Do they know it’s Christmas?

On the social media platform, Twitter, the other day somebody posted this issue:

 “Can we talk about something other than Christmas, politics or weather?” “Such as?”

“I’ve forgotten what else there is.”

There’s certainly been plenty of politics and weather during the last few weeks! They seem to have taken over our lives in certain respects - unwelcome intrusions - so no wonder people might want to talk up the “Christmas spirit.”

“Can we talk about something else?...”  I suggested, “Advent.”

So let me remind you again about Advent! It’s a neglected season with the Christmas decorations so often going up even before Advent begins. Say “Advent” to someone - and they’ll likely think of Advent Calendars, which these days come stocked with chocolate, sometimes gin, and I think I heard of one which offered a diamond behind each new day’s window.

I still yearn for the days when there was simply a picture - and it told a story, unfolding until the young couple with their donkey finally reached a stable on December 24^th with the central window opening on Christmas Day to reveal the child in the manger. The whole point of Advent is to pace ourselves on a journey in which there’s time to hear again what God is saying to us - and find the fulfilment of his purpose as he sends his Son into our world.

An Election on 12^th December is pretty bad timing in anyone’s calendar. But still worse is the manner in which so much of the campaigning is being conducted. We could do with a concern for truth, for words of meaning rather than emptiness, for promises that may have some reality deeper than opportunism, and for a desire that the outcome may result in justice for all rather than victory for one party or another. Remember God’s purpose - and his method - at Christmas: LOVE. It’s a word I’d like to hear more, and God’s Word revealed in Jesus is Love.                         

Martin Jackson

From the December 2019 / January 2020 issue of our Parish Magazine - find it all here