View at the window and an
Australian Christmas
This
view from my window set me thinking yet again how we in Australia celebrate Advent
and Christmas in terms of our own context.
Traditional
imagery
Many
of our Advent-Christmas liturgical and devotional imagery is northern
hemisphere – darkness, cold, snow, sleds and reindeer and the end of the
growing season.
While
traditional Christmas decorations abound in shops etc, the Australian-ness of
the Christmas season is mostly reflected in the food we eat - seafood, salads,
cool desserts and drinks - celebrated in open air settings - Summer fare.
Australian
context
Our
Advent-Christmas falls in summertime which brings the growing season. It is a season of life bursting out in bloom,
the summer fruits appearing, birds nesting and fledgelings squawking for
food. For those who live in the warmer
‘top’ half of the country, the heat and summer storms bring both anxiety and
newness. Everything is green after
winter.
The
beach beckons and schools empty out after end of year exams, long holidays
beckon and students are thinking about new careers. The ‘Christmas rush’, this time of shopping
and preparations, is a time for renewing connections with work colleagues,
friends and family. We celebrate our own
particular community.
So,
it is the fulfilment of the yearly cycle of nature and our human community - a
time of fruition, fecundity as well as rest and connection after the
working/school year.
Summer
also brings the dangers of bush fires. cyclones and destructive storms. The vigour of our summer climate, as with our
lives, is not without dangers or difficulties.
How does this
relate to our liturgy for Advent and Christmas?
Theologically we celebrate Advent-Christmas liturgy which holds together the two comings of Christ. The first is the Birth, the Word, Divine Wisdom (Proverbs 8:22-36), through whom all things were made, taking human flesh. The second, is the promised fulfilment of all creation, the Parousia when all will come to fruition in Christ and a new heaven and earth will emerge. This second coming is already present in creation through Christ’s resurrection and giving of the Spirit.
The wonder of this
Birth is that Divine Word is embedded in creation as a human and in Christ’s
Resurrection, there is the human embedded in the Trinity. Jesus, the Christ is the first born of the
new creation.
Holding these two
‘moments’ together, is a third coming.
We celebrate the daily birth of Christ in our lives leading us to constant
conversion so we become more Christlike through our love expressed in all our
choices, relationships and encounters, particularly towards those most
neglected and marginalised and all suffering creatures.
In his letter to
all the Faithful, Saint Francis writes,
We
are mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ when we carry him in our hearts and in our
bodies, lovingly, and with a pure and sincere conscience, and give birth to him
through the working of his grace in us which should shine forth as an example
to others.
This is the third
coming which brings about the fulfilment of all creation. Moment by moment in the ordinariness of our
lives. In every decision, even the
smallest act we make in love. We are collaborators
with the Holy One who seeks the fulfilment of all creation.
The Second letter
of Peter asks:
What
kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and
godliness as you anticipate and hasten the coming of the day of God. (2 Peter
3:11-12)
So our lives as
missionary disciples our loving collaboration brings about the spread of the
resurrection[i] So
simple, so profound.
The view at the
window
The clear blue of
the vast summer sky, the vibrant colours of the poinciana tree which gives
shade and shelter for all creatures evokes the abiding presence of the Holy
Spirit that brings Christ to birth in us.
In the foreground
of this image, the crib and the San Damiano cross are in shadow, the early morning
sun breaking through to illuminate the mystery of Jesus’ birth. We are reminded that as we gaze at this Birth,
we do so through the lens Christ’s resurrection.
At the crib, we see
the fullness of redemption and the new creation only in shadows and illuminated
by the gift of the Spirit. We gaze upon,
consider, contemplate, and imitate[ii] this profound mystery of Love made flesh
and allow it to transform us. We will
never come to the end of this contemplation until the final coming of Christ,
through whom all things were created, when creation will be transformed.
The eyes of Christ
on the San Damiano Cross that is part of the nativity scene here, gaze out
towards this final transformation of fulfilment. Thus, we, individually and as
a faith community are being joyfully, trustingly, painfully, often bumbling
along drawn to be Christ in creation now ‘in order to hasten the coming of the
day of God’ (2 Peter:13:12).
So may our summer
symbols of fecundity, rest and new life remind us that our mission is to be the
body of the Risen Christ in this creation helping this life of the Resurrection
draw all creation into the glory of its fulfilment. We are promised that, despite appearances at times, that no darkness is able to overcome this Life.
Our daily deed of
love hasten the New Creation
