New Year 2006

CELEBRATING WINTERFEST

I saw the cartoon in the newspaper. A lady, overwhelmed with the Christmas Shopping, carrier bags and boxes under her arms, staggers into the door of a church and collapses on a pew for a few minutes rest.

The priest comes over to her and asks if there is anything he can do. “No,” she replies, “I just came in here to get away from Christmas”.

Well, you can’t get away from it – and yet it is absurd that in the twenty-first century of political correctness, so many people seem to have so disassociated the Christ from the Christmas. Winterfest. Seasons Greetings. No more "deck the halls with boughs of holly" in case of accusations of insensitivity. Their endeavour to be politically correct has not gone down well with the media or even with even the Muslim and Hindu Communities.

You can’t get away from it, but you can celebrate it. You can enjoy its traditions – as I am sure you are doing. Traditions are very important. When we lived near the sea in Cornwall we had a family tradition of a Christmas afternoon walk around a small fishing harbour near where we lived. We enjoyed the Christmas lights, the fresh air, and most of all being together as a family.

I enjoy the traditional English Christmas – but my wife was brought up with equally strong traditions in Portugal where – as in much of Europe , the main events of Christmas take place on Christmas Eve. The visiting of relatives, the special meal, the exchanging of gifts. All lovely memories and a reality for us this year as we fly out there Thursday for Christmas, Portuguese style.

There are so many good things, positive things about the Christmas season that I can’t help but enjoy it. Yes, the commercialism is there – the television hawking those items that no sane person can afford, or perhaps even want. The pressure to have every thing done on time, to make sure that we have covered all the stakes with the presents and the Christmas cards.

But the greatest joy for me at Christmas is really quite simple. It’s to do as the lady in the cartoon did – to go into church – not, for me, to get away from Christmas, but to understand it’s meaning. It’s to go to a traditional carol service. It’s to hear the choir singing those lovely carols: “Once in Royal David’s City”, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, “O holy night,” -- or my favourite, “O Come all ye Faithful.”

And it’s not just the music. It is to hear adults and children reading those all familiar passages.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

There is an out of the ordinary sense of togetherness in such a service. There is something special, knowing that across the world millions of others are also remembering the unique event of God becoming man.

He may not have been born December 25, was certainly not born in 1 AD, but as we celebrate both his birth and two thousand years of his influence on this planet let’s remember that now, as then, he is still “Emmanuel, God with us,” “Jesus, who takes away the sins of the world.”

Here’s wishing you a very blessed Christmas.

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