Call the Midwife Christmas Message 2021 Wollaston Congregational Church Scripture: Luke 2:1-7 Picture by Lane Connors On Christmas Eve we always read the story of Jesus’ birth from the gospel of Luke, because Luke offers us the most human details. These are details of location, circumstances, and a particular moment in history. The whole world is changed because one particular child was born in Bethlehem. This child is born in the same way everyone who ever lived came into the world. This is the way the Holy One chooses to come to be with us at Christmas. When Mary and Joseph arrive in the little town of Bethlehem, there is chaos. It is not still or silent, and no way is it calm. The town is still as small and insignificant as the day when the shepherd boy, David, was called in from tending the sheep many generations before. A great family has descended from David’s house since those days, and so very many have returned to comply with the rules of the Roman census. Joseph brings his new young bride, Mary, who is pregnant. They seek out shelter, but this should not be a problem. Joseph has family in Bethlehem, after all, cousins, aunts and uncles. They will be happy to accommodate the carpenter who had migrated north to work in the new Roman city. We’ll imagine that great aunt Miriam and great uncle Rubin take the young couple in, along with other cousins who have arrived in town. Miriam embraces Mary, and looks down at her belly. “She is going to deliver while she is here,” she thinks, “I must notify the midwife.” They set the young couple up, next to cousins Judah and Ruth whose three children are bedded down around them. Rubin laughs at the sight of all the relatives crammed into their one room. “We should set up as an Inn, Miriam, we could make some good money.” Perhaps that night or the next night, but some time during their stay, Mary begins to feel labor pains. Miriam takes the young couple aside, “you can’t have your baby in here, it’s too crowded. I’ll take you down to the animals’ room.” They gather their bundles and bedrolls. Mary has brought swaddling for the new infant. She clumsily negotiates the rough incline to the animals’ nighttime quarters beneath the house. Miriam has put out fresh clean hay. They will have the company and the body heat of the household livestock: a goat and her kid, a few chickens, the donkey resting after his long journey. Once they are settled, Miriam rushes off to call the midwife. The long running BBC TV drama series “Call the Midwife” celebrates it’s tenth season this year. This series tells the story of the midwives of Nonnatus House, a nursing convent in the deprived East End of London, during the late 1950’s and 1960’s. Anglican nuns and non-religious midwives serve the community of Poplar, based out of the communal house. They deliver babies, and care for families of all kinds, as well as the elderly and infirm. The word midwife means “with woman.” A midwife is with the mother through her labor, never leaving her side, empathetic and encouraging. “Call the Midwife” is a compelling series and - full disclosure - I am a fan. The writers do not shy away from important social issues. Over the course of the decade they have dealt with attitudes to towards disabilities in parents and babies, racism and anti-immigrant sentiments, homophobia and hypocrisy, domestic violence, poverty among the working classes, the huge social change brought about by the birth control pill, and the dangers of backstreet terminations. There are times when the nuns’ strict religious beliefs run contrary to the common sense of the non-religious midwives and there are disagreements. In spite of dealing with tough issues, the show is always heart-warming. Each episode features at least 2 or 3 births, which are beautifully and accurately portrayed. Birth is a painful, messy process and the outcome is not always joyful. In the 1950’s most babies were born at home. In the overcrowded slums of Poplar, that often means a one-room apartment with outside plumbing shared with other families. The midwives are summoned by from a public call box or by a child sent running to Nonnatus House. The midwives arrive on their bicycles, donning gowns and masks, and ushering the men outside. They demand boiled water, clean towels and fresh newspapers, and a requisite pot of tea. In a recent episode, the midwives were so shocked at the rat-infested conditions one woman was living in that they summoned the absentee landlord, much to his shame. I have watched the show devotedly for these past 10 years. I never get tired of seeing the births. Birth is such a vulnerable and precious moment. Whether a child is born in a royal palace, or on the road to a refugee mother, the process is the same. And the needs of mother and baby are the same: healthcare, compassion, cleanliness, encouragement, nutrition, warmth, and privacy. Like her mother and grandmothers before her, Miriam knows to call the midwife. All the way back to the time of Moses, midwives has ushered new life into the world in all kinds of circumstances. And so, we hope that Miriam has found a skilled midwife who will gently encourage Mary to push at the right time, who will massage her back and wipe her face, who will loosen the cord if it is around the baby’s neck, who will receive the child into a clean blanket, rub him to get him breathing, clear his airways if they are blocked, and gently place him on Mary’s breast. Luke’s story reminds us that Jesus experienced all the particularities of the time in which he is born: the Roman rule that dictated his parents return to Bethlehem, the culture of extended family and hospitality, the profound sense of identity of the Jewish people. He experienced the vulnerability of birth, received love and belonging among family and friends, and he endured the pain of grief, rejection, suffering and death. And, as John’s gospel tells us, God in Christ is universal, the eternal Word. Like a midwife Christ is with every child, with every adult, with every elder who was ever born into the world. And, like a midwife, Christ lives among us knowing our every joy and our every pain. This is the way the Holy One chooses to come to us this Christmas. May all God’s people say, Amen
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