The Reason for the Season
Christmas is one of my favourite times of year. I love to sing and enjoy the Christmas carols. I also love decorating my house with a Christmas tree and usually have candles everywhere. I’ve even been known to start the celebration with a proper Advent crown (like on Blue Peter) as well as an Advent calendar - I find a good countdown enhances the festivities.
I also enjoy the myriad of Christmas stories, whether it is the Dr Seuss’ The Grinch who Stole Christmas, the story of Baboushka, or the traditional Nativity in Luke. Christmas stories, even the modern ones, tend to be of a thoughtful type, and concerned with the true meaning of Christmas, the reason for the season.
If you look back at the historical records, winter celebrations pre-date the arrival of Christianity in Europe. The original reason for the season, was to ward away the cold and the dark, and celebrate the coming return of spring. This reason, is still around in the traditions of Yule logs, and of hospitality, of eating and drinking and making merry.
The early Christian church co-opted the existing winter festivals and added a new layer of meaning. They spread the story of a baby who was to be the fulfilment of earlier Jewish prophecies of a new King. The reason for celebrating was the birth of a new hope for humanity. Remembering this story is an important part of modern Christmases, in the Nativity plays that children put on at school or at church, and the Nativity sets that we use to decorate our homes. It is also found in the looking back and looking forward that accompanies the end of the year - we have new hope as the calender turns.
In lots of houses, the focus of the Christmas celebrations is on the youngest of the family. The wonder and awe of the fresh eyes that children bring to the festivities, has a magical transforming affect to many adults. The centrepiece of this reason for celebrating is Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, has evolved over the years from the figure of St Nicholas, Bishop of Smyrna, to now brings presents to all the good children.
Since the Victorian times, one of the over-riding Christmas sentiments has been, “peace on earth and goodwill to all men”. This is expressed in the true story of the Christmas football match between the British and German soldiers in the first world war trenches of 1914, or Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’. This reason for celebrating is seen in the successful appeals for gifts for those people and families who might otherwise go without, the special shelters for the homeless, and in the general air of friendship and joy that pervades many workplaces, schools, and homes.
There are many reasons for the season and they are all good ones. Pick the reasons and meanings that ring true to you and enjoy a wonderful Christmas season.
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Point of View and Frustration
I’m fortunate enough to know many thoughtful individuals who are commited to living value-filled lives. As is the way with these things, some of them are fervent Christians (for the record, some are Muslims, some are atheist, some have no faith position, etc.).
I was chatting away to one such person the other day about the nature of heaven. She asked me what I thought heaven was like, and as I commonly do, I first stated that non-existent was the first quality that came to mind. I agreed to put that slightly to one side, and discuss, should such a place exist, what the criteria for determining who got in might be.
In a typical vague style I said that if I were God, then I’d start by saying that all the ‘good’ people would be in and the ‘bad’ people would be out, and that since I’m clearly not God, I can leave both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ as not well-defined, but something along the lines of “living a thoughtful and value-filled life, being nice to people whether you agree with them or not”.
Apparently, this is not the definition of who gets in to heaven. Anyone (of any religious belief or none) can get into heaven if they have followed God’s plan for their life. I did point out the difficulties for an atheist of knowing God’s will for my life (I imagine that non-existent beings, pretty much can’t plan things). But she insisted that I couldn’t argue against this.
This argument rests entirely on the belief that the Bible is an authoritative source for things. Whilst I have a copy of the Bible that I do in fact read occasionally, to me, it is just another book. Having a difference like this in a conversation is absolutely fine.
What is deeply frustrating is that it never really occurred to her that I might have such a different view of the Bible.
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