The gift of Christmas; the gift of Christ

The Revd Dr Mark Rowland, Secretary of the Faith & Order Committee, asks how we ensure that the good news of Christ's birth remains at the heart of our national festive celebrations this year.

My favourite Christmas movie is the Muppets Christmas Carol. Growing up, the annual re-watching of this film became a firm part of our Christmas celebrations as we entered into the excitement of there being “only one more sleep ‘til Christmas.” For those unfamiliar with the film or with Charles Dickens’ original novel, it is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a cruel money-lender who discovers what it really means to celebrate Christmas. Over the years our Christmas celebrations have acquired a range of customs – many of our traditions are in fact Victorian and others are more recent. There is nothing wrong with this – lots of people will enjoy their trees, turkey dinners, chocolates and much more.

For Christians, those things may be good but they are not the true meaning of Christmas. At the heart of the Christian celebration is the gospel news of the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s Word made flesh. Christians believe Jesus was fully God and fully human and opened the way for all humanity to be reunited with God. This is at the heart of what Christians celebrate in these days: a joyful, life-giving message that has changed the world – and is still changing it.

From time to time, we hear those who claim that we need to put Christ back in Christmas. It’s a suggestion I approach with a lot of caution: Christ is always with us and each year throughout the country churches proclaim and celebrate his birth in worship and outreach of all kinds: from joyful carol services and nativity plays to serving countless meals to people who would otherwise be hungry and lonely. When people claim that they will put Christ back in Christmas, I am even more wary: we do not control Jesus Christ and he is not ours to put anywhere. In his life on earth, Jesus Christ took on the worst the world could throw at him and rose again triumphant. His call to us is not to put him here or there but to listen and to follow. His invitation to the first disciples is his invitation to us all: “Follow me.”[1]

So how might use this Christmas an opportunity to start following Jesus or to follow him better? What would it actually mean to make our Christmas more Christian? Another of my favourite Christmas traditions is to listen to the broadcast of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge. In the opening prayer of that service, we are invited “to hear again the message of the angels.”[2] That message, first heard by the shepherds on their hilltop was, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!”[3] What would it mean for us to hear that message again? How can we live as those who take to heart God’s message of peace? Who are those God favours and how does that shape our attitudes and priorities?

In the Bible, the law and the prophets teach us over and over again about God’s care for those who are left out, excluded or hated. The Biblical law tells God’s people to treat the stranger in their land as one of their own. The Biblical prophets rail against rulers who oppress the poor and mistreat people. As the opening prayer in the service of Nine Lessons and Carols asks us: “And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us remember, in his name, the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry and the oppressed; the sick and them that mourn, the lonely and the unloved, the aged and the little children; all those who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.” These are the people God favours. God longs for them to know God’s love and for us to live in ways that show that love.

Alongside the claim we need to put Christ back in Christmas often comes something about Britain being a Christian country. If we listen to the Christmas story, we’ll see it’s a story of movement and travel: Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem for the census. Shepherds rush from their hillside. The Magi come from a faraway land to worship the new-born Jesus. The Holy Family flee to Egypt because of the danger to Jesus’ life from King Herod. The Christmas story is a story of different places and different peoples: it certainly doesn’t belong to any one country.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist tradition, himself considered what it might mean to live in a Christian country. In his characteristically forthright way, he challenged his hearers: “Where do the Christians live? Where is the country where everyone is filled with the Holy Spirit? Where they never let anyone go without anything but always give to everyone according to their need? Who are all filled with the love of God? Who are all merciful, humble, gentle and patient? Who never do anything against justice, mercy or truth but always do to others as they would have them do to them? How can we call anything a Christian country that doesn’t look like this? Let’s be honest: we’ve never seen a Christian country on earth.”[4]

If we want to be a Christian country that has put Christ back into Christmas, we have a long way to go! Ebenezer Scrooge’s life was changed in Charles Dickens’ story. My prayer for us all this Christmas is that our lives are changed: that we truly hear the message of the angels and see God’s love revealed in the child in the manger and learn to show that love to all around us, whether they are like us or not.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor, famous for his resistance to Nazi rule in Germany was killed by them as the war drew to an end. He challenges us as to what it really means to celebrate Christmas:

“Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honour, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.”[5]

[1] Matthew 4:19

[2] https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/times-and-seasons-0

[3] Luke 2:14

[4] John Wesley, Scriptural Christianity, paraphrased by Mark Rowland

[5] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas, p. 26