This sermon was prepared by the Moderator of the Yorkshire region of the URC the Rev. Arnold Harrison.

 “And this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby….”  Luke 2: vs.12

We live in an image conscious age.  Everyone from David and Victoria Beckham to the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are conscious of there image and clearly spend both time and money (a lot of money) ensuring the image they want to create is the right one.

The press too play their part in the pictures they publish.  The image of Tony Blair, after his defeat in the Commons over the 90 Day Detention for Terrorists, was clear for all to see.  The press, without exception chose pictures of him looking very worried.  When Lord Lichfield died some papers chose an image of Royal Photographer with picture of Charles and Diana, while others preferred the glamour side of his work.

Countries too have an ‘image’.  Iraq is depicted as being made up entirely of bombed buildings and troops on every street.  France has suffered recently from an image that every street is littered with burning cars.

All of those are only partial images, for Tony Blair does still smile (I think!); Lord Lichfield was an accomplished photographer in many fields of work; Iraq is not a universal bombsite; nor was the entire country of France ablaze with cars.  But the fact remains we live in an image conscious world, where pictures starving children do produce a generous response, and videos of police mistreating someone bring a outcry.

It is in that image conscious world that we now draw near to Christmas.  I wonder what image people have of Christmas?  Left to the retail world it seems to consist entirely of presents for the children and an unlimited supply of food and drink.  Do not get me wrong I am no killjoy.  I too will give and receive gifts like the rest of you, and I will be surprised (maybe even disappointed) if the Christmas Lunch is not a little better than the usual meals we enjoy.

But the question I do want to ask, is “What sort of image of Christmas does the church present to the world?”  “What picture of Christ will people have?” if they turn up in any of our churches this Christmas time.

In the early days of the church, some 2000 years ago, there was very little emphasis on the birth of Jesus.  The emphasis was upon Easter, with a great deal of preparation during Lent.  The practice of celebrating the Nativity only emerged some time later, and even that changed in the centuries that followed.

Just look at your Christmas Cards, many of which will have old, classic paintings of the baby Jesus.  The very early ones are two dimensional, with Jesus being nursed by his mother.  The trouble is he looks more like a two year old, rather than two hours or even two days or weeks.  By the 1600’s he look like a real baby, all kicking legs, and little hands that grasp his mother’s finger.  Although he still keeps his halo!  More modern pictures vary enormously, as artists today put him into modern settings, or try to be realistic about the stable and the manger.

Even the baby Jesus has an image problem too. 

But his image problem lies not only in pictures that are painted, but in what is said about him.  What image do we create by the way in which we talk about Jesus?

It is no longer enough to simply offer that magical figure.  A baby with a halo will not do.  Unless the image of the baby Jesus speaks to women and men in a way that is relevant to them and their lives today, then we cannot blame them for treating him as little different from Father Christmas, whom we happy pack away with the Christmas decorations once the celebrations are over.

So what image of Jesus can we offer this Christmas time?

There is no denying that the Christmas card image, a baby all pretty and sweet and a little unreal (why do we never see Jesus crying?) is there in abundance.  Even though the story is about a draughty, dirty and unhygienic stable, and a teenage mother frightened at having to have her first baby many miles from home and without her own mother on hand, we prefer the nice picture. 

The truth about the image of Christmas is that this baby has something to say to us and the way we live our lives; something to say to us about our own image; something to say to us about the lives we live each day in the real world of Iraq bombings, French Riots and Global Terrorism.  For that child went on to grow into a man who, by his words and deeds, challenged everything we do and everything we say.  He challenged the way we live our lives, the way we use this world, the way we treat one another.  He spoke about justice for all, about freedom for the oppressed, about the needs of the poor.  He talked about those in power, those who have wealth, those who can change the way the world is. 

But more than that, he lived in such a way that he showed that what is wrong in the world can be challenged and changed.  By his own example he showed what it means to live according to what you believe is important.  He died because of what he believed and because of the way he challenged the way the world lives.   But he rose again to show, once and for all, that in the end good could not be defeated by evil, that God will prevail, that God’s will is done.

So what image will we take with us into Christmas this year?  Will we have ‘no room’ for the Christ-Child that challenges the way we live and the sort of world we have created.  Will we prefer to stay with the image of a harmless baby lying in the straw? 

I very much hope that you will enjoy celebrating the Christmas holiday.  I hope that you will be blessed in many ways.  But I have to warn you that if you look into the manger, what you will see there is a child that could change your life forever.

May the joy of Christmas touch your hearts and lives, may the peace of Christmas dwell with you into the coming year, and may the child in the manger go with you, as you discover something more than a beautiful baby. 

May you also find the man Jesus who is your Lord and Saviour.

Amen.