My theme for this December magazine article is Serendipity. It's a word that originates from a place that I recently visited - Sri Lanka, or, as it used to be known in the days of the British Empire - Ceylon, or, as the ancient Persians used to call it - Serendip. You will remember that Sri Lanka hit the headlines a few Christmases ago when much of the island was devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami. I found it to be a delightful place to visit - a pearl or a tear drop in the Indian Ocean which has often been likened to paradise. I stayed at the Mount Lavinia Hotel just south of the capital city Colombo - a place which gave a taste of what it must have been like in colonial days. The highlight of the tour was definitely a trip into the central highlands to visit the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. Not far from this Buddhist shrine is the Anglican church of St. Paul's which wouldn't look out of place in any English village. In the days of the British Empire the Prayer Book followed the flag. My wife Jenny's clerical forebears used to teach at the Theological College in Kandy in days long ago. So this tour was for me full of serendipity.
Serendipity as you may know means making happy, unexpected, surprises or, sometimes, making happy, unexpected discoveries.
I hope that many of you will have moments of serendipity this Christmas as you open your presents although the reality is that as we grow older we are less likely to experience happy, unexpected surprises. We tend to have a pretty clear idea of what is going to happen next - and by and large we prefer it that way. But, Christmas is full of serendipity. I always feel that as we approach Christmas each year, we should do so with a prayer that the familiarity of the story will not dull us to the wonder of it. I am afraid that combined with the pressures of writing cards, buying food and finding presents, we often lose sight of the true glory and the real wonder of the occasion.
The Christmas story is indeed a wonderful story full of serendipity.
What an extraordinary and totally unexpected experience it must have been for the teenage Mary to have a visit from God's messenger, Gabriel - and what a miraculous thing to be told: you will become pregnant while maintaining your virginity. The shepherds were older people, probably completely set in their ways and pattern of life. Suddenly, serendipity! Light, angels, song, instructions - and for their part, obedience, inclusion in God's plan - and wonder. The wise men thought they knew it all, but there was serendipity for them. They knew they were looking for a king and so took their eye off the star and went to the palace. Subsequently they tuned back to follow the star - and found a saviour, the king of kings, in poverty and humility - God's serendipity. And there are many more such moments in the Christmas narrative - the generous inn-keeper, Mary, Joseph and, a little later, the elderly Anna and Simeon all had their moments of serendipity, God surprising earth with heaven.
That great Christian apologist - C.S. Lewis wrote a series of Narnia books - two of which have recently been made into excellent films.
In the most famous one a group of children are evacuated to a country house. One day during a game of hide and seek the youngest Lucy goes into a wardrobe and discovers - serendipity - that it leads into a different land - a land outside of time and space as they - and we - know it. When she tells the others about it, they are sceptical. Her brother Edmund subsequently visits Narnia but for his own reasons denies this and so the matter is forgotten about for a time - until one day when they feel the need to hide after breaking a window - they all fall through the back of the wardrobe into Narnia - serendipity! Their first thoughts are that they must get back to where they came from, but gradually they become involved in the life of Narnia. The land has been taken over by forces which are suppressing the people. Narnia is a soulless, unhappy place where there is always winter but no Christmas. As sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, the children are recruited to fight to free Narnia from its oppressive rulers. What emerges as the story goes on is that it is no moment of coincidence that has brought the children to Narnia - but part of a plan or prophecy which the Narnian people were waiting to see fulfilled. And so the children play their crucial role in seeing the return of Aslan. One of the great moments in the book and the film is when the children say that they do not wish to be involved. They say: 'It can't be us, it must be a mistake; we're from Finchley'. In response they are presented with more information about the prophecies and realise they must stay and play their part. They said, 'Yes'. And their presence makes the difference: evil is defeated and Spring, warmth, life and laughter return to Narnia.
In the Bible story, when Mary was approached by Gabriel, she did say 'But I am not married'. However after listening further to the angel she accepted what God wanted her to do. She said 'Yes' to God. We do not know much about the shepherds and the wise men as individuals. We do not know what misgivings they may have had as they were called to play their part in God's plan. What we do know is that they responded to their moment of serendipity in a way that was positive - they said 'Yes' to God - and in a way that brought them great joy and blessing and a part in one of the great events of history. And of course, all of this too had been prophesied. There are many references in the Old Testament to the coming of Jesus and the events we celebrate at Christmas. The Bible is full of it, as indeed it is full of so much that is relevant to our own day and our own lives and our own futures. On the whole we prefer not to take too much notice: we get on with our own business, we keep our heads down, we make our plans, we draw up our lists of what we feel we need to do and we do our best to turn our plans into reality. And then suddenly comes the moment of serendipity, the unexpected moment when God breaks through into our lives: via a friend or a personal tragedy or a television programme, a film, a novel or maybe even in church. God breaks through and says to us: 'This is the way for you; walk in it.' And we can say 'It can't be us, it must be a mistake; we're from Essex'. But if we choose to respond - and God always leaves us choices - if we choose to respond - to say 'Yes' to God - then we too will be able to enjoy the song of the angels - a song of God's peace and goodwill for those on whom his favour rests.
As the Prologue from John's gospel puts it:
'But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons (and daughters) of God, even to them that believe on his Name'
May each of us experience moments of God's serendipity during the coming year and may we know how to respond, how to say Yes to God.
With Christmas Blessings,
Father David