Christmas can be a special time for many people, whether they are religious, or not. Families come together and share food and gifts and there is a widespread sense of celebration. All communities need times like that – times when we pause from our usual patterns of life and give a new focus to the possibility of love and generosity. Of course, we can’t romanticise this.
Rather than simply thinking of the beautiful ancient Christmas story, we might consider that it can be seen as an invitation to look for, and give birth to, new Divine life among us now. We could even go beyond sharing what we have with others who are needy – those for whom “there is no room at the inn”, good though that may be.
Sadly, for some people, Christmas is a painful reminder of loss and loneliness. This year we think, especially, of those children and others who have been violated and betrayed by people with the name of God on their lips – possibly the ultimate betrayal. They have destroyed the promise of Divine life being born, and cherished among us, for those whom they abuse.
This Christmas, could we look at our community and our country and reflect on where Godly love could be born? Could we share in inviting that around us, even if it requires discipline and sometimes cost? Could we challenge the lack of love for people who suffer from racism, prejudice or exclusion? Could we look our politicians in the face and ask them whether their attitudes and actions express and invite in us love and justice, or not? How do our refugee policies give any birthing to love and justice? Could we even look at the relationships between the great religions of the world and the way we express our lives? Is the loving God we claim to serve really revealed in the way we relate to each other?
The Christmas story need not be something of the past. Divine life can be born and reborn in surprising places. If we initiate this and look for it in each other, Christmas could take on a far deeper meaning and truth. The vulnerability of the Christchild could be seen in unexpected ways, as we dare to lay this life among ordinary human people and bring them new hope.
No one would have expected that the Christ would be born among the very humble people who brought this life into the world. Why would a God arise there? Maybe we still tend to think like that. We look to clergy or people, in our view, of significance, to give the lead towards holy life. Maybe, if we look more openly and carefully, we may discover ideas and initiatives towards the holy life of love and grace in the most unexpected ordinary people around us. If we are open to that and affirm it, we may not only bring what they offer into the community and the world, but lift their lives into a new place.
We, who produce the SSH, have always had a commitment to challenge that which is destructive of true life around us and to affirm action for good where we find it in our local community and beyond. All of us wish you a loving and peaceful Christmas and a lifting of the heart towards new possibilities for the world.
