“ Christ was born in a stable because there was no room for him in the inn..these are things a prisoner can understand better than anyone else. For him the Christmas story is glad tidings in a very real sense, & that faith gives him a part in the communion of saints a fellowship transcending the boundaries of time & space, & reducing months of confinement here to insignificance. On Christmas Eve I will be thinking of you all very much, & I want you to believe that I too shall have a few hours of real joy & that I am not allowing my troubles to get the better of me!” Words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Polish Lutheran pastor held in concentration camps in Poland & Germany, killed in Flossenburg Concentration Camp 9 April 1945. It echoes with our own Christmas Eve in lockdown..remembering our loved ones we would have wanted to spend Christmas, with some in self-isolation, some in tiered lockdown, some too afraid to come back to us..yet..prisoners in months of confinement.. ..& pray what do we want as we gather in this holy night, at this manger, to greet the infant Jesus? “a few hours of real joy & that I am not allowing my troubles, nor theirs, to get the better of me” we meet the new-born Christ here & now in each & every one of you..& “transcending the boundaries of time & space” in them.. ..their presence, your presence, His presence in you, pure gift..the incarnation of life love & truth.. “..listen, I bring you news of great joy” ; Lord have mercy “..a joy to be shared by the whole people..” ; Christ have mercy “..a Saviour has in the last few moments been born to you..” ; Lord have mercy May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins & bring us to everlasting life. Amen. I had to send that pair away-they do not pay & trade is trade & money too I say & yet that girl- she shivered in the doorway there & once she raised her eyes to mine & smiled I could have knelt I swear but some lout called for wine & broke the spell I turned them from my door & I did well Two merchants took the great room overhead that’s my policy I buy & sell & keep my pity for the dead & yet that girl, that girl, she turned & looked & fairer than before & went away as if she walked with emperors & was a queen & all the world was hers inn-keepers poem
“..& she laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn”..& all the world was hers.. ..a traditional Christmas Eve night here of a census, of stocktaking, where we count up joyfully proudly excitedly the number & the health of our flock; two herds this year, OL&SB & OL&HA, now one flock of swaledales & herdwicks; swaledales; sheep that flourish within drystone walls in the Dales, fed on green pastures, grazing contentedly, watched over lovingly by gentle shepherd & his dog..our parish-bred sheep fed watered protected & loved here in our parish..whereas herdwicks live out on fells Lake District; hardy tough breed, a fleece like doormat; thick impregnable to driving rain & snow in bleak winters..hardy self-reliant & with a unique built in radar called hefting..no fences no walls just thousands of acres of open moor..& yet their hefting instinct/conscience tells them when they are getting too far from their home ground & they turn back onto familiar territory..swaledales & herdwicks both practising Catholics..one lot here, the other lot out there, until Christmas when both herds called down to this Church, a safe haven, to spend a precious hour together..to be fed & watered appreciated thanked & celebrated..this extraordinary year we have “lost” a significant numbers of swaledales who have, by choice or necessity, left safety & risks of flock here, & went off in mid-March, onto the fells, to the freedom openness & choice of live streaming, or inevitability of becoming, sadly, lonely or alone sheep..many of our finest in our flock are those who are self-isolating due to covid or chronic ill-health, yet are front line disciples in their prayerful support for us..some of most lonely, are those who live in families, seemingly fully fit relationally..don’t be fooled; a husband in London, a wife & two children, suffers from loneliness..fortnightly he takes tube to Gatwick Airport observation galley, watches planes full of people taking off or landing..relates to them & feeling better, goes back home, puts on his mask again & his loneliness in family for next two weeks..shepherds innkeepers wise men, none of us exempt from forms of spiritual covid which leave us at risk of catching a virus far more life-threatening..first to be called to manger that first Christmas were the shepherds herdwicks “lived in fields & took it in turns to watch flocks by night” whilst swaledales were the temple attenders observant devout safe steady protected..midnight Mass of the Nativity but reluctant to venture out after dark to a stable experience up above Hawnby..value added of this our parish is that both are needed, both belong, both herds are heard..some months ago I was long way away from here someone recognised me if I didn’t recognise them & warmly smiled “I am one of your Herdwicks Fr Bede!” music carols to my ears..one of us..a treat a blessing to be among you all here this holy night at our manger..each year a Christmas story emerges last year; an email from a parishioner, a swaledale, to me “we are wondering if there is someone who could use a Christmas dinner, who might be along otherwise. We have a spare seat at our table ..love..” last week a parcel came for me, inside a print a picture for me to frame from my favourite book of 2019/20 “the boy the mole the fox & the horse” by Charlie Mackesy..if Fr Christmas has left you a book token this year, you can do no better than buy a copy.. herdwick life at its best..picture shows four of them together as horse lowers its head to be kissed by the boy & caption reads “thank you” a treasured gift this year, & like best of gifts, its value added doubles when you give it away to someone else, ideally herdwick to swaledale or swaledale to herdwick..now given to you from me “thank you for choosing to come to our manger this Christmas night, a Christmas like no other,& we are here together” a great Pope Francis word “together” to our young people, our lambs, full of energy & adventure, he said “may the Holy Spirit urge you on as you run this race. The Church needs your momentum, your intuitions, our faith. We need them! & when you arrive where we [swaledales] have not yet reached, have the patience to wait for us.” In other words when [not if] we approach gates of heavenly sheepfold, the Good Shepherd will look to welcome each of you in, will pause then ask you “where is Bede?” we go in together one body one flock, each of us precious loved & needed..always remember that from our Covid Christmas 2019..does Infant Jesus & the Risen Christ have favourites?..I think he does..the outsider the disowned the prostitute the prodigal son the covid victim & the migrant the wise men & the shepherds..”in so far as you failed to see me in one of these least of these my brothers & sisters of mine you failed to see me” in with picture of the boy the mole the fox & the horse, was a newspaper cutting..the teacher who sent it to me wrote on back of it “loved this..the answer to our prayers, a poor immigrant. No surprise really”..& two kisses.. it shows a family photo, Mum Dad grandma & three children..humble timid half smiles a sadness in it..the text reads “ a family of Turkish immigrants in Germany in 1970. The boy in yellow shirt & without shoes, [looking as if he’d be in Class 3 of StBenedict’s PS] is the scientist [Ugur Sahin] who developed the Pfizer/BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine.” In 1970, in Dec 2020 & on this Christmas Eve night, the answer for any immigrant hoping to enter our stable, our country of sanctuary, is “no room at the inn” & “the Christ child is born to you” Turkey & Germany..”a joy to be shared, shared by the whole people” shepherds immigrants herdwicks, & through our togetherness with them, in spite of our unworthiness, with us innkeepers.. the very good news of Christmas is that we are still undeservedly but mercifully included at the manger..how is that for a gift from the infant Jesus himself?.. no masks no spiritual distancing..come as you are, why stand alone & lonely?..swaledales innkeepers welcome to join the favourites, the herdwicks, at this Mass & at this our local spiritual vaccine hub.. [Midnight Mass Our Lady & St Benedict’s Ampleforth 2020 ; Lk 2;1-14]