Christmas is God's gift to earth
Of a tiny baby's birth
Showing all we have a worth;
What a happy Christmas!

Joyous and Blessed Christmas
Ein gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest!
Joyeux Noel
Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth
Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt Ar

The Reason for the Season

Tracing the "I have come" words of Jesus in the Gospel narrative sets a hard-hitting background to the celebration as we approach the feast of the incarnation. Our selective minds naturally turn to such positive statements as "I have come to give life in all its fullness." but tends to overlook phrases like “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34)

The "ah" and the "ooh" of the children's nativity scene along with the Angel song of Peace and Goodwill, seems to come under attack in the light of such hard hitting statements. Other sayings further expand the notion of the coming Christ. For example it is interesting to note how others reacted to the Coming Christ words; "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God" (Luke 4:34) and elsewhere, Jesus talks about coming to divide families.

All in all, Christ's self declaration, seems a million miles from the idealistic Christmas card nativity scene, but never-the-less such sayings are the essence of the incarnation.

Moltmann makes a distinction between what he called a "fortuitous" and a "necessary" Incarnation. The later focuses on the Incarnation as the Son of God becoming a man so that He could save us from our sins. The former, on the other hand, speaks of the Incarnation as a fulfilment of the love of God, of His desire to be present and living amidst humanity, to "walk in the garden" with us.

In the light of this, what are we to make of Christ's coming?

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right, and stopping the leaks in the roof, and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably, and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to?

The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of– throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

–C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (London: William Collins, 1970), 172.

In poetic terms, Gerard Maley Hopkins in his poem ORATIO PATRIS CONDREN: O JESU VIVENS IN MARIA, writes:

Jesu that dost in Mary dwell,
Be in thy servants’ hearts as well,
In the spirit of thy holiness,
In the fulness of thy force and stress,
In the very ways that thy life goes
And virtues that thy pattern shows,
In the sharing of thy mysteries;
And every power in us that is
Against thy power put under feet
In the Holy Ghost the Paraclete
To the glory of the Father. Amen.

Mortal Beauty and God’s Grace. Pg. 7.

So this is what he meant by life in all its fullness!

Is it only a bit part in the Nativity Play?

In the Alpine city of Innsbruck you will find the Dom zu St Jakob; the Cathedral of St Jakob. All the guide books point to the early 18th century baroque jewel's picture of the Madonna and Child. Yet the image that caught my attention whilst visiting my favourite Tyrolean city was the small image of Joseph and the infant Jesus.

Jacob, Joseph, Jesus. What a line-up. Yet Joseph is often seen as a mere bit part within the Nativity scene; a mere relationship of convenience to provide protection and home for the young woman and her offspring.

Little is known of him, this mysterious woodworking descendant of King David. He is quickly overlooked as we look for the main players. He arrives on the on the scene trying to fathom out a dilemma. Since he learned of the pregnancy he has been trying to figure a way out of this predicament. We know that He is righteous, but he is merciful. What is his best option? How can he fulfill his obligations to God and to Mary - is it to give her a "quiet divorce." Can he send her away to her relatives down in the hill country of Judea. Could she be put away until the child is born and then prepare the divorce with a few trusted officials. It's not a perfect solution, but it is the best that he can do - nothing else is possible.

The Dream of a New Possibility
While Joseph is trying to figure it all out, he has a dream. This dream is gospel - that is, good news.

Don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife - the child is born of the Holy Spirit

Name him Jesus - for he will save his people from their sins

I find it interesting that it is Joseph who is given the task of naming the Messiah, Jesus.

When Oscar Isaac took on the role of Joseph in the Bible epic, “The Nativity Story,” the 26-year-old actor had no idea what he would soon be facing. In an interview he said of Joseph, "I think the fact that there’s a man who loves God so fully and loves this woman so fully and has to share his love with God is pretty untraditional ...... It’s an interesting character study as well. He has to share his wife with God. He wanted to have a family with this woman. He wanted to have a nice, normal life in his little house that he’s building and suddenly he forced to….kind of, ‘Why her?’ you know? ‘I love her so much, I love you so much, but why couldn’t you have picked anybody else?’

But he didn't and in that wonderful timeless mystery we, like Joseph find God with us.

Nativity Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian

The feast day of your birth resembles You, Lord
Because it brings joy to all humanity.
Old people and infants alike enjoy your day.
Your day is celebrated
from generation to generation.
Kings and emperors may pass away,
And the festivals to commemorate them soon lapse.
But your festival
will be remembered until the end of time.
Your day is a means and a pledge of peace.
At Your birth heaven and earth were reconciled,
Since you came from heaven to earth on that day
You forgave our sins and wiped away our guilt.
You gave us so many gifts on the day of your birth:
A treasure chest of spiritual medicines for the sick;
Spiritual light for the blind;
The cup of salvation for the thirsty;
The bread of life for the hungry.
In the winter when trees are bare,
You give us the most succulent spiritual fruit.
In the frost when the earth is barren,
You bring new hope to our souls.
In December when seeds are hidden in the soil,
The staff of life springs forth from the virgin womb.

St. Ephraim the Syrian (AD 306-373)

The Last Straw

The Rev. Donna Schaper; senior pastor of Congregational UCC in Coral Gables, Flan, writes in her latest books are "The Labyrinth from the Inside Out" from Skylights Press. "That the last straw of our lives becomes the first straw of Jesus' manger in our hearts."

She brings a sense of reality by placing the birth of the Chirst Child in an ER department. Gradually all within the hospital are caught-up in this nativity and she concludes by saying, "Patients all, we wait".

The image of the cross and he crib are powerful symbols of incarnational humility, but how half heartedly we listen to the carol service reading, "And this will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a feeding trough." (Luke 2:12, international version)

I find this phrase so powerful!

Let's take this symbolism in context. The place of Birth was Bethlehem (بيت لحم, , lit "House of Meat"; Βηθλεέμ; בית לחם, Beit Lehem, lit "House of Bread" a town originally called Ephrath meaning fruitful and it was here the Chosen One was laid in a feeding trough. Here, the Bread of Life is wrapped Swaddling Clothes and laid for all to see. For me, there is a synergy with the story of the burial of Jesus where Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus wrap his body with the spices, in strips of linen according to Jewish burial customs.

I recall a few years ago setting Christmas display at the front of church with the infant Christ-child; arms out stretched reaching out from a large open Bible beneath a large empty cross. Little did I think that such a scene cause such a stir with members of the congregation complaining that it looked as if I was trying to crucify the baby. Hmm!

The crib and the cross are part of the one mystery of the Incarnation, and there really isn't much distance between Bethlehem and Calvary after all.

Has Advent become a non-event?

I do sometimes wonder if we miss the purpose of Advent confusing the Christmas rush with the contemplative time of considering the One who came, the One who comes and the One who is to come.

Recently, a long established Christian Bookshop in Exeter, UK has closed and I sometimes wonder if I had to anything to do with its demise, by once suggesting to the manager that he should sell a different kind of Advent Calendar.

In the UK, we share the German Lutheran tradition of Advent Calendars where children of all ages open one door each day to receive a chocolate treat. I merely suggested that the bookshop should create calendars with empty compartments into which we place thoughts, gift promises and prayers. Perhaps it did not catch on! Or is it that today's society is actually saying, "It is better to give than receive, as long as I'm still on the receiving end.”

Advent has been defined as "The arrival, coming, or discovery of something, especially something extremely important."

Perhaps we also need to rediscover the advent of Jesus return. Customarily in the Christian tradition, the focus has been on these two “comings” of Christ. However, St. Bernard in the 11th Century identified a “third coming” that Advent leads us to await—the coming of Christ in our own soul. While the birth of Christ and the second coming of Christ are important to Christians, we must all still move through this earthly life on a day-to-day basis.

Keeping a watchful Advent reminds us that we do not tread these days in isolation. We can live in expectation of the movement of Christ in and through every moment of those days. Even though we are frequently distracted and diverted from attention to this movement within us, the season of Advent reminds us to turn inward yet again and seek the God that is to be found within us.

Some years ago, I wrote a musical called 'Daystar' that explored the essence the Coming of Jesus. In it a time traveller looks for the coming Christ and arrives at the manager having also had a vision of Calvary.

As he kneels he speaks

His the gift of bitter pain,
A pain so deep that speaks my name.
A gruesome hurt of human shame;
Impaled within his form my name.
O infant now, how can you bear?
This awful pain; why do you care?

He takes from me that selfish greed
And with his bread the crowds he feeds.
He takes from me my selfish pride;
Transform it now, a seekers guide.
O infant child within the hay,
Where is the life, the truth the way?

His gifts of time, of love, his wealth,
His patience long, that wills my health
Is but a part of God's good grace
That saves transforms our fallen race.
O Holy child within the hay
Will you for me meet death's dark day?

What sin, what guilt do I now bring?
What hurt, what pain, what shameful thing
Do I before his throne now fling?
Love in exchange he's offering.
O Saving child within the hay,
Change my dark night into your day.

O Holy infant gift, I pray,
For me, when comes my newborn day?
When will sin's power within my life
Release its grip and end its strife?
O Calv'ry child within the hay,
Arise, be born in me today.

(c) 1988 Paul Collings