It's interesting - as we enter the Christmas season I'm always faced with the same realization: it just doesn't feel like a spiritual time to me.
I'm not sure what it is... maybe the fact that it seems to be a pagan festival co-opted by the church. Maybe it's because we have no idea of the actual day of Jesus' birth, so celebrating on that particular one seems a bit odd. But I think that most of it is that I can't help but to compare it to Easter.
At Easter, Christ chose to give up his life. And, more significantly than that, he chose to become sin for us. I don't think most of us can begin to comprehend giving up our life for someone else, but we do know that it's something that some people choose to do. They do it because they love their children, or love their country, or just believe that if they see someone in need and can meet it, they must, regardless of how it may put their own lives at risk.
But I believe that the horror and utter, unimaginable gulf between a perfect God and the sin that he was faced with was like nothing that we can begin to understand. We don't have an equivalent; we can't comprehend what Christ became willing to take on. We can't even come close.
I guess it's in those terms that I think of Christmas. The thought of God becoming man is amazing, and beautiful, and worthy of celebration. But the idea of him dying for man is much more. So if we're sitting together at a Christmas service, singing about joy, and I look somewhat less than joyful, it's not just the carols: I've skipped ahead to where the story gets serious. It's good and it's beautiful and perfect. But it's heavy.
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I understand what you mean. It is all of that. For me at least it is. I can't help thinking of Easter at this time either. And make no mistake: Easter is the most important Christian celebration. That being said, for me Christmas is a very important liturgical moment in the year, an excellent time for slowing down and reflecting on what it all means. I love being a part of a choir in that sense that it allows me to go through all of these carols, but more importantly anthems (not the same) that describe all of these things so well. God becoming man. Our whole world turning upside down. Why on earth would God do that for us? That's why we rejoice. That's why we get out of our ways to make this a special celebration. Why the 24th/25th? Has to be done at some point I guess. Would it help if you fast-forwarded to the resurrection to make you feel better during those difficult moments? I find that in times of difficulty just saying the creed (the Apostle's Creed particularly) from beginning to end helps. I frequently focus too much on one point or another, but our God is a whole God not bits and pieces. Any thoughts on the different creeds btw?
True, Easter's more important, but I love Christmas for different reasons. It's a different set of thoughts in mind. It's a time for hope, because it's the beginning of redemption, the end of the centuries-long wait for God to send the redeemer. Better than that, He sent Himself. For me the most powerful story about the coming of Christ is when old Simeon meets him in the temple. It's just boggling. No one had ever seen God, let alone touched anything of His without being struck dead - then we get an image of a faithful old man holding a tiny scrap of GOD in his arms. How do you get your head around that? I love it.
But it's also a hard time each year for me... I told a friend tonight that setting up my Christmas stuff is essentially an act of "keeping the faith" for the future. It was good of God to send her to be with me for this.
Interesting. I'm quite the opposite. So many see Easter as the climax of the drama but I always leave feeling guilty and awkward. On Good Friday, everyone puts on their serious face, they talk in their indoor voice and REALLY make sure their cell phones are off. Then after the sombre songs have been sung and the story has been laid out before them, they leave the sanctuary in that awkward silence and I just feel annoyed and guilty that I wasn't at all moved. Then Sunday comes and we all get to breathe a sigh of relief. The stone is rolled away. But Christmas we celebrate the sacredness of God coming down. I almost see that as the climax of the story because it was at that moment that all of heaven could breathe a sigh of relief because at last, the plan to reconcile all of humanity to God was set into motion. And it would be but a moment before it would be completed. I like to bask in the holiness and peace of Christmas. Let Easter's own message be enough for Easter.
I suppose it's a symbol of life. The constant movement between joy and sorrow, stillness and chaos, strength and weakness.
PS Easter was a pagan holiday as well.
"Ni" ;-)
that was wonderful. You said it better than I ever could.
What nicole said.
Is it so bad to enjoy the "pagan" bits of Christmas? I guess to the average pagan person, Christmas is probably about family and/or friends. I think it's good to have an excuse to foster some of those relationships that would otherwise grow stagnant without an annual excuse to get together. If it wasn't for Christmas, I probably wouldn't get to see you and Korey at the same time probably ever.
And I like the Egg Nog Lattes.
perhaps this is obvious to everyone but me, but i've been realizing (or rediscovering?) recently how inexplicably linked christmas and easter are... providing a context not possible had christ's birth not occured as it did.
the reality of the incarnation brings relevance to a sacrifice that could only be experienced by someone who felt what we felt, hurt as we hurt and struggled as we struggle. maybe the sacrifice of lowering himself to our level is as humbling a thought as his willingness to die in our place?
i guess what we privileged few are bombarded with during this season isn't really the spiritual anyway. the spiritual aspect is a whole lot messier than most are willing to admit being comfortable with.
don't get me wrong, the splendor is unmistakable, and the celebration so glorious - i just can't help but think there's room for a bit of serious here too.
oh... and i vote for the gingerbread latte
Hey - can I just start by saying thanks for exploring this with me?
T-roy, it's not that I think Christmas is bad... just that it doesn't hit me the way Easter does. And maybe a large part of that is a personality thing: I'm a pretty positive person, and live a life that often has much more joy than my circumstances would indicate... and I love that, and wouldn't change it for the world. But I long for depth and meaning and significance... I'm no masochist, but I think that I like Easter, in part, just because it's "heavier".
But as I read what you guys have written, I suspect that much of how I approach it stems from a poor understanding of Christ, pre-incarnate. I can think of him choosing the cross because he was a man, about my age, when he did it. I can, in some ways, picture it. But for him to be willing to undergo the incarnation at all? Yeah, that's serious, too. But it's a lot harder for me to wrap my head around.
I guess I've always felt like, at Christmas, we've done more to focus on what happened after that choice which, though necessary, has never felt like the center of the story to me. But the love and obedience he showed in becoming man... yeah, that's worth thinking about.
Gingerbread Lattes: A-
Egg Nog Lattes: A
Egg Nog Lattes with no milk diluting the egg nog: A++++
(my dad would say egg nog with brandy: off the charts)
I wonder if baby Jesus slept through the night. I wonder if, like my sister's baby is doing now, He ever refused to nurse away from home, effectively chaining Mary to the stable.
Another tough one for a woman: having a baby without your mom or your friends around to help and celebrate. Kind of like my normally very private neighbors being so lonely at first that they brought their 3 day old baby to see me.
I always think about Emmanu-El, God With Us, at Christmas. How thankful I am that no matter how bad things feel, I am not alone. I think about the image of God in us becoming the image of God in Himself - Jesus. The value of human life becomes significantly more obvious at that point.
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