Father Christmas

22 Dec 2017 • From the Vicar

Sssh!! Don’t say it too loudly, but I’m not sure that I believe in Father Christmas. I had my suspicions when I was about 11 years old; it was something to do with the anonymous surprise parcel at the foot of my bed giving way to a clearly labelled gift from Mum & Dad. Despite my best efforts I was never able to stay awake to prove his existence. Progressively, all thoughts of Santa receded but the gifts kept coming each Christmas. That’s what it’s all about, surely? As the years passed by that jolly ‘corpulent’ (what word am I allowed to use these days?) figure (if I say man who knows who might be offended!) with white beard and red costume (thank you Coca Cola for the colour change from green) became little more than an image on a card or a foil-covered chocolate decoration on the tree.

I never even considered the practicalities of circumnavigating the globe in 24 hours and delivering millions of presents to children who had been good. Ah, there’s the catch – only if you have been good. How often were (and are) children told they need to be good or else Father Christmas won’t call? More sophisticated nowadays is the ‘Elf on the Shelf’ who pops up in all sorts of places to watch over and report back on the behaviour of children… the little snitch!!But at least there are websites where Santa Claus reassuringly speaks personally to a child about how pleased he is with them, and then you can track his position as Christmas dawns in around the world.

Anyway, we don’t really need Santa; not us adults. We know the harsh reality of life – there is no beneficent and jolly character who will lift us from the worries, challenges and concerns that we experience on a daily basis; no-one who will transform our lives, even if for just a day or two. We have to rely on ourselves and our own efforts.

For many people it would be simple to interchange this perception of ‘Father Christmas’ for that of God. Even more disconcertingly, too many have no understanding of God, let alone the Christian faith – what has religion got to do with Christmas?And for many Christians, we can become swallowed up in the sheer madness of making Christmas perfect. Who was prepared for that first Christmas? Joseph & Mary travelling miles to Bethlehem certainly weren’t (walking more out of necessity than expectation). The innkeeper, frantically trying to make the most of the bounty that so many looking for lodgings brought, was caught in the excitement that money brings. The shepherds who were desperately trying to stay awake amid the boredom of looking after someone else’s dumb sheep?

It was God who was prepared; prepared to bring about the most amazing act in human history, prepared to bring about a revolutionary way of understanding, prepared to risk losing everything to gain the possibility that humankind might, just might learn to love God again. Not by bribing with presents, not by mildly veiled threats, not by displays of super powers; but by experiencing what we experience, feeling and seeing what we feel and see, by doing the unexpected… becoming a new born baby. No wonder the angels proclaimed “Joy to the world”; this was (and still is) the most wonderful news imaginable. And it is this joy that we are in danger of overlooking each Christmas and every day. A joy that brings an exhilaration, delight and sheer gladness into our lives; a joy that allows us to live more fully in spite of (and sometimes because of) all that we can and do experience; a joy that is brought about by the expectation of something great and wonderful… Emmanuel, Christ with us.

May you know the joy of the Christ-Child this Christmas.

John