Now I recognize that in my own sort of reflection on my past and my present, there's a connection there. The Midnight Mass is really glorious and it's exciting and like seeing the brightly wrapped package, just tearing it apart and having sheer delight at what's inside. But this service, when we hear, slowly and deliberately, the introduction to John's Gospel, the prologue, the meaning of the Incarnation, this service is where we begin to recognize what we have been given, to cherish it, to value it. It is not just about excitement. I like excitement.
Excitement is a good thing.
If Christian life doesn't have any excitement in it then you're missing something, but it is about more than excitement. It is about meaning and value. It's about depth and those are the things you begin to realize after the excitement is over. This service, for me, really finishes off the Christmas Day services in the best of all possible ways. In a sense, I think I've been a little bit misleading when I say that now I have to indulge myself, because you indulge me too, all of you who work so hard to make this place run and to make the services happen on time and particularly this morning to the choir.