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We celebrate the time of year with food and gifts, with gatherings of family (both blood and found) and friends, hopefully with charity and concordance with all humanity, whatever their creed.
I'm listening to 'Do They Know It's Christmastime?' And thinking about the late night service at the local church last night and a newspaper opinion piece I read yesterday from the Sydney Centre For Public Christianity, where one of the leaders there spoke to several people who aren't in what we'd consider any kind of place to 'celebrate' Christmas - a church minister in Syria, a man waiting in one of Australia's detention centres for immigrants waiting for their amnesty applications to be processed, and a woman working with women in prisons who was once a prisoner herself. All spoke of their faith, of the knowledge that Christ is come and what it means to them.
Do they know it's Christmastime?
They can.
Because Christ has come, the saviour draws near. First as an infant child, adored and worshipped; then as an itinerant preacher, asking questions of the crowd that have no earthly answer; then as a contradiction - a crucified messiah, a dead man risen, a power that rose through love rather than war.
That's what I am most pointedly reminded of at Christmas, although the thought lingers all year around.
And knowing this is not just at Christmas, but all year around, every day of the year, every hour waking, every moment sleeping. Faith isn't something to bring out at the big celebrations, like spiritual devotion is something to be put on and taken off like fancy dress.
So, yes, they can know it's Christmastime, even without the trappings we've added to the celebration of Immanuel: God With Us.
And, TBH, Christmas gives me a chance to talk with others about it. Like you. :)
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Joyful Solstice - whatever your jam I hope and pray it's good for you and that you're spending it with people who matter to you, or in a manner that works for you. (And if you're not, then I hope that at the end of the ordeal, you get to come home, put your feet up and think, "I'm so glad that's over for another year.")
I'm listening to 'Do They Know It's Christmastime?' And thinking about the late night service at the local church last night and a newspaper opinion piece I read yesterday from the Sydney Centre For Public Christianity, where one of the leaders there spoke to several people who aren't in what we'd consider any kind of place to 'celebrate' Christmas - a church minister in Syria, a man waiting in one of Australia's detention centres for immigrants waiting for their amnesty applications to be processed, and a woman working with women in prisons who was once a prisoner herself. All spoke of their faith, of the knowledge that Christ is come and what it means to them.
Do they know it's Christmastime?
They can.
Because Christ has come, the saviour draws near. First as an infant child, adored and worshipped; then as an itinerant preacher, asking questions of the crowd that have no earthly answer; then as a contradiction - a crucified messiah, a dead man risen, a power that rose through love rather than war.
That's what I am most pointedly reminded of at Christmas, although the thought lingers all year around.
And knowing this is not just at Christmas, but all year around, every day of the year, every hour waking, every moment sleeping. Faith isn't something to bring out at the big celebrations, like spiritual devotion is something to be put on and taken off like fancy dress.
So, yes, they can know it's Christmastime, even without the trappings we've added to the celebration of Immanuel: God With Us.
And, TBH, Christmas gives me a chance to talk with others about it. Like you. :)
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Joyful Solstice - whatever your jam I hope and pray it's good for you and that you're spending it with people who matter to you, or in a manner that works for you. (And if you're not, then I hope that at the end of the ordeal, you get to come home, put your feet up and think, "I'm so glad that's over for another year.")
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I hope yours was deep, and joyous, and filled with moments to remember. You must be sending us a bit of your summer though, because Christmas Eve was as warm as a day in May usually is here!
If you see our winter by some chance, could you send it back here? We miss it!
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We're having a slightly odd summer; strings of days that are ridic hot (35-40C), punctuated by a few days that drop down to 20C and below - April and August weather! So, not sure what's going on...