Over the past few years I seem to have become one of those people who luuurves Christmas. I'm not quite sure why. I used to get really irritated by the fact that mince pies and tinsel appeared in the shops in September, but these days Christmas can't start soon enough for me.
Perhaps it's because I'm no longer a teacher, desperately hanging on until the end of the long autumn term, around 20th December. Growing up, my mum was a teacher, and Christmas preparations never got underway until the schools broke up. The run-up to Christmas was less than a week when I was young, and when I became a teacher, I too found it completely impossible to think about Christmas until the start of the school holidays. I've now been out of teaching and working in churches for nearly ten years, and the rhythm is quite different. Christmas is one of the high points of the church calendar, and churches start their Christmas planning and preparation months in advance. What's more, studying theology has introduced me to the concept of Advent, and I love it.
Before I became a Christian, Christmas was an exciting time which involved a lot of preparation. This was mostly down to my parents when I was a child; as an adult, I've enjoyed taking responsibility for my own Christmases: buying presents, writing cards, Christmas baking, coming up with low-cost present ideas when money was tight. But as a Christian, the weeks leading up to Christmas have a deeper significance. During Advent, we are waiting for the coming of the Christ child. During Advent, we reflect on the fact that Christ is coming, but he's not here yet. Things may be dark, but they will not be dark forever. Christmas looks back to a historical event - the birth of Jesus in first century Bethlehem - but Advent reflects on the fact that we are still waiting for Jesus to come. We need him to come afresh every year - every day - to his people. We can't do without him.
Perhaps one other reason why I love Christmas so much is that now, being older and a little wiser, I know more about the less shiny, happy side to life. Part of the privilege and pain of working as a Christian minister is that you are granted a particular insight into the many different forms of human misery. People tell you things about their lives; you encounter them at their most vulnerable times; you marvel at the heavy loads people carry while, on the outside, everything seems completely normal. And you experience your own brokenness too, of course, and try to view it in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and sometimes you fail. And yet, every year, there is Advent. And after Advent comes Christmas.
And then, of course, the cycle begins again. But a day will come when Christmas morning breaks and it will never come to an end.
Perhaps it's because I'm no longer a teacher, desperately hanging on until the end of the long autumn term, around 20th December. Growing up, my mum was a teacher, and Christmas preparations never got underway until the schools broke up. The run-up to Christmas was less than a week when I was young, and when I became a teacher, I too found it completely impossible to think about Christmas until the start of the school holidays. I've now been out of teaching and working in churches for nearly ten years, and the rhythm is quite different. Christmas is one of the high points of the church calendar, and churches start their Christmas planning and preparation months in advance. What's more, studying theology has introduced me to the concept of Advent, and I love it.
Before I became a Christian, Christmas was an exciting time which involved a lot of preparation. This was mostly down to my parents when I was a child; as an adult, I've enjoyed taking responsibility for my own Christmases: buying presents, writing cards, Christmas baking, coming up with low-cost present ideas when money was tight. But as a Christian, the weeks leading up to Christmas have a deeper significance. During Advent, we are waiting for the coming of the Christ child. During Advent, we reflect on the fact that Christ is coming, but he's not here yet. Things may be dark, but they will not be dark forever. Christmas looks back to a historical event - the birth of Jesus in first century Bethlehem - but Advent reflects on the fact that we are still waiting for Jesus to come. We need him to come afresh every year - every day - to his people. We can't do without him.
Perhaps one other reason why I love Christmas so much is that now, being older and a little wiser, I know more about the less shiny, happy side to life. Part of the privilege and pain of working as a Christian minister is that you are granted a particular insight into the many different forms of human misery. People tell you things about their lives; you encounter them at their most vulnerable times; you marvel at the heavy loads people carry while, on the outside, everything seems completely normal. And you experience your own brokenness too, of course, and try to view it in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and sometimes you fail. And yet, every year, there is Advent. And after Advent comes Christmas.
And then, of course, the cycle begins again. But a day will come when Christmas morning breaks and it will never come to an end.
Comments
Post a Comment