Celebrating Christmas

Christmas 2024 has come and gone... and I wonder how you found and celebrated this past Christmas? On the day after Boxing Day we went to one of the local commercial centers in the town where we live and we were hard pressed to find a park! I was also struck by the difference between the stillness and beauty of our Christmas Eve Service, and the crowded busyness of the commercial world. It was a stark reminder of how commercialized Christmas has become – and that is not new! Christmas has many origins, and some of more ancient ones have their origin in the pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. Perhaps, now-a-days it is the commercial world that has gradually taken over our contemporary celebration of Jesus Birthday. And yet the origins of our December celebration of Christmas has a long 'secular' tradition.

For example, in England the first recorded mention of 'Christemasse' was in the 1038 and the date of December 25 was chosen to appeal to non-Christians who wished to celebrate the winter solstice. Father Christmas didn't make his appearance until the 17^th Century following the English Civil War. It arose from a political wish to link some of the emerging traditions – such as Father Christmas with the emerging political reforms of 1660. The role of Father Christmas as a giver of gifts came later, along with the other secular tradition's that arose around the celebration of Christmas.

We have also seen more recent changes in our own lifetime – for example, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, and other ways the commercial world has claimed center stage for the way many people celebrate Christmas. Even so, I still remember the time I spent living in a Franciscan Community in the USA. Having spent most of my life living in New Zealand, I appreciated the difference between celebrating a Mid Winter Christmas in a religious community, where the shortened daylight hours were made more beautiful by falling snow, to the heat and sunshine of a southern Christmas where we are able to enjoy the beaches and other out-door forms of recreation. Yet, wherever we live, and however we celebrate Christmas, it still offers us the opportunity for re-creation – which reminded me of a film, Babette's Feast, which you also may have seen:

The story is set in a small remote village in 19th-century Denmark in the home of two ageing sisters. Their father was a pastor who started his own conservative Christian Church which had little appeal to those living in the local community. While the sisters had received many opportunities for marriage, each time their father refused to grant his permission. When finally, the father died, his two (ageing) sisters continued to look after the dwindling and elderly congregation.

Thirty-five years later, a woman named Babette arrived at their door seeking accommodation, and hopefully, work. However, the sisters could not afford to pay her, but were willing to take her on as their cook in return for bed and food. This arrangement continued for some years. Then we come to a twist in the story.

Unknown to the sisters, Babette had been given a lottery ticket from a friend in Paris which he also renewed each year. Then one day she received the news that she had won 10,000 francs. Babette decided that since the sisters had been so kind to her and had provided both home and food, she would prepare a special anniversary dinner for the two sisters and their small congregation. It was to be a meal that transformed their lives!

Little did they realize, Babette had formerly been the head chef of the Café Anglais. The meal she prepared as an appreciation for way the Sisters had received and treated her was a magnificent feast! And because the gift of her meal, and the generosity and skill that she poured into her cooking was so potent, it was able to transform the guests, physically and spiritually so that 'old wrongs were forgiven, ancient loves were rekindled, and a mystical redemption of the human spirit settled over the table'.

Babette then announced that the dinner had cost her all the money she had won! The story ends when one of the sisters responded: "Now you will be poor the rest of your life", to which Babette replied, "An artist is never poor." I wonder who we might relate to in that story?

Carl Jung once made the following comment about Babette's Feast when suggesting that Babette “makes her sacrifice with no expectation of any return. She does not make the sacrifice to purchase the goodwill of the sisters or of those who will consume the feast. Indeed, she makes her decision believing that the consumers of her feast will have no idea what they are eating. When Philippa gently chides Babette for giving away all that she has for the sister's sake, Babette answers: 'For your sake? No for my own'." ⁽¹⁾

I wonder who you most relate to in this story?

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and good will on your journey into the new year.

Phil

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(1) ttps://jungpage.org/710-the-discovery-of-meaning-in-qbabettes-feastq

 

Learning to share God's Love

This Sunday we come to the fourth Sunday in the season of Advent. Advent is a busy and interesting time of year. It is also traditionally a time for pilgrimage when we may be planning to visit family members or to go on holiday and in doing so, perhaps we discover our life is slowly being woven into the lives of those who made their journey towards the celebration of Christ's birth.

It's also a time that may evoke many memories of past Christmas celebrations and especially those we loved and now see no longer .

We are reminded of this in the Sunday readings during the four weeks preceding Christmas, as we hear again the stories of Mary and Joseph, the Wise-men, and the angels and shepherds who all made their own and different journeys towards the place where Jesus was born.

For example, we first hear of Mary who was visited by an angel and learnt that she would be giving birth to a son who would be great and called “the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32). I wonder how she felt caught up in the divine drama that would forever change her life?

As I think of Mary I wonder how I would have responded? Yet what impressed me is the way she was able to stay and live in the moment – knowing that the God who called her would be faithful to His calling.

Then I wonder how her partner Joseph had felt? While he overcame the uncertainty and challenge of the news of Mary's pregnancy, little did he know or appreciate what was to come, especially as the months past and being forced to respond to his government's call for a census. No doubt he would have preferred to stay at home with Mary rather than make the 65 miles / 105 km journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem – with Mary, heavily pregnant, riding on their donkey while Joseph walked alongside. It would have taken them 4-5 days. In my mind I picture Joseph being full of concern and worry. Yet what impressed me was the way he was able to patiently learn, like Mary, to also stay in the moment.

As we journey with Joseph, I wonder what concerns and worries we bring with us on our Advent journey? We may know in our heads, perhaps, but sometimes not so sure in our hearts, that the God who calls us will also be faithful and provide for us through our hopes and struggles that life throws at us.

Or do we journey with the Magi (or so called wise men) who had set out on an even longer journey with their hopes and dreams as they simply followed a star in the sky! People must have though they were mad. What gave them the certainty to leave behind, in such uncertain times, the safety and shelter of home?

I wonder what calls our hearts and minds to leave behind the safety of what is familiar, to journey into the unknown? It will take us faith and courage to follow God's call and yet God never leaves us to journey alone – which reminds me of the poem by Minnie Louise Haskins:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day...

Then there were the Shepherds who lived out in the fields, guarding their sheep from the dangers of theft and wild animals. They were really introverted caretakers who loved nature and the quiet. They looked after with gentle concern what belonged to others. It's interesting that Jesus is often referred to as a Shepherd because he also offers to guard us – and feed us with his love and care as he calls us also to follow in his footsteps with his our hand in ours.

As our story reaches towards it's climax we meet an Inkeeper who could have done with the shepherd's wisdom and support as he worried about the practicality of providing space for the flood of tired and disgruntled people arriving in the evening of the day. Perhaps, he, like us at this time of year, begin to feel tired and exhausted with the business and demands that this time of year may have for us – and if so, no doubt we too may sense a growing restlessness, glad when the rhythm of our life is able to return to normal.

In contrast to the Innkeeper, we hear the story of the Angels who were full of joyful expectation and delight. Perhaps we still see glimpses of this through the expectation and delight in our children or grand children who remind us of the excitement we also shared in the celebrations of Christmas-past.

And finally, there was Jesus, waiting to be born. As he waits to be born again within each of us. The German Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher and mystic, Meister Eckhart, once wrote:

“What is the good of Mary giving birth to the son of God

if I do not also give birth to God today,

We are all called to be Mothers of God”.

So as we make our journey through this Advent Season, I wonder what sort of journey you are making? What do you carry in your pilgrim's pack? Is there anything that weighs you down? How can you lighten your load? Have you left some room in your pack for the gifts of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love that are offered to us to experience afresh as reach towards the end of our Advent pilgrimage?

The gift of God's love reminds us that we learn to love from being loved. And we learn to love God by being open to God's love. And so as you make your pilgrimage through this final week of Advent, may you be renewed by the love of God so you may share that love with those you meet.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and good will on your journey.

Phil

 

Advent: The season for Preparation

I wonder if you have been encouraged by the Black Friday sales to start your Christmas shopping, and whether you have already begun to decorate your home and garden with festive lights and ornaments?

Of cause to succumb to the commercial world's desire for you to spend your money may encourage us to also to miss the whole point of Advent! And while Advent is traditionally a time of preparation – it was originally a preparation of quite a different sort!. This is because the traditional themes that lie behind this four week season during December, are more about a yearning and hope for the fulfilment of quite a different sort to the incitements of the commercial world. The season of Advent is not just for us humans – it includes the whole of creation!

Perhaps this is easier for those who live in the Northern Hemisphere to relate to this idea. This is because during December they are rapidly approaching their longest and darkest time of the year. Some years ago I lived in a Franciscan Community in America and experienced or the first time a winter Christmas. It did appeal at first. But as the winter darkness (and snow) slowly deepened, it was not long before the novelty began to wear thin. However, in retrospect, because we spent much more time indoors the season actually seemed to invite us to think back over the past year, to celebrate the times where we excelled, and to review the situations where we could have acted differently. It also encouraged us to set new goals and intentions for the new year.

We find a similar theme of spiritual renewal in the Bible Readings set for this season of Advent. We will hear about:

1. The parting of the red sea and in the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day that led the Hebrew people during the difficult stages of their journey – to remind us that God does not abandon us in times of our need.

2. Of God's provision of manna and water in to his people times of hunger and thirst – which also is a reminder that God continually journeys with each one of us, providing and sustaining us on our journeys.

3. How God also provided his people with a rule of life for them to follow. Initially this was engraved on tablets of stone, which the Hebrew people carried with them as a constant reminder that God was still journeying with them, through all their joys and challenges. May we also learn to 'write' that wisdom upon our minds and hearts.

4. And as they carried the tent of the Tabernacle with them as their place of worship, we are also reminded that even in times and places of desolation and danger, the divine presence is still close at hand, to direct and guard us, on our journey of life.

Advent is also, a season to appreciate and care for creation.

Some years ago I came across the book 'Soul Survivor, A Spiritual Quest through 40 days and nights of Mountain Solitude'. It was written by the Wellington TV documentary film maker, Paul Hawker: In it he described his 40 day spiritual pilgrimage alone into the Tararua Mountains behind Masterton in an attempt to hear God's voice and obey it.

I think most of us have been touched by the spirituality that flows from creation, for example: the sense of wonder, and of our insignificance, when gazing at the star filled sky at night, or the stillness of a peaceful landscape, or the joy and sacredness of a beautiful garden where we may feel “nearer to God's heart... than anywhere else on earth”.

And finally, Advent is a season of Stories

Scientists like Brian Swimme and the cultural historian, Thomas Berry have suggested that Life is really a question of story, and while we we hear of those stories in our Bible Readings, however, we are now living in a period that is' in-between' stories. The Old Story that included how our world came to be and how we fit into it is no longer functioning properly. However, we have not learnt the New Story that whether we like it or not, we are actually responsible for the whole further evolution of our planet.

It is important for us to remember, that what happens to our outer world will inevitably affect our the inner world, Because, ‘If our outer world is diminished in its grandeur, then humankind's emotional, imaginative, intellectual, and spiritual life will also be diminished or extinguished¹.

I wonder what stories we are creating by the way we live?

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and good will on your journey.

Phil

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1. https://thomasberry.org/life-and-thought/about-thomas-berry/a-universe-story