Who needs Christmas?!

Editorial

Do we really need Christmas? I'm asking that question in the collective - not just Christians - does the world need it? Why? What real difference is it making?

Oh yes, retailers will doubtless say it is good for business. And many people will say (I've heard it several times on TV in recent weeks) that it is good to have the family around and together. People flock in their thousands to carols by candlelight, and the selling (and pilfering) of Christmas trees is big business. In recent years we have seen in Canberra the development of the phenomenon of lavish Christmas lighting displays on private homes. Friends have said, "I love Christmas". And yes it is great to get (and give) Christmas cards and letters from those long time friends whose main point of contact with us now is the letter or card at Christmas.

But there's the other side of Christmas too. How many times has it been said "it was nice to have the family here, but it's also nice to return to normal living again". There will, also, be the deeper-than-usual pain at Christmas of those who have recently lost a loved one. There will be the loneliness and despair of those whose lives are in disarray and for whom the festivities of Christmas are a bitter reminder of something lost.

Ask most Christians if Christmas is necessary and you will probably expect to get a "theologically correct" answer about it being the reminder that Christ came into the world to save us from our sins. Doesn't it need to be more than that - more than a reminder, more than a celebration. Wouldn't it better if it were to be a re-enactment?

Christ not only came into the world two millennia ago in a particular historical manifestation, he is wanting to come into the Bethlehems and cattle stalls of this modern world as well. But it is not just in a spiritual manner that he wants to come, and does come, but in a tangible manner as well - if we let him. If we take his mantle on us and go to the poor and outcast, the hungry, those imprisoned, the lonely, the forsaken - then surely in that act Christ can become incarnate once more.

It is so easy for us to remember and re-enact the Christmas story in a perpetuation of the blessings we have received - enjoying ever more blessings and comforts.

In this newsletter there is a Celtic litany from the Iona Community. It is interesting, different, and engaging. But I feel uncomfortable with it because it is a liturgy in the comfort and warmth of one's living room. A prayer is offered for those who are 'sleeping rough' but the nearest we come to going out into the cold and dark of the 'cardboard huts and dampened squats' is to go to the window with a candle.

Christ did more than come to 'heaven's window' to look out on our need 'he became flesh and lived among us'. In that He gave us the supreme and immortal exemplification of living and giving for others.

The shepherds weren't expecting anything that day - just another bleak night. Who around us, near to us, known to us will likewise not be expecting anything this Christmas - or may be expecting a very lonely and empty time? They need the Christ of Christmas to come to them. The Christ of Christmas can come to them, in and through us - if we will make the time to go to them or phone them, or share a meal with them, or take to them (not on our list) a gift of love and compassion.

God can become incarnate again this Christmas through me and you. He can repeat the miracle of being among us if we are prepared to go out of our way to be with and help and support and care for someone who is in need.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."  And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."