22nd
On My Heart and Mind - Christmas
22 December 2008
Lily wanted to celebrate Jesus’ birthday this evening. I told her that Christmas was on Thursday, but after already attending two Christmas parties today she was not so easily convinced. “We can celebrate his birthday today if we want to,” she said—besides, she already had a cupcake chosen for this surprise party. I stuck to my guns and delayed this little celebration for another day, but I’m not convinced we will make it all the way to Christmas with the cupcake intact.
Of course, most of us are already aware of the fact that there is no birth certificate to verify Jesus’ birth on December 25th. If there were, the History Channel would have already told us. Many scholars have posited other possible times of the year for Jesus’ birth with some convincing arguments; truth-be-told, no one really knows.
The explanation that is often given for why Christmas is celebrated on December 25th is that the Church was looking for a way to counter—even co-opt—the pagan observances of Winter Solstice. It was well within the Church’s modus operandi to use the images and symbols of pre-Christian culture to illuminate the truths of the Gospel. For some Christians, even discussing this thorny topic is criminal, for others it is quite liberating and insightful. Some find the influence of culture on Christianity a stain to be washed out, while others see it as a way of honoring the traditions of our ancestors… most people fall somewhere in between.
I think the linking of Christmas to Winter Solstice can be a powerful expression of Christian truth. Winter Solstice (December 21st, this year) marks the longest night of the year; a time when the sun does not linger late in the day and yet seems delayed in returning the next morning. It is a time when darkness seems stronger than light. The events commemorated on Christmas refute such a notion.
There are many of us who come to this time of year with a real, palpable sense of long nights growing longer. I was reviewing the Christmas Eve bulletins from last year and on the poinsettia page was the name of my last living grandparent, Charlotte Curry. Grandma died this past January and now we are celebrating Christmas for the first time with a whole generation missing. These are long nights, and I know many of you are in the midst of long nights of your own. The parties go on around you and you still feel alone; the carols are being sung and you can’t find your voice.
In the midst of these long nights, tradition interjects Christmas: a birthday celebration for Jesus. It’s not always easy to proclaim, but nonetheless we do: Jesus Christ is the light of the world; a light no darkness can extinguish.
On Winter Solstice this year a group of all ages from our church gathered to tell the “best story ever told” through the means of our Christmas Pageant. That Sunday morning was marked by falling snow that grew heavier with each hour. Yet, despite the ready excuses, a cast and a congregation gathered to share in this story with simplicity and faith. Setting the scene for the “baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger,” our narrators read the scripture this way:
“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son. Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” (John 1:14, The Message)
As I prepare for Christmas this year, I have been struck by just how relational Christmas calls us to be. Christmas is not just relational from the standpoint of gathering together family and friends, but from its very beginning and premise it is about relationship: about a God who could not stand to be apart from us, so God came and lived among us. And still lives among us.
It would be easy this year to circle the wagons and keep Christmas to ourselves, but we are being called to reach out to others the way God himself reached out to us in the Christ-child. It’s time to give our gifts… it’s Jesus’ birthday!
Grace and peace,
Pastor Matt.
Some announcements:
Our services on Christmas Eve will be at 7 and 11pm. The seven o’clock service is designed to be multigenerational with traditional carols, candles, sermon and special message and gift for our children; a multigenerational choir will be singing. The eleven o’clock service is a traditional Candle-light Communion service; special guest participants include Sen. Hillary Clinton reading scripture and Bishop Jeremiah Park celebrating the Lord’s Supper. Please plan to attend one of these services and bring your friends.
On 12/28 at 10:15am we will have a Service of Lessons and Carols in the English tradition.
