Fred Craddock, a beloved preacher and story-teller, wrote a little reflection about the Christmas season in a magazine to which I subscribe. He said that we need all 12 days of Christmas in order to ponder what God has done among us. Indeed, this is true. We need the 12 days to appreciate what God has done and is doing in the world creating peace, justice and showing a different path to living.
This need for showing a different path to living was so apparent to me this past week. I was away for a couple of days and where I was staying, a free copy of the Globe and Mail was provided. Inside there was a bright, glossy spread from The Bay. The caption on the outside of the flier was a take-off on a popular Christmas carol: it read "At Christmas time the carols bling." It was an advertisement telling us that the only gifts worth giving are the expensive ones.
Craddock, Jesus the Christ Child, and indeed Mary and Joseph, show us a different path to living. They tell us that the best gifts are the ones that give life and peace. Cradock points to how the two gospel writers, Luke and Matthew, proclaim a new way of living that can be costly: a way of peace, a way of justice, a way of blessing. Luke and Matthew point to a choice: two realms, two ways of being in the world, two sovereigns, a choice between power and violence—the way of King Herod and the Emperor of Rome—OR the way of the Prince of Peace, the way of Jesus, the way of covenant love and justice, the way of turning the other cheek of loving your enemies. Craddock's one-liner is illustrative: "violence has its sword drawn against peace, but at every turn, Herod's attempt to destroy Jesus is thwarted by the will of God..." 1
From its beginning, the idea behind Christmas has been radical. King Herod didn't like the idea of a rival sovereign; the Romans didn't like the potential threat. The elite of Jerusalem were worried their privileged status would come to an end. All because of the birth of a baby. For centuries, until Christianity was legitimised by Emperor Constantine, Christmas wasn't even celebrated—it was Epiphany, the coming of the Magi, that was the festival that was celebrated. And it wasn't tolerated by the Roman authorities. Even more laterally, especially in Britain, Christmas was outlawed by the Puritans. And today? What can we say of Christmas today?
At the end of his little article, Craddock said this, "There is no power like the power of restraint, and there is no restraint like the restraint of love." 2 And that's really the bottom line isn't it: when we want vengeance for a wrong done to us, Christmas invites us through the teachings of Jesus to practice the restraint of forgiveness. When we are tempted to gorge ourselves on a feast of gift-buying and excess, Christmas invites us to practice restraint and feast on the meaning of kinship, truth, justice and love. When the culture around us wants to begin the Christmas celebration at the end of November, Christmas invites us to practice restraint and ponder the deeper meanings of this season at the appropriate time and reflect on what the birth of peace, hope, joy, and love means for us all the year through. If we practice the restraint of love, we will live the true meaning of Christmas and it will change us. Jesus is the way of love and leads us to live more fully in love's power, a new way of living. In the end, is there really a choice? Don't we want the way of love, the transformative power of love and new life that is embodied in Christmas? And besides, if we believe in the transformative power of God, alive in the world showing us a new path to living, don't Christmas and the birth of the Christ Child choose us?
May it be so this night and forever! Amen.
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1 Fred Craddock, Reflection on the Lectionary in the Christian Century magazine, December 14, 2010, page 21.
2 Ibid, page 21.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
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