Happy Christmas!
What a gift; God has chosen to be here, in ordinary times amongst ordinary people in ordinary places.
Happy Christmas.
If Advent is meant to be a careful, measured walk towards Christmas, I probably didn't do very well at that:
Matt
I had good intentions. Candles. Stillness. Reflection and Reading and Waiting.
And I did at points do these things, But about two days into Advent, all of this was put to the side and I sang carols outside at the top of my voice and that was it; the restraint went out of the window. The joy had arrived early.
One thing Christmas refuses to be, is emotionally tidy. Despite knowing when Christmas, I find it hasn't arrived politely, on schedule or after everything is perfectly prepared. It has arrived suddenly and unexpectedly in the middle of real life. Which is exactly how it arrived the first time.
We know the story well, perhaps too well.
A baby, a stable, angels, shepherds and a young couple who were tired, bewildered, and doing their best, this wasn’t a cosy moment.
This was disruption, this was uncertainty, this was God choosing not the safe centre of power, but the fragile edge of real life.
Matt
The message of Christmas is not that God turned up once, long ago, and then left us to get on with it. Christmas is the announcement that God is here; not distant, not detached not waiting for us to sort ourselves out. God is with us.
Christmas is often spoken about as an escape from routine, pressure and the year we've had, but I don't think Christmas offers escape. I think it offers a beginning, and one right where we are; into ordinary families, into complicated relationships into tired lives and hopeful hearts and half-answered prayers.
The birth of Jesus doesn’t remove the mess of the world. It enters it.
And that’s why Christmas is hopeful. Because it says: God starts again, even here.
Advent teaches us to wait. But Christmas reminds us that joy doesn’t always wait patiently. Children don’t approach Christmas cautiously, they don’t pace themselves, they understandably burst with anticipation, and perhaps we should see this as a glimpse of a childlike faith that can inspire all of us.
A childlike faith that dares to believe something good is coming, and a childlike faith that leans forward and a childlike faith that rejoices because hope has already arrived.
We are children of God. Every one of us, so, perhaps we should start behaving like children when it comes to our faith.
Jesus has come once. He will come again, and in between, we are not alone. The Holy Spirit is not a consolation prize or a substitute for God made flesh. God is not elsewhere. God is here: With us, in us and among us.
We must celebrate, enjoy the noise, the food, the laughter, the people we love. But just for a moment, only for a moment today, as we stir the gravy, prepare our sprouts look at the Christmas cards, say hello or goodbye to friends I hope we let Christmas widen our vision.
Because while many are surrounded by warmth today, others are not. Some feel an absence more than a presence or carry grief quietly. Some face hardship that doesn’t pause, even for a second, for Christmas.
The angels didn’t announce peace to the powerful. They announced it to shepherds, people on the very margins of society, and Christmas still calls us to notice and to care, and to hold joy and compassion together.
Christmas doesn’t freeze the world in sentimentality, it sets something in motion. A child born to change how power looks and how love acts and how hope survives.
This is not nostalgia or longing; this is God, today and now. God has come close, God stays close, and God calls us to live differently, more gently, more bravely, and more generously.
So today really matters, not because it’s perfect or because everything is resolved but because God has chosen to be here, in ordinary times amongst ordinary people in ordinary places.
So we celebrate today, we treasure one another, and notice the gift we've been given. In doing so, we can all step into the year ahead knowing Christmas is not an ending to a year just gone, but a beginning of a life with God to come.
God of Hope, Joy, Love and Peace bless you all richly in the coming year.
