Christmas - 25 December, 2006

Should we Celebrate Christmas?

I have noticed lately with all the discussion in the media whether we should celebrate Christmas in a multi-cultural society. Some suggest that Christmas was originally the Roman Saturnalia and therefore ‘hi-jacked’ by the Christians. Some commentators given the impression that they believe it is some sort of devious plot by ‘the Church’ – whoever they may be.

Mid-Winter Festivals

For a start, Saturnalia was only one of a very, very long line of mid-winter solstice feasts celebrated through many ages and many cultures. The mid-winter festival reveals the deep human intuition that sought reassurance and hope in the depths of the winter struggle for physical survival. Human beings, being such meaning-making creatures then associated physical survival with survival of spirit. In the long, cold (probably damp) darkness of winter they reaffirmed the light – physical and spiritual. The intuition of the early Christian communities in celebrating the birth of Christ with such a festival is most appropriate.

The Birth of Christmas

Perhaps the story goes a little like this. As their pagan neighbours celebrated their mid-winter festivals, the Christians for whom Christ was the Risen Lord, ‘the Light who has come into the world’, began to celebrate the moment when that Light was born. In recalling Jesus’ birth, they also celebrated and looked to a time when that Light would be fulfilled in Eternity.

So, the feast of the Nativity spread to other cultures of the Roman empire where Christians lived and over time this celebration became a fixed feast. Remember, the earliest and most important Christian feast has always been the Resurrection, Christmas, as a feast of the universal church came relatively late.

Actual Date or Meaning?

Was it the actual date of Jesus’ birth? Who know, and it doesn’t matter. There is a deeper truth here, a truth that the human ability to find meaning in life’s and nature’s events honours. A truth that celebrates the ancient struggle of darkness and light; despair and hope.

This is reflected in the reading for Midnight Eucharist. Isaiah (9:1-7) proclaims that The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a land a deep shadow a light has shone. The letter to Titus (2:11-14) joyfully cries out that God’s grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race… Those early Christian communities saw in their sacred texts that Jesus was the light that shone in the darkness. The age-old mystery of the turning of the seasons became the symbol of the Light of God entering creation.

The Language of God

This is God ‘speaking’ in our human language, the language of symbol, meaning and hope, above all, the language of a human life.

John Duns Scotus (late 13^th century Franciscan theologian) proposed that Jesus’ birth was essential to God’s creation and intended from all eternity. Jesus, God incarnate is the crown and glory of creation and his birth brings God’s creating and revelatory love to fruition. For Scotus, something totally new has entered creation, affirming that this world and human life with all its ambiguity is embraced in God’s Trinitarian love. God has committed Godself to us, not just through creation but now through the Incarnation of the Word-made-flesh. In Christ, the Triune God is here in the pulsing heart of creation.

So, in the birth of Jesus we see creation, ourselves, in all our glory and possibility. He is God clothed in living, breathing human flesh. Jesus is the language God speaks.

Particularity

Such is the humility and the wonder of God that, in order to reveal the beauty of Divinity and the beauty of humanity, he chose particularity. This means a particular person, in an historical time and place. Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph, a person - conceived, gestated, born, growing up, living and dying – just as each one of us does. He took the full human journey – no shortcuts, no easy escapes.

St. Clare of Assisi called Jesus the ‘mirror of eternity’. He is also the mirror of humanity. In his human life we believe he reveals the nature of God, but he also reveals the nature of us. He shows us how to be human.

Feast of Beginnings and Endings

In this feast we celebrate beginnings and endings. The beginning of Jesus’ journey to maturity, identity and self-understanding – all the sort of growing up we have to do.

We celebrate an ending. An ending to our self-deluding illusions that dominant power, ego-centric power is all that matters. If Jesus, God-with-us, is the crown of creation and the full revelation of the nature of God, then he reveals how creation ‘works’. It works through solidarity-in-love, through abiding commitment to all that brings creation to the fullness of peace.

We are, and always have been caught up in the dance of the Trinity.

The Crib

Today as you look at the crib and read the Gospel story, for a moment strip it of all the ‘miraculous’. It is a family, ordinary, pushed around by the Roman emperor, struggling to care for each other in the most crucial moment of their lives, knowing they are entrusted with something most precious and mysterious, in the disruption of their lives living in faith that God’s way will prevail – even if they don’t know how.

Then, add in the angels, the shepherds, the light, the star, the Magi and the Angels’ song. These tell us about the inner reality of what is happening at this birth. Than an overwhelming, joyous mystery is happening – for all of us – and is hidden in this glorious moment.

May the tenderness, joy and awe of God-with-us fill your hearts.