17th December 2009
17th December 2009
Christmas is definitely coming, The geese are getting fat and probably quite narked at the return to fashion of their species for the Christmas feast as they were quite happy to let the turkeys take the rap. Lights are going up on the houses and as the days reach their shortest the cues at the post offices reach their longest (Be nice to your post mistress this Christmas, she's going as fast as she can). In the rest of the media people of note are answering the rather nebulous question "What is the meaning of Christmas" but I'm going to have a go at a slightly different question, What is the purpose of Christmas?
I have been told that Christmas does not have a purpose beyond that of celebrating the birth of Christ. Where as I recognise that for a great many people this is one of the purposes of Christmas I do not believe it is the only one and in a country where other faiths are on the rise but Christmas seems to stand undiminished there must be a lot to Christmas that is not just for those of the Christian religion. Nor do I believe it is all for the the sake of what Tom Learer called "The Commercial Spirit".
Perhaps a clue can be found in the history of Christmas It is widely believed among historians that the actual birth date of Christ is not known and that the date the early church chose to celebrate this great occasion was set as being the 25th of December to replace the Pagan festivities that had been traditional around that date and which they found impossible to stamp out even among Christian believers. These festivities would include feasting and bringing of green things in to the abodes of the people back then. This was widely believed to be a much needed bit of light, life and warmth in the cold, dark and lifeless depths of the winter. Perhaps Christmas has always kept up it's ability to bring in to dark times those things which the soul needs. In these times people are pushed the whole time to "Play it cool." to not give anything that you don't get a return on, to like only the fashionable and the fashionable is to often the reserved , the soulless, the cold, and the mundane. Unbridled fun for fun's sake is right out. Charity is discouraged and moaning about everything is considered the thing to do. Bright, gaudy, sparkly loud, fun things or singing along to anything in the least bit cheesy is to be mocked and derided as loudly as possible (Unless it is done under the guise of irony). Christmas is a time where all these rules of fashionable cynicism's can be broken. It's a time when Joyfulness, Charity, fun, Gaudiness exuberance and sentimentality are not just allowed but the spirit of the hour. Please remember though. This is your chance to remember how good all of these things feel and how none of them are bad things in them selves and every year a few more people forget to forget this when the tinsel comes down. It was the newly reformed Scrooge who promised to keep the spirit of Christmas in his heart all year round. For me that is the purpose of Christmas. Of course I'm not the only one with an opinion on this. I'd be very happy to hear from the rest of you. Here is one from Nick Addington, Pastoral Leader of Church In The Field
| For me the purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. We celebrate the birthday of a great human being, a person who turned the world upside down, a person who has influenced the world (I believe for good) more than any person throughout history. However, we not only celebrate the birth of a great human being, but we celebrate a unique event in human history when God became a human being in order to redeem humanity. We therefore not only celebrate the birth of a human being but the most sacrificial act of love, God sent his son in to the world that all might not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus took on all the limitations of a human being even though he was God in order to pay the penalty of sin. The Gospel writers make it clear that Jesus birth, life and death is the beginning of the culmination of human history only to be surpassed by His coming again when the world will be recreated in all its former glory, where there will be no sorrow, pain or death. What a celebration it should be! |