Alle Jahre wieder

 

A Sermon preached on Christmas II January 3, 2021 at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden and at the Christophskirche in Mainz

Jeremiah 31:7-14, Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a, Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

There is a lovely German Christmas carol called “Alle Jahre wieder” or in English, every year again. 

Alle Jahre wieder kommt das Christuskind

Auf die Erde nieder, wo wir Menschen sind.

Kehrt mit seinem Segen ein in jedes Haus,

Geht auf allen Wegen mit uns ein und aus.

Steht auch mir zur Seite still und unerkannt,

Daß es treu mich leite an der lieben Hand.

Every year, the text tells us, the Christ child comes down to earth to be with us, to bless us, to accompany us, and to guide us: again and again. And every year we hear the angel say, “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

But sadly, the episode we heard today – the flight to and return from Egypt – is also part of the Christmas story every year, as is the bit that was left out, verses 16 – 18, the slaughter of the innocent children of Bethlehem:

“When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

This section is read on December 28, what we also call the Feast of the Holy Innocents.

Regrettably, it seems that not only the good of Christmas is repeated each year, but also the bad, the evil all done in what was a vain attempt to stop the good coming into the world, to stop God coming into the world. Herod saw Jesus as a threat to his power and wanted him dead, just as the Temple authorities and Romans occupying powers did 30+ years later. The first time, Jesus’ parents fled with him to Egypt to save his life – as we just heard. The last time, his mission on earth completed, Jesus resisted the temptation to flee and instead waited to be taken prisoner in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Matthew includes this episode for another reason: Egypt has a symbolic meaning for our Jewish brothers and sisters who were the first Christians. Egypt stands for refuge, the place Israel found refuge in in Joseph’s day when there was a great famine, and here the Holy Family finds refuge while Herod rules. Egypt also stands for oppression; it was the place Israel escaped from and were then led back to the promised land by Moses. Those are the connections we are supposed to make here too: Jesus stands for a new exodus from human oppression, Jesus is a new and greater Moses, Jesus is the son called "out of Egypt.”

So, this episode makes the Jewish experience of exile, living as a stranger in a strange land, part of Jesus’ identity and part of our identity as Christians too.

I’m certain most of you remember Moria, the name of the refugee camp on Lesbos that was burned down last year. But how many of you recognise the name Kara Tepe? That is the name of the new camp that was built to replace Moria. It was supposed to be better. There will be no more Morias, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said back in September: “Conditions in Moria, both before and after the fire, were unacceptable. Men, women and children living in overcrowded camps with poor sanitation and little access to health care.” I hope she meant what she said, but she – and we – did not achieve it. According to Caritas International conditions are worse than before – there is not enough food and water, there are not enough showers, and toilets. There has been severe flooding, and an infestation of rats. This is not due to incompetence and is not because we do not have enough money. As this last year has shown, we have a lot of money to spend if we really see a need, if it benefits us! No, in part this is a deliberate policy, not to do anything good, not to improve the horrific conditions so that they act has a deterrent. But as it turns out, closing borders, scrapping official sea rescue missions, preventing private initiatives, and not dealing with people’s cases in a fair, transparent, and timely manner, does not act as a deterrent. According to a recent report from the UNHCR we have more refugees than ever before, around 10 million more than 2019. Refugees are fleeing from things, not to things: from danger, from persecution, from war, from famine, from hopelessness.

What do we do? Is this just part of a pattern - Alle Jahre wieder – that can’t be avoided, and that we just have to accept, something we can really change and just need to manage? I find it ironic that in both English and German the word for someone who does good has taken on a negative connotation: Gutmensch or do gooder has become an insult, people whose actions to help others are exaggerated and whose motivation can be questioned. Instead, we try and accommodate the viewpoint of those who do not want to help at all. To use a recent example from Bosnia, we leave refugees to freeze in buses because a mob will not let them be moved to a disused army base. And we had similar cases in Germany in 2015 and 2016 and we allow Hungary and Poland and Austria to use similar tactics at a country level. This is simply wrong.

Every year it seems the Christ child is born anew into a world that is different, but which hasn’t changed. There are different problems, different plagues, different issues, different wars, the camps have different names, but at the core we are dealing with the same darkness, trouble and strife. This is wrong. Jesus came to bring light, hope, and change. Our world can be changed: it already has been changed by the birth of a child who embodies our unconditionally loving God and calls on us to follow and imitate him, to welcome Jesus into our hearts and to allow him to bless us, to accompany us, to guide us and to change us.

“Alle Jahre wieder,” every year again an ecumenical Bible initiative chooses the so-called Jahreslosung – a Bible quote and watchword. The word for 2021, which was already picked a couple of years ago, is taken from Luke 6:36: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Let us make this the motto of our lives – not just today, not just this year, but again and again. be merciful, be do gooders, Gutmenschen, in the proper sense of the word – what else after all are Christians but those who bring good news and live accordingly: alle Jahre wieder.

Amen.