Vicar's Letter for December 2009

Christmas

HO….HO….HO….  -  has it really come to this!

          I was looking through a Christmas catalogue which we’ve had since the middle of September (!) and came across an item for sale. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to see it, so I’ll describe it. It’s a large sock with Ho  HO  HO sewn at the top, fir trees around it and Father Christmas climbing up it with a present! All this in red, white and green and done in the cheesy-est way possible! I ask myself, what does this tell us about Christmas?

It tells us that Christmas is for children (anyone over 8 would be revolted by it!) It tells us that the main character in Christmas is Father Christmas, and that it’s all about stuffing as many presents in the sock as possible! Sadly this IS how many people think about Christmas, add a few bottles of wine and spirits and the occasional stomach ache due to over indulgence and there you have it! What a far cry from the REAL meaning of Christmas; there was no Father Christmas, no over indulgence and it wasn’t really a place for children!

          I sound like a real kill-joy and I don’t mean to, because Christmas is a wonderful time, a magical time, an amazing time, a family time, but it was not an easy time that’s for sure! Think about the Christmas story for only a few minutes and you’ll see that there was very little ‘Christmas cheer’ around at all. Put yourself into the story and think what kind of Christmas you would have had. Mary and Joseph were taken from their home and family (they were good northern folk) and were forced to travel ‘down south’ several days’ journey to somewhere they didn’t know. Once there they clearly knew no one, otherwise they would have stayed with them; the inn (hostel) was full and they were forced into the annexe. Mary was pregnant and they weren’t even married, which would have meant that they were shunned by their family and friends and probably were ‘economical with the truth’ in order to find anywhere to stay. This doesn’t sound like the kind of scenario we would expect for a ‘jolly weekend of fun’. Add to all of this that within a few months of the birth the young family became asylum seekers as they fled to Egypt and you have a story which is just about as far away from the Christmas stocking as you can get!

          Where then is the mystery? Where the magic? Where is the wonder? We can only see this as we look back through the experiences that followed. As the baby grew and began ministry His followers saw Him as more than a man. They saw Him as God Himself in human form, or as was said at His birth ‘Emmanuel’, which means ‘God with us’ (Mtt 1:23). They saw Him also as the One who changed their lives and would change the world through His death and resurrection. He was their Saviour, or as was said at His birth, ‘you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins’ (Mtt 1:21).

          It is when seen with these eyes that Christmas becomes the most amazing, awe inspiring and magical event in the whole of world history. It is the time the God Almighty became one of us; the One who rules the cosmos became a babe in arms, and He did all that so we could come back into a living knowledge of Him. In a world which looks after number one; He ‘looked after’ the whole world before Himself. He lived that we might live and He died to give us new life. Now that is the REAL gift of Christmas!

Yours in Christ,

Rev Tony Butterworth