Perspectives of Christmas
Call me
Ebenezer Scrooge but, for me, Christmas is a cop-out.
The ghost of
Christmas Past is a jovial, sunburnt, child-like memory. He visits friends and relatives, enjoys the
occasional barbecue, and revels in the presents. He transports me back to that long ago summer
when, wonder of wonders, we had three Christmas Days in a row. (We were traveling and visiting relatives and
at each stop there were new presents and more food. You can't get much more exciting than that
for an 8 year old kid.)Â
He takes me
back to the church services, Christmas Carols and Nativity plays. Eventually the novelty wears off but, for a
time at least, it still meant something.Â
He reminds me of later festive occasions when my family had blown apart
and I dread having nowhere to go, feeling a burden upon those I do visit, and
continual surprise at being made so welcome.
The specter
of Christmas present is one of obligation to visit family if I'm lucky, or
sitting at home on just another day if I'm not.
The spirit
of Christmas future is foggy and uncertain.Â
He appears to me, not as a celestial TV in which I can flick through the
channels to find the preview channel, but rather as a radio in which a number
of stations are over-lapping. I might,
one day, have a family of my own that I can share the excitement with. I could even find the missing meaning of
Christmas again - looking deeper than
the repetition, the commercialism, the traditions and obligations. One day I might even look forward to the next
few weeks, but for now, all the stations are playing static.
Robbie Titchener
“The wonder
of the Incarnation is that in Jesus we are told that God and humanity are meant
for each other. We discover that God loves bodies, God plays with matter, God
speaks to us through quarks, and atoms and molecules, through blood and lymph and
bone. Through every human race and culture. The Christian story tells that God
chooses to be human, chooses to know human life from moment of conception to
the suffering of death. In Jesus, God knows intimately what it is to be a
toddler, to have a stomach ache, to feel the rain and wind, to be betrayed and
forsaken, to die. Incarnation is about God choosing to be one of us, so that we
might become communities of compassion, mercy, courage, justice and care, God's  embodied presence here and now.”1
“Historically at this time of year,
the peoples of the Celtic lands (
[1 and 2 excerpts
from A Celtic Christmas: Celebrating the Sacred in All Creation by Mary Earle]
Christmas is celebrated by
Christians as a time God entered the neighbourhood and was reduced to a specific
location in time and space. Â Christmas is
many things, not least a celebration of the locale. Â The coming of Christ into a little Palestinian
village, heralds a grounded spirituality that finds god among shepherds,
prostitutes and piles of washing needed to be folded. Â Finding god is no longer the exercise of the
religious on some sacred pilgrimage, god finds us where we are at; our
location, our small village of whanau, friends and colleagues. Â The bustle of Christmas is apt… Christ in the
hustle, the mess and stress which is year-end… as you race to secure the last
of the pressies on the list, don't miss the face of Christ in a stranger and
the opportunity to offer the peace of Christ… a smile or cup of cold water.
Craig
Braun
In every Welsh nativity scene, a washerwoman accompanies Mary, Joseph and Jesus at the manger. For the Welsh tradition, if Jesus isn't born daily into the common household, then there's really no point of celebrating the birth at Bethlehem.   Â
Patrick Thomas
Welsh author and Anglican priest
When
we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at
Christmas time. Why are we not grateful
to God for filling our stockings with legs?                                   Â
G.K.
Chesterton