December 2017
It is said that Christians took over the old Yuletide
festival and made it into Christmas. Very
likely they did, but can we agree that Christmas is better?
When you got to the shortest day of the year then it was
worth celebrating that the days would now get longer and the warm summer sun would
begin to return. But when the one who
created the sun and light itself - when The Light of the World comes into the
world then it is really time to light candles and to string sparkling lights around
our houses and streets.
When the stores of winter food began to shrink then it was
worth having one good feast to mark the passing of mid-winter and the hope that
planting and harvesting would not be too far away. But when the one who can give the food that
sustains people not just through one year but for eternity – when the Bread of
Life comes into the world then it is really time to open a bottle or two, to
spread a table with the best food that we can afford and to eat with joy.
When the dark days of winter were at their most oppressive
then it seemed worthwhile to sacrifice animals as gifts to the gods who might control
the seasons and the fertility of the earth.
But when the one who does not demand sacrifice but instead freely offers
himself as a sacrifice to buy for us freedom from guilt – when the Gift of God comes
into the world then it is really time to fill our houses with the sound of
ripping wrapping paper and the cries of thanks for gifts given in love.
Do we think that it was wrong to take a winter festival and
fill it with Christ? Jesus Christ
glorifies and transforms everything he touches; the world in the depths of its
barren winter death sparkles with light and life as His birth is celebrated.
Happy Christ-mas!
Graham Burrows
