(Advent 2001)

Some years ago while living in Europe I was quite taken by a song that hit the top of the charts in Britain. Interestingly the name of the group was "the Christians" although I can't remember whether that described their religious affiliation or was an ironic use of the name. I do remember well the title of the song - it was called "Ideal world". The chorus went "in the ideal world, we'd be free to choose, in the ideal world we're no longer born to lose, in the ideal world we can start again, we can put an end to suffering." It's a song that is appropriate at all times isn't it? I don't think we have at any time in history reached such a utopia, such an ideal world. We are far more conscious of the reality brought to us every day through our newspapers, TV screens and radios: reality is a world torn by war and conflict, where many are not free to choose even the most simple aspects of their lives, where the majority are born to lose out in life. And in fact the Christians sang about "my real world" in the same song. The song went on "in the ideal world we're free to choose but in my real world you can bet we're going to lose. In the ideal world we could start again, but my real world hangs on the colour of your skin."

And yet the chorus dreaming of an ideal world kept interrupting the song - holding out the hope that seems in the cold hard light of reality to be beyond reach.

Every year Christmas comes and interrupts the reality of our world. Every year there is a new hope born as we sing songs of good will and peace. It's the time of year when celebrities volunteer time and music companies waive fees to create charity benefit concerts and albums. I imagine armed forces in Afghanistan will stop offensives for Christmas Day as soldiers have in other wars at this time of the year.

The verses that were read from Isaiah could be a song called "Ideal world" also. Those verses form a song of hope and joy that interrupted the reality of the book of First Isaiah. To give a bit of background: most people view the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament as a compilation of three main sections, each from different periods in Israel's history. The first thirty nine chapters are set in a troublesome time of Israel's history, in the years before the nation of Judah fell to the Babylonians. The overall message of First Isaiah is one of "relentless judgement to a hardened people", with the prophet seeing that the end was near for a nation that consistently refused to live up to its side of the covenant with the God of justice and peace. The poor were being exploited, the temple was spouting forth religion but living a lie, the people were morally corrupt. And yet in the midst of oracles of doom and judgement comes this astonishing interruption: a song of joy: the promise of a new world full of beauty, life and laughter. Here in the middle of First Isaiah is a declaration that joy will rule the universe. Unexpected but Good News to a people under judgement.

And what about the gospel? We read this story with stained glass tinted spectacles, softened by years of Sunday school children's pageants, cute cartoon shepherds with their sheep on greeting cards and syrupy carols. In the version we are used to the Shepherds are scrubbed pink and clean and the sheep look like drifts of cotton wool on the hillside. It's an ideal Christmas world. Let me burst the bubble and tell you about the reality behind this story. Throughout Israel's history in fact shepherding was a shady profession. This is the irony behind figures such as Moses and David becoming great leaders, even we are told, shepherds of their people. Psalm 23 romanticises the profession for us too, but definitely by first century occupied Palestine shepherds had reached the bottom of the professional ladder. They were hired help under contract to absentee landowners. Their pay was meagre, their reputation shot as they resorted to theft and dishonesty to eke out a living. They were unable to observe ceremonial washings and unable to attend worship or observe religious customs because of their night work. They were the sinners of society, in the same class as ass drivers, dung collectors, gamblers, tanners, doctors, butchers, pedlars, tax collectors and publicans. (yes, doctors were amongst that list! Tell that to the next doctor you see!) Shepherds were outcasts: despised, dirty and smelly. No ideal world for them.

But the gospel tells us their night and their lives were interrupted by an angelic message. I bring you good tidings of great joy. To you is born this day a saviour. Unexpected but Good News to a group of men rejected by their society. And what a vision they had to share! The message that God is there for each of us, no matter what our station in life.

One of the scripts in the book "Cloth for the Cradle" by the Wild Goose Worship group imagines a young apprentice shepherd trying to explain the vision the next day.

"It's kind of difficult to explain Mr Cohen. And I can well understand why you're angry. I mean to say. I would be angry too if I were in your position. But I can assure you its' not the kind of thing I do often. I always stay on the job. But what I said is perfectly true. you can ask Samuel or Nathaniel. admittedly it does seem a bit incredible. I mean there were noises in the sky. musical noises.. and we did go to the village - just the three of us.. and there was a baby. a boy.. and we weren't drunk, just a bit emotional.. OK that doesn't explain where the sheep got to. Yes, I know its highly unusual for Mr Goldberg the butcher to be selling lamb at such bargain prices this time of the year.. But Mr Cohen, there are some things in life more important than sheep!"

The good news for the shepherds was that God was offering life to all, even those despised by others. Maybe the good news for us in comfortable middle class homes in Australia is that human life is more valuable than what we possess, more important than what lies under our Christmas tree.

Both texts: Isaiah's prophecy and Luke's gospel are infused with a message of joy. Someone very wise once said that there is a vast difference between Happiness & Joy. Happiness is what you feel when you think you've got what you want. This is why nobody is happy for anything more than a fleeting moment. Joy, on the other hand, is what we feel when we discover we already have what we need. So Joy is an appropriate attitude to surround the Christmas story: God has given to us what we need - a saviour who is one of us, who knows our every weakness, who walks with us through the good and bad in life. The God who is the source of life and love has crossed the distance to come to us through Jesus. A deep and abiding joy is the result of knowing God's presence in our world, and in our lives, no matter what our circumstances are.

JRR Tolkein is a name on many lips this Christmas time. He was a writer of profound imagination: who created vast worlds of beasts and birds, distant shores & starry skies, quests for beauty and truth fraught with perilous journeying. But it is this author who said the Christmas story launches the great story of Jesus that begins and ends in joy. He once said "to reject this great story leads either to sadness or to wrath". We are invited to share in the joy that the story of Christmas offers us and our world.

As Christians we are to be aware of the real world. We are of no earthly use if we close our eyes to the reality of life around us, but the difference is that we don't give into the luxury of cynicism or despair. We are to be the body of Christ, continuing his mission to interrupt the real world with the Kingdom of God. We are to keep alive throughout the year the Christmas message of new hope and great joy! Our place is to work alongside all of who are motivated by the dreams and ideal vision of Isaiah, and those who are inspired by the person of Jesus.

But can this ideal world ever impact on our real world? Can dreams ever become reality?

I think in fact if we look for them we can find many transformed dreams, many small miracles. In my own family's experience we have seen life-threatening disease controlled with modern medicine and technology. Last week I was listening to the breakfast show on the local ABC radio, and listeners were invited to ring in nominations for "local heroes". I was moved to hear nominations for a woman who has fed homeless youth in Civic for many years, and another for a nurse working in a Cambodian refugee camp. I also read of a group of three friends meeting in a lounge room in Bowral to ask themselves if anything can be done to stem the tide of anti-refugee sentiment, and a few days later over 500 turned up at a meeting in support of the newly formed "Rural Australians for Refugees". When we lived in South Africa at the end of the 1980s we learned some of the freedom songs that were commonly sung by black and coloured South Africans: songs like "Freedom is coming" and "open Botha, we are a-knocking. Release Mandela, our leader". Dreams that within a few short months became reality.

The Australian pastor and poet Bruce Prewer has reflected on the passage we read from Isaiah in the light of our world's experiences now. As he thinks about verses describing the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the lame walking he believes he can see that vision becoming real in our world today. He says:

• Joy to the people who make the bionic ear.
• Joy to those who create the new generation of artificial limbs.
• Joy to those are by their deeds are good news to the poor of the world.
• Joy to people who, like the Fred Hollows Foundation, give sight to the blind in many third-world countries.
• Joy to those who cure lepers, nurse those with aids, or immunise against disease.
• Joy to those who dedicate their lives to medical research.
• Joy to those who toil in the cause of justice and peace.
• Joy to those who bring hope to the scene of human misery.
• Joy to those who spread the Gospel that the new age has been launched by Jesus. That we have authority over all that defaces and oppresses humankind. And that the promises will be inexorably fulfilled.
• Joy to those who in the face of our mortality, proclaim that nothing in life or death, earth or heaven, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

After all, isn't it dreams and visions and interruptions that are the message of Christmas? They come at every stage. Mary's plans to be married are interrupted by a vision of an angel with a surprising message. Joseph's plans to end the betrothal quietly are interrupted by a dream assuring him of God's hand. Shepherds are interrupted on a quiet night by dazzling multitudes of heavenly hosts. Wise men are interrupted by heavenly signs of great import. The Israelites' expectation of a messiah was interrupted by the cry of a tiny infant. And the story itself is an interruption: a breaking in to our real world with a new vision, a new reality, a new hope, a new joy. God sharing God's own dream with God's own people. God bringing a message of joy, reminding us that we already have what we need: God's presence in our world and our lives. The Christmas message is an interruption into the reality of our lives - an interruption of joy, love, peace, and hope.

Dreams and visions, whether they be messages from angels or words of prophecy, are invitations to imagine an alternative world. Our real world doesn't have to be the picture that shapes us. God calls us to imagine an ideal world, a world where those most needy are transformed (the blind, the lame, the deaf). A world where those most despised are invited to the party (the shepherds, the prostitutes, the tax collectors).

But not only the physically sick and the materially poor. We too who have plenty of resources in life are invited to open our eyes, open our ears, hear the message anew, loosen our tongues to share the good news we know about. We too are invited to share the dream and be agents of transformation. We too are given the message of good news that God coming to each one of us, to offer joy whatever our circumstances:

For all the commercialism that surrounds Christmas, this season still crackles with wonder. It is the season where we are encouraged to dream again. To imagine an ideal world. To have our real world interrupted with stories of hope and songs of joy. Let us be ready to welcome such interruptions!

Last updated: 6 January 2002