22/12/2017

Good morning. Nearly there. One more heave. It’s just hours now before all the bells in heaven will be pealing. The message once delivered to the prophets and the apostles, the message that went viral long before the internet came into being, is about to ring out yet again. It’ll announce the birth of a Saviour who’s won millions of followers without knowing a thing about twitter and friends galore without ever having a Face Book page.

In just a few minutes’ time, Radio Four listeners will hear a delightful little item called “Tweet of the Day.” It’s birds of course though these days one or two of us might have thought it was something else. Some people are dreaming of a White House twitter just like the twitters used to be. But the message of this season, concise and punchy yet avoiding the cheap and nasty uses of jibe or sarcasm, lends itself brilliantly to twitter. Just think of the words of John the Baptist: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” There’s a promise filled with hope and consisting of a mere 46 characters. Or again “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth,” which comes in at 55 characters. And, finally (though there are many more I could have quoted) “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to all people.” A dream and a vision of how things could be, all put forward in 56 characters. These are tweets to beat all tweets, and have been retweeted again and again down centuries and are still reverberating round the world all these years later.

Rekindle our faith, dear Lord; fill our hearts with hope; let love rise like a tide and sweep us all up with its energy and transforming power. Amen.