What Kind Of Christmas.

What kind of Christmas are you hoping for?

• A Cosy Christmas.

Huddled around a log burning stove, hot drink in hand, twinkling fairy lights from the fresh pine tree in the corner. Together with your nearest and dearest taking time to rest after a busy year.

• A Family Christmas.

Last year so many of us missed out. Maybe this year you cannot wait to get your extended family all back in one room. The chaos and laughter as jokes are told and the same old stories are shared.

• A party Christmas.

There’s lots to celebrate at Christmas. Drink and be merry. Connect again with old friends and new ones. Let your hair down and unwind. Tis the season!

• Or maybe…

You can’t wait for it to all be over. It’s not for everyone is it!

Christmas is a season of waiting. Waiting for the magic of the day itself. 

Anticipation.

What will we behold in Fenwick’s window this year?

When will the first mince pies be on sale in the shops?

Waiting for the longed for first Festive bake from Greggs. 

The anticipation of what our nearest and dearest will think as they peel back the gift wrap and see what you’ve gifted them.

The anticipation of the feast. Pigs in blankets and roast potatoes galore. 

And some of us really are just waiting for it all to be over. Waiting for the tat of Christmas to be put away in the loft for another year. 

Anticipation allows us to dream, to imagine. It creates a possibility for us, that something might possibly become true. This might be the year that your family have listened to your request to gifts. The party you’ve been invited to might be the best party of your life. Having your family all in one room might be a time to be cherished, argument free, full of warmth and love. 

Anticipation perfectly captures the mood of that first Christmas.

The mere mention of the first Christmas may have brought flashback images of angels in pillow cases, shepherds with tea towels on their heads and memories of never being picked for the starring role of Mary! The story of the school nativity has been etched in your memory. It feels just like that, a story. One for the playground, left behind.

I get that, it does have that feeling of being far-fetched. Angels with messages and dreams and virgin births – it all feels a little sensational.

But as you read on, I’d like to invite you to consider the first Christmas afresh as we observe one ordinary man’s responses to the baby who arrives on the scene in Bethlehem. 

To help us begin to enter the feel of that first Christmas below is a link to the hymn O holy night and a prophecy, a promise if you like, given to the people of that time. As you read/ listen to it begin to imagine with me, what would they have been hoping for? What might they have been anticipating?

O Holy Night (Hear the gospel story)

2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.

You may have noticed that both in our reading and as we sung that we began in a place of darkness. The people hearing this for the first time were under oppression by the powers that ruled. They were a wearied people. You can only imagine then how sweet the sound of these words from Isaiah would have been.

Hope is held out. A light will shine and their burdens will be lifted.

And they will know deep joy. The passage is full of rejoicing.

And this then sets the scene for that first Christmas. When finally “the child is born”.

One man in particular in the Christmas story stands out for me. He’s not flashy, he never gets mentioned in the nativity. Simeon is an older man, he was a priest and served in the temple. Simeon had been promised in his lifetime he would meet the promised child, so day after day Simeon held onto that promise. He trusted and waited even though generations before him had been anticipating the arrival of these baby for years. When the moment finally arrives it’s like one from another favourite movie of mine. When Rafiki stands at the edge of pride rock and holds baby Simba in his hands and presents him to the animal kingdom.

As he scoops up this baby in his arms he’s overjoyed and declares

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismissed your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,”

The time has come! The waiting is over! It is he – the promised one. The build-up and the longing have been met. So much so did you notice that Simeon is able to say, now you may dismiss me. I’ll die a happy man. His one hope has been answered.

But why does this matter? 

What is the purpose of me drawing your attention to Simeon’s story of meeting the baby Jesus? Let me just draw a few lines of similarity between us and this dear old man as it may surprise you how similar we are.

First, we share in his longing for hope don’t we. At Christmas time we’re hoping for something, we’re anticipating what might be. 

Second, we’re in a similar position. Darkness. Yes we’re in the middle of winter, but I mean beyond the physical darkness. As we take a look around us we’ll be aware of injustice, pain and just general brokenness. The news constantly alerts us to the dark in our world. This last year the darkness has perhaps been bought a little closer to home. In the last year as researches have tried to map the effects of the pandemic in our country it is staggeringly clear that our mental wellness has taken a blow. 3.7million adults said they felt or experienced loneliness “often” or “always”.

Perhaps this isn’t all that merry, but if we’re to understand the Christmas story we have to enter into our reality. Our world is broken and dark and if we’re honest we know that darkness lies in here too. It’s only as we look at the dark head on as it truly is that we’ll ever begin to see light.

Two similarities but perhaps one difference. 

Our anticipation often isn’t met. And if it is ,aren’t we always left longing for more?

We experience something of a gap. Not just as we anticipate our ideal Christmas, but any time we hope or long for something.

So many of us are living for the build-up of Christmas and prefer it to the day itself. The gatherings of friends at the meal or that get together. The late night shopping. Fetching our Christmas tree and putting up the decorations. And yet, more often than not the day itself I just feel, well a bit “meh”!

Often there’s a gap between what we anticipate and our lived reality. 

What if I was to tell you that the real plot twist is that the same baby who Simeon cradled in his arms, is the one who knit into every fibre of your being that anticipation, and that He is the only one who can fulfil it? 

Now bear with me, but you see I think at Christmas time our hoped for Christmas reveals so much of what our hearts long for. 

And that whisper of our heart I think points to something far better… The story of the God child entering into our world, is the light our hearts hope for arriving.

Take a look at the four names given to the child and lets just imagine a world where this were true, if we knew one like this.

• Wonderful Counsellor.

Imagine knowing someone who had true wisdom. Not someone blagging it or faking it. But someone who can guide and lead you, gently taking you by the hand with care.

• Mighty God.

If this were true no plans could be thwarted, nothing could derail them. They’d be able to do things because they’d have the power to do so and they’d use that power justly.

• Everlasting Father.

Dependable, loving us at our worst. Ready to lift us up and hold our hand in theirs. Wants for our good. Cares for the vulnerable. Steps in in a crisis. Cheers us on. This father is always and forever. Never giving up and never letting go of us.

• Prince of Peace.

Perhaps this is the hardest to imagine. But to know someone who is a bringer of peace. Imagine the possibilities that might bring. War would be no more. Relationships could be restored and healed. Disease would no longer rip through our bodies. No more death and decay. Anxious thoughts and feelings we carry around with us, No more.

Isn’t this something of what we hope for? Wouldn’t this be light for our darkness? 

The Christmas story is the beginning of that light arriving into our world. God’s solution wasn’t to zap down a bit of hope, but he came among us. In time and space. Peace and hope walked among us. So much was his love, he came down to be that rescue.

Jesus is light for a world in darkness. The Emmanuel – God almighty himself comes into the world in all his truth and wisdom. As he grows, he lives a perfect life of peace, defending the vulnerable, drawing near to the outcast and healing the sick. All while pointing to the Father who sent him. The father who gifted Him to us.

This Christmas would you be willing to come and take a look? Perhaps for the first time, perhaps afresh.

Because as I see it we have two options as we consider the anticipation gap that we all experience. 

Either, we just accept it. It just is, get over it.

Or, could it be that the anticipation we feel at Christmas points to the deeper longings of our hearts? And would you consider whether those longings might actually be met in Jesus?

You see, the Christmas story allows us to look our darkness in the face, look reality straight on, and yet offers us to joyfully hope in the light.

“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given”

From me. Says God.

To you.

But what will you do with the gift?

By Emma Wyatt.