmas. There is enough hardship in the world without any of us bringing more of it sailing by.

“I saw three ships come sailing by on Christmas Day in the morning.”

Worship. Hardship. Friendship. This Christmas Day morning, there are two ships to get on board and one to endure until it passes. We are not alone; our God is with us, he has come to save us, and will not rest until he welcomes us into heaven. Other Christmas gifts might be unwrapped in a few moments, but unwrapping the gift of Christ will take a lifetime. So many things are new for us this Christmas – a new Bishop in Menevia, a new King making a speech this afternoon, a new Prime Minister. But above and beyond these worldly things, receive anew the gift of Baby Jesus – worship him, and renew your friendship with everyone you meet. Merry Christmas, one and all.

The Choice to Rejoice

Homily at Sion Community Family Day for the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year A.

Let the wilderness rejoice! Fear not, rejoice and be glad! Rejoice in the Lord always!

You don’t have to look far in the Bible to find an invitation to rejoice. God’s people are called to be a people of praise, a people who rejoice in what God has done for them.

The trouble is, we don’t always feel like rejoicing.

There’s a temporary joy which comes from an emotional experience. What happens when your football team wins a match? What happens when one of your children gets a prize at school? No explanation is needed for the smile on your face and the song in your heart on a day like that.

But even if you’re an England fan, I am daring to invite you to rejoice this morning.

Christian rejoicing is not born of a temporary emotion but a lasting decision. Each one of us can make the choice to rejoice. Even when your team has been knocked out of the World Cup – in fact, ESPECIALLY when your team has just lost a big match – you are invited to praise God. This is why the Church’s year has a rhythm of feasts and solemnities, days when we are invited to make a sepcial effort to praise God, regardless of how you’re feeling. Today is one such day, Gaudate Sunday, Rejoicing Sunday!

One of the things we’re blessed with in Sion Community is the talent of so many musicians. When we come together to worship, we choose to sing. That’s a deliberate choice – it’s part of our choice to rejoice. And it’s one of the ways we make the joy of heaven present on earth.

Music is part of the story of the first Christmas: angels appeared in the heights, singing Glory to God in the highest! During Advent we take a short break from the Gloria, but only so we can rejoice all the more on Christmas night when we sing it anew. Although the Bible doesn’t say so, we can make a good guess that when shepherds were watching their flocks by night, they sang and played pipes to pass the time. We read in the Bible that Jesus and his disciples sang psalms at the Last Supper. There are plenty of songs in the New Testament too – most famously Our Lady’s Magnificat but also words in St Paul’s letters which the scholars think were hymns sung by the first Christians. One of the psalms invites us to “Come, ring out your joy to the Lord our God.” This is a daily invitation!

John the Baptist wanted to rejoice in who Jesus was, but hesitated. Was Jesus the long-expected Messiah, or must they wait for someone else? Jesus answers John’s question with a message about how the blind were receiving their sight and the lame enabled to walk. John heard, though he did not see, and believed. For us, too, if we move among joyful Christians we will hear many stories of healing miracles but might not witness a healing with our own eyes. Like John the Baptist, we may have to settle for the evidence of our ears, and let that be enough to cause us to rejoice. It is painful when stories of healing exist alongside our own sickness or news of the death of a loved one, and yet we hear just enough of the news of God’s presence that we still dare to rejoice. The most extreme example is the prophet Ezekiel; the Lord warned him that when his beloved wife died, he was not to mourn but to wear the garments of someone celebrating good news. The Lord will ask few of us to do that, but all of us to celebrate even on those Sundays when our hearts are heavy.

There’s a prayer within Mass, where I say to God, as priest of this community, “Look not on our sins but on the faith of your church.” O God, don’t dwell on our failures, but on our trust in you. In the same way, I must say as priest to this community: “Let us not be downcast or dwell on our sorrows. When we gather for Mass, we’re here to celebrate life.” When our thoughts are racing with questions, saying “Why doesn’t God do something about these outrages?” it’s my job to remind us that God has done something about it. God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but shall have eternal life. As Zephaniah put it, “The Lord has repealed your sentence.” Jesus walked among us not to rule this earth with an iron rod, but to fling open the gates of heaven.

You might know a famous song from the musical, The King and I, where the English governess, Anna, is teaching one of her children to keep his spirits up. “If you feel afraid, whistle a happy tune.” But then she realises what effect the tune is having on herself:

The result of this deception
Is very strange to tell
For when I fool the people
I fear I fool myself as well.

Sometimes, we sing because we’re happy. Sometimes we sing – or whistle – or smile – because we want to make ourselves feel happy. And what’s true for earthly happiness is even more appropriate for divinely ordained rejoicing. We gather every Sunday to sing Alleluia, Holy Holy, Hosanna, because we know the message is true. Whether we come to worship in the best of moods or bearing the greatest of burdens, we are called to choose to rejoice. Singing for joy is always an appropriate response to God’s love for us, whatever is happening in the world around us.

The choice to rejoice is not just a choice for Sundays in church. It’s a choice we can make every morning – indeed the Latin name for the morning prayer of the church is LAUDS, which means Praises. It’s a choice we can make as a family – you could sing a song of praise to God every evening. You don’t need to be a talented musician. These days you can even find a worship song on YouTube with lyrics and sing along to that. And if you have small children there are worship channels devoted to simple songs which they can join in with too.

So today, Rejoicing Sunday, make teh choice to rejoice. Choose to rejoice at this Mass. Choose to rejoice every morning. Choose to rejoice as a family. And when you do, the wildnerness of your down days will blossom with the living water of praise. Make the choice to rejoice, and the Lord will raise you up!

For further reflection, check out these words of St Augustine!