Christmas Again .
We all admit that the real meaning of Christmas gets lost amid tinsel and fairy lights and carols. And the prevailing notion that Christmas is about family, and especially children, means that the story gets told mostly for children, with angels like fairy godmothers, and the baby waiting for visitors to worship him with 'ooh' and 'ah' and 'isn't he cute', with gifts of woolly animals and exotic presents, and finally escaping from the clutches of the wicked villain Herod.
Well, with twelve grandchildren, I know plenty of children, and I love them. But I do notice that children grow up. But sadly, their notions of Christmas often don't. Here are a few grownup things that I want to be reminded of at Christmas.
This particular Birth involves the existence of our universe. It came into being through a Personal Presence, which exists in it as my mind exists in my body. But more: that Presence has shared in the messy process of a human life, sucking milk, toilet training, growing up, deciding about right and wrong. So when I know that there is something I 'ought' to do, it is not a command from some remotely superior authority, but One who has experienced my condition, been there, done it, got the T-shirt.
That means it actually happened. It was a historical event. There is, in fact, far more evidence for Jesus as a historical person than others of the time who we take for granted - Julius Caesar, for instance. This is no fairy tale. We learn history as shaped by monarchs, battles, geniuses; but that Birth has shaped history more than any of them.
So it has social, political significance. His birth was socially disturbing; Mary narrowly escaped divorce and worse. Her status was dubious - have you ever wondered why in Joseph's ancestral hometown no relatives would put them up? And, politically, the Birth was a threat to a throne. I wonder what the Egyptians made of that immigrant refugee family?
This is a plea to take this Christmas seriously. There are countries where people risk everything, even life itself, to celebrate Christmas. Don't let's insult them by treating it like a child's fantasy. Then have a New Year full of mature, grownup blessing!
John Peck