Here is Rev Helen’s sermon from Wednesday 13 December 2023:
Today the Church of England’s calendar commemorates St Lucy of Sicily who was a Christian Martyr, I don’t know if many of you have heard of her, I confess I hadn’t until I saw her name today when looking at the lectionary for today.
Lucy was born in the Roman Empire during a period when the emperor was trying to re establish the old Roman gods. Just to put this in context the Roman gods were a big part of the life of the people in the empire, they ruled peoples lives and how they lived, they had traditional gods but also those who were elevated to that status like some of the emperors after they had died which is a strange concept, it’s like worshiping the Queen’s as a god because she’s died.
The story goes that Lucy was a wealthy woman and (as was the case for many women at that time) was betrothed to a husband. Lucy realised that she was only wanted for her money so to spite him she gave away her money and property to the poor and her betrothed husband wasn’t to pleased about this, he felt that what she had given away belonged to him and this lead to Lucy being charged with being a Christian and executed in 304. Lucy stood up to her husband by giving away all her possessions to the poor.
We are in the season of Advent, Christmas preparations will now be in full swing I’m sure and all the things to buy:
- Food – Lots of it, which results (or a least in my mums) of not daring to eat anything for weeks without checking, that’d before getting started on the leftovers.
- The piles of presents and gifts to be bought and wrapped.
- The tree, the decorations and the lights!
When you look at it like this, that is a lot of excess and with things like social media and some peoples competitive nature to outdo each other it can really get crazy. As I’ve said before Christmas has probably taken a turn they couldn’t even imagine 2000+ years ago.
Look at how Jesus lived, he didn’t have money or an income, he relied on charity, he stayed at peoples homes and relied on others for his meals and food during his ministry. Jesus did also have digs at rich people in the bible. We have the rich man who is reluctant to give his possessions to the poor, to which Jesus gives that statement that it is harder for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to get through the eye of a needle (and the many different interpretations of this phrase there are). Jesus also told parables against the rich, the rich fool who doesn’t have enough storage for all grain so decided to rip them down and build bigger ones to which God’s response is ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you! Those who store up treasure for themselves are not rich towards God’ The Richman and Lazarus, where Lazarus who is poor and ignored gets to heaven and the Richman goes down to Hell. All these sickening shows of wealth and indulgence are obsessive and perhaps this is the only way to guarantee that place by doing as Jesus says, give everything you have to the poor and follow him, I don’t think that is exact what Jesus is saying. I think what he is saying is don’t store up what you have extra or in excess, if you can afford to give something away then you should do that. He didn’t go for the rich fool for storing his goods, it was the building of the bigger barns he objected to and the rich man was being tested to see his willingness to give away.
Maybe this Christmas, we could buy a little less food, or any extra give to charity or a food bank. Maybe all those presents, give one to a charity or make a donation to make sure no child has to go without at least one present from Father Christmas. We don’t have to go to the extremes that Lucy did but I’m sure we can all be a little generous this Christmas, especially when there are so many people who are struggling at this time with the cost of living and energy crisis’ that we hear so much about. Just to go without a little to help those who have nothing.
In the psalm today it says Let not the foot of the proud come near me nor the hand of the wicked push me aside, don’t let your pride make you go beyond your limits or try to un necessarily compete with others but think about what really matters this year, not going to that excess, beyond what we need and think about those who aren’t as lucky as we are. Perhaps channel Lucy this Christmas and what we don’t need, give to those who do, I’m sure that’s what Jesus would want of his followers when celebrating his birth. Amen
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 