Celebrate
Christmas is a feast of the senses! It is a celebration of our ability to see and know and taste and touch the power and glory and revelation of God. It is not just about a birth that happened long, long ago and far, far away. It is about the way in which God manifests himself to us in the person of Jesus as friend and food and hope and love. It is a celebration of our ability to grasp God and to sense him with all our being.
-Br. James Koester
Live
We are meant for life in all its fullness. Our getting together for the sheer pleasure of it anticipates the Kingdom and the heavenly banquet. Conviviality and celebration, especially in the face of difficult circumstances, bring light into the world.
-Br. Mark Brown
Bit different tonight- a longer reflection, which I read at a carol service at Christie Hospital earlier:
What’s your favourite Christmas film? Is it a black and white classic like It’s a wonderful Life? A timeless classic retold again and again such as A Christmas Carol or a modern feel-good comedy like Elf?
We all have our favourite and the traditions that go with watching them- maybe it’s a full family event, snuggled up in onesies with hot chocolate or mulled wine. Whichever film is our favourite – and we might have several – Christmas films undoubtably have one thing in common: their story arcs are always redemption stories.
In It’s a Wonderful Life George Bailey, contemplating suicide, gets to see how much worse off people would have been without him. He goes back to his family a changed man, ready to face the troubles ahead, and is rewarded with unthinkable kindness.
A Christmas Carol shows Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from lonely, unloved miser to the beating heart of his community.
We see in Elf how Buddy’s dad, Walter, a modern-day Scrooge, has his heart transformed through his relationship with Buddy to embrace Christmas and have a loving relationship with both his sons.
These are inevitably the story arcs we want from a good Christmas film – the feel-good factor. These stories of redemption reflect what’s at the heart of the Christmas story itself, although rather than being the story of one person’s redemption it’s the story of everyone’s and it’s achieved through love.
The characters in our films- George, Ebenezer and Walter, don’t redeem themselves; they each need a catalyst, usually driven by love, to help them realise the error of their ways and put them on the path to redemption.
There’s a less well known Christmas Carol whose words are as follows:
Love came down at Christmas
Love, a lovely love divine
Love was born at Christmas
Stars and angels gave the sign
Love will be our token
Love be yours, and love be mine
Love from God to all of us
Love for plea and gift a sign
It’s love that provokes the change in our film characters, love which is central to the message of Christmas, and love that caused the divine to enter our earthly lives as a tiny helpless child, the catalyst that can cause that outpouring of love in each of us.
The Christ Child reminds us of the infinite possibilities of life available to us, and we celebrate that in the season of good cheer, gift-giving, and community.
The enchantment of Christmas and indeed in the Christmas films we love, are a taste of what’s possible if human beings could really love each other. The infant in the manger symbolizes new life and the potential we all have to be dedicated to a love of the other.
As we’re gathered here today to sing it reminded me of something else in Elf which I think reflects the love at the heart of Christmas: The Elf Code, which goes as follows:
1. Treat Every Day Like Christmas. Every day is a day of endless possibilities.
2. There's Room for Everyone on the Nice List. No-one is beyond redemption.
3. The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear.
The Spirit of God animates us, but it all happens in the flesh: every deed of kindness, every act of generosity, every word of encouragement happens in the flesh. Every embodiment of Christ’s grace or truth or love happens in the flesh—or it doesn’t happen.
-Br. Mark Brown
It feels like I've only had a moment to catch my breath since finishing the Advent/Christmas blogathon and now Lent has arrived. This year that means not only countdown to Easter but the countdown to Easter school (a big chunk of my final few months of formal ordination training), which begins the day before Palm Sunday. Between now and then there's quite a bit of work to do.
This year for Lent, after three years of Love Life Live Lent, it felt like time for a new challenge so I've signed up for 40 Acts: "40 days of giving back, doing good and living generously"
Every day a new act pops into my in-box with a short, medium and longer suggestion of something to do. Today was all about thinking about the circles of people you belong to, their interconnectedness, praying for them and thinking how your generosity could benefit them in Lent - I made a doodle as you can see!
I took part in the Ash Wednesday service at St Michael's this evening. It's a quiet, penitential service, which some folk might hate the idea of, but we're all broken, imperfect beings and sometimes we mess up. It's good sometimes to reflect back on some of the not-so-great things we've done and said, or things about ourselves or in our lives that may be harmful to us or others. Lent should be about flipping that stuff around and 40 Acts helps by giving us ways to make the world a bit lovelier.
Faith, my daughter blew me away when I got home from church. As part of today's act she's made a WhatsApp group of her best friends and will be telling them each day's act, letting them know what she's doing and encouraging them to join her. It's prompted her friends to ask questions about what Lent is and why we do stuff. I appear to have a little evangelist!
“He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. -Luke 2:16-18
The shepherds are evalgelising like crazy, something which would make folk from my church tradition, and indeed myself, a bit uncomfortable. 'Tis not our way. We're probably worried we'll frighten people off instead of amazing them, so let's find another way to amaze people if we can't do it with words. Let's show people what a Christian truly is and what Christ's transforming love does. Be the best darn reflection of Jesus you can be. Bring joy, bring love, bring humour. Be inclusive, share what you have. Be what you want to see in this world.
Dog walks are a really good time for me to reflect and pray; it's just me and Lucy the beagle and I find it easier to focus than most other places.
This evening I was reflecting upon the things I'm not happy with and want to put before God before Christmas. It's been one of my most difficult years for quite some time due to home and work circumstances, and this coupled with ordination training has meant there's been times I didn't know how I could continue with the stress and anxiety each part of my life was causing.
Of course those were the times I was trying to do it all on my own, forgetting or neglecting that it's only in God's strength that I can achieve any of it. This is the thing I'm most regretful of because all the times I've failed, got things wrong or been a bit (or lot) horrible has been when I've not remembered who and what my strength comes from.
