Thought for Christmas: welcome, True Christianity

The Holy Family (Rembrandt, 1640)

         ‘…a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’ (Isaiah 9:6). In a dark world, in which it so often seems that evil triumphs over good, the vision of the Prophet Isaiah shines out brightly and is accomplished this holy night with the birth of our Redeemer in humble circumstances in Bethlehem.

         Isaiah also predicted that one of the names of this child – Jesus (‘Yahweh or God saves’) – would be ‘Immanuel’ or ‘God is with us’ (Isa. 7:14; Matthew 1:23). This is the mystery of the Incarnation. John talks of ‘the Word made flesh’, while Paul speaks of ‘the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but [which] is now disclosed’ (Rom 16:25-26). That God should decide to send his son to us, to live a life like ours, to suffer and to die on the cross for us and to be resurrected is indeed the most profound mystery. Our faith is a faith of hope. It is also a faith of peace. ‘The prince of peace’ of Isaiah 9:6 is affirmed by Paul to be just that: ‘he himself is our peace’ he tells us in Ephesians 2:14. ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’ the angels proclaim on Holy Night. During his ministry Jesus particularly stressed the role of peacemakers: ‘blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God’ (Matthew 5:9).

         One of the most influential early Christians, Origen of Alexandria, said this: ‘We have come in accordance with the counsels of Jesus to cut down our warlike and arrogant swords of argument into ploughshares, and we convert into sickles the spears we formerly used in fighting. For we no longer take sword against nation, nor do we learn any more to make war, having become sons of peace for the sake of Jesus, who is our leader.’

         Peace, justice, reconciliation, righteousness, harmony and order: these things are a central part of the vision of the Incarnation. And if we give them first place, it is because in our world today we are in such need of these things. In some countries it is civil war and the resulting dislocation of ordinary life which is the menace. In other countries it is the scale of organized violent crime which is tearing apart the fabric of civil society. Wars between states remain commonplace, causing huge devastation and civilian loss of life. After the devastation, we cannot afford to put the countries back together again because we have spent too much on the war itself and continue to spend too much on armaments. The weapons of offensive war are misleadingly termed necessities for our ‘defence’.
 

         This is one of the visions which the Incarnation gives us. A second image is provided by the sight of the Christ child, the son of God himself. The confidence of some Christians may have been shaken last week by the revelation that, according to the 2011 census data, the number of those in this country claiming to have no religion had risen to 14 million, up from 15 to 25 per cent of the respondents since 2001 (for some reason in ‘godless’ Norwich the figure seems to reach nearly 43 per cent!). The number of self-designated Christians seems to have fallen to 33 million, a decline from 72 per cent of respondents in 2001 to 59 per cent in 2011.

Now many things could be said about the reliability of census data in the area of self-designated belief, and about the distinction between nominal religious affiliation and actual religious commitment. As one American commentator wrote just before Christmas, ‘Christians [should] stop worrying about the symbols of the decline of Christian America and get back to the mission Jesus gave us to show the world a different way to live – a way that demonstrates the great character of God: his love, his justice, his compassion, his forgiveness and his reconciliation.’ To adapt his title we might conclude about the census data: ‘Goodbye Christian Britain: hello, true Christianity.’ True Christianity is an unselfish faith of love for the other that stands apart from the commercialization and self-indulgence of the conventional Christmas. Let’s put Christ back into Christmas this year and every year from now on.

So-called Christian Britain encourages a frenzied spending spree during the months of September, October, November and December which is said to be in ‘our’ good because it creates profits for commercial companies (and thus, it is claimed, may help to provide a temporary respite in our double dip economic recession). From Christmas Day until at least 2 January (longer in Scotland), we are encouraged to engage in a period of self-indulgence akin to the Roman festivals which the Emperor Constantine sought to counter by introducing a new Christian festival celebrating the birth of Christ in the year AD 336.

True Christianity, on the other hand, observes a period of preparation before Christmas called Advent, a time of penance when we recall our own shortcomings in order to make us more ready (or ‘fitter’, though we can never be truly fit) to receive Christ as our saviour, and at the second coming, as our judge. It is a time of waiting, as we wait actively for God and God waits for us. The consumer world tells us to ‘buy now’, but the Christian preparation is one of patience. It is a time of prayer and hymn singing – from the Advent hymnal, not the carols of Christmas which we hear in all the shops – that recalls and explains to us why we need a saviour and why it is impossible to rely on ourselves, which modern secularism proclaims is all that is necessary. Instead of taking the ‘waiting out of wanting’, as one advertisement used to say, Advent puts the waiting back into wanting – wanting not the gifts of this world but the one true gift, which came from God alone in the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour.

The vision of Holy Night is a vision of the divine love that is the Trinity. And, as with a great icon of the Trinity, we need to contemplate the Holy Family in order to perceive God’s love for us. The family at Bethlehem (and, later, Nazareth) is the household of perfect love. In a broken land, with more than 75,000 homeless children this Christmas, we need that vision of perfect love to inspire us to do something in the world to make it a better place. For the secular Christmas with its relentless dedication to ‘fun’ produces many victims in the sense of those excluded from the party: the homeless, the impoverished, the bereaved, the isolated. For them, and for many others, Christmas Day can be the loneliest and most painful day of the year. They need to be in our thoughts, prayers and actions this and every Christmastide and throughout the year too. Our church must dedicate itself to be a place of welcome and help for all in society, not just on Sundays, but on weekdays too. As government withdraws from its responsibilities towards civil society, it is our duty as Church to ensure that we try to fill the void – in other words to make society ‘civil’ and inclusive for all.


Our gospel comes from Luke. Luke’s account is of the kingdom of God being ‘at hand’. God’s kingdom is ‘relevant not merely because it is our future reward, but also because it affects how we live and think in this age. We prepare for the future kingdom by living in it now, following our King. We are bringing the future into the present. As we live in allegiance to Jesus, we recognize God’s rule as a present reality in our own experience, and we continue to hope in faith for a future time when the kingdom will be perfected, “when the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord” (Habbakuk 2:14).’ Our fellowship and welcome will not be lacking if you give us the chance. God’s welcome and love for you will not be found wanting if you give him a chance this Christmas and in 2013.