CHAPTER 2
Reviewing traditional Christmas pageants, John Bell
describes them as Victorian reminiscence projects – suggesting the unreal quiet
of a staged manger scene is no place for us to understand the subtle truths
about his incarnation.
“It is the time when the Creator of heaven and earth
decides, out of love for the world, to forgo the distance and safety of heaven
in order to experience the risk and joy of life on earth in solidarity with
humanity.”
Bell suggests the only silence in the Xmas story is God’s
anonymity, that the holy one was hidden amongst the ordinary. When we think of the “decline” of spiritual
values in Western culture, both at Christmas and every other day, in what ways
do you glimpse God at work in the world?
Image: William Kurelek
Image: William Kurelek
I agree that Christmas has to a large extent become feast of sentimentality, in which the birth narrative is sanitized and confabulated. We Christians have created our own myth about the birth and I wonder if it continues to serve us well. It seems to me to be rather fairy tale like with its emphasis on the magical rather than the ordinary. (I know that the younger generation in my household thinks that the traditional Sunday school or pageant telling of the birth is largely nonsensical and bereft of meaning). I find meaning in the messiness of the circumstances of Jesus birth, the scandalous aspects, and my heart always goes out to Mary having to face giving birth for the first time without the support of the women in her family around her. (I sometimes wonder if there really was no requirement for her and Joseph to go to Bethlehem, whether it was convenient for the family to have her and Joseph away for a while to give the scandal little opportunity to grow legs.) I also wonder if the circumstances of Jesus' own birth made him more tolerant of others whose circumstances did not fit what was acceptable. I must say that the idea of "God leaving the safety and comfort of heaven" is a rather odd one to me. I don't see g-d as a being living in an actual place but just not earth. But the idea of the holy, the good, being in the ordinary messiness of life resonates for me. This year, I saw a re-telling of the Christmas story that used ordinary, contemporary circumstances. I liked it.
ReplyDeleteI think the birth narratives in the gospels were just that - an attempt to re-tell the discovery of God at work in the most ordinary, contemporary (for them) circumstances. Like Kurelek, who painted the image at the top of the page, we should be keeping our eyes open and wondering "where is God/holiness/shalom being birthed today?"
ReplyDeleteHelpful comments from both of you. I see God at work through our community. Folks at church are grounded in God, and have a belief in God's ability to effect change when asked. We don't ask for change by telling God what to do, but we place our situations in God's able 'hands' and let them go. There is a problem when people believe in God but don't believe in the power of prayer, but I think people are learning that faith means faith in God, not faith in our own abilities. I've seen that in my day to day dealings with people. I see people fighting against injustices that all may be realigned with the perfection of God. Perfection is where all springs from; however, we have drifted away from that as society has relied on its own understanding. I do see, however, people reaching out for peace and healing, and meeting the grace of God on that journey. As spirituality becomes more prevalent, as other faiths greet ours, God's presence is raised up. And people have to consider the possibility that faith in God could make a difference to the world. I believe that is happening now. In the silence, in our pain and hurt, we are meeting God one by one.
ReplyDeleteI think that the birth narratives were designed to align with the Jewish expectations for the Messiah and the birth narratives of the Roman gods – all to give credibility to the claim that Jesus was the Messiah. Depending on which story you are reading, it will say that the whole world (wise men) or the marginalized (shepherds) will recognize the truth about Jesus, are the ones that Jesus came to save (for lack of a better word, could also say release, liberate, heal, call…). Adding this idea to our Christmas pageants might provide some relevance to the stories. I disagree with the comment that “God decides, … to forgo the distance and safety of heaven…”. I believe that the divine has been (hidden?) living, expressing itself amongst the ordinary since the birth of creation ( interesting book by O’Murchu called Ancestral Grace which discusses this topic). I am not sure what is meant by ‘spiritual values’ – in all of the activities related to the environment, social justice, receiving immigrants, comforting the ill and lonely, treating the marginalized with respect… I see Divine Love at work.
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