Dear friends,
The opening thought for today's reflection comes from Sharon Jaynes.
If I decorate my house perfectly,
With strands of twinkling lights and shiny glass balls,
But do not show love to my family,
I'm just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen,
Baking dozens of Christmas cookies,
Preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime,
But do not show love to my family,
I'm just another cook.
If I work at the soup kitchen,
Carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity,
But do not show love to my family,
It profits me nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels,
Attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata,
But do not focus on Christ,
I have missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the partner.
Love is kind,
Though hurried and tired.
Love does not envy another home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of your way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return,
But rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things,
Believes all things,
Hopes all things and endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break,
Pearl necklaces will be lost,
Golf clubs will rust,
But giving the gift of love will endure.
And after that thought,
Sharon adds a prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for sending your son Jesus that starry night in Bethlehem.
Like the shepherds,
I am still amazed at your great love.
May I not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas,
But celebrate Jesus' birthday with joy.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
And now a time for quiet reflection on the meaning of Christmas.
So first of all,
Make sure you are sitting comfortably.
You might like to close your eyes.
Sitting up reasonably straight,
But not rigid.
Hands on your chest so as to feel your own heartbeat and relax.
Next,
Take in a deep breath.
Hold the breath for a second or two and then let go.
And as you breathe out,
Drop your shoulders and relax even more.
There is a familiar mantra for this.
As I breathe in,
I notice that I am breathing in.
As I breathe out,
I notice that I am breathing out.
Let's allow ourselves one minute for this breathing exercise.
A chance to shake off any worries or concerns or pressures and feel the peace of this present moment.
Welcome back.
Norman Vincent Peale says this.
Christmas waves a magic wand over this world.
And behold,
Everything is softer and more beautiful.
And isn't that so true?
Everything is softer and more beautiful at Christmastime.
For some reason,
After 2,
000 years,
The birth of Jesus of Nazareth is still celebrated the world over.
And not only by Christians.
Now the cynics will complain about the commercialisation of Christmas.
As cynics always do.
And yes,
The real meaning of Christmas can be lost in the hustle and bustle of Christmas.
The hustle and bustle and the frantic preparations for this holiday.
But isn't it only natural that we go over the top as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ?
Even people who are not Christians read the words of Jesus and realise what a better world we would have if only we would apply his teachings.
G.
K.
Chesterton,
When writing about what is wrong in the world,
Says this.
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting.
It has been found difficult and left untried.
So true,
And what a pity that it is true.
So here we are,
Celebrating the birth of Jesus every year on the 25th of December.
Easter is a date that is specifically calculated by reference to the Christian Gospels.
The first Sunday,
After the first full moon,
After the spring equinox.
The actual date of Easter changes from year to year but there is a formula by which it is calculated.
We have no such direction as to the date when Jesus was born.
But we can be fairly certain that it wasn't on the 25th of December.
Can you imagine shepherds out in the fields looking after their flocks by night,
In the middle of winter?
And wouldn't it be extraordinary if the Roman authorities decided to carry out a census at the coldest time of the year when people would have great difficulty travelling back to their home villages and towns.
Even today,
With all our modern comforts,
We know that politicians don't like the idea of an election in December or January.
So why a December birthday for Jesus?
The reason was an inspired one.
The 25th of December was a perfect add-on to an existing holiday,
The winter solstice.
By deciding to celebrate the birth of Jesus at the same time as the traditional winter solstice festivals,
The Roman Catholic Church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly celebrated.
In the year 336 of the Common Era,
In other words,
The year 336 AD,
Which is to say,
336 years after the birth of Jesus,
Pope Julius I chose December 25th as the date when Christmas was first celebrated.
This was in an effort to adapt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Sanctuary.
The mid-winter festival where people celebrated the passing of the shortest day,
The return of the light,
Was always a time of great jubilation,
Celebration.
And selecting the time when the light returned also ties in with the idea of Jesus as the light of the world.
The important thing is not the date.
But the fact that we would continue to celebrate the birth of someone whose universal message of peace and love is so much needed.
As has been said by Hamilton Wright Mabee,
Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.
Let's take another one-minute pause for reflection.
Welcome back.
From early December and even earlier,
We see people and businesses and communities taking out the twinkling lights and the festive decorations and the shopping begins.
But by and large,
This is shopping for others rather than for ourselves.
A time for rediscovering and practising generosity.
It's a time when people are more inclined to give to charity.
A time for checking up on old friends.
Christmas still seems to have the power to capture the hearts of people from all walks of life.
It transcends religious boundaries and cultural differences.
It's a time when we can come together regardless of our beliefs to reflect on the ideals of love,
Hope and peace.
And of course we have the benefit of tradition built up over many generations.
The season of goodwill is a time for coming together for family meals,
Gift-giving,
Reuniting with old friends and in the background for the weeks before we have the wonderful Christmas music.
The words of the so familiar hymns inspire people regardless of their own individual religious views.
O Holy Night,
The stars are brightly shining.
Joy to the world,
The Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King.
Hark the herald angels sing.
Glory to the newborn King.
Silent night,
Holy night.
All is calm,
All is bright.
Away in the manger,
No crib for a bed.
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
And,
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.
And of course we have the hymn O Holy Night where we have these words.
Truly he taught us to love one another.
His law is love and his gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break for the slave is our brother and in his name all oppression shall cease.
These words heard every Christmas season from childhood linger on in our memories and remind us of another world of possibility.
Is it any wonder Norman Vincent Peale came up with this thought?
Christmas waves a magic wand over this world.
And behold everything is softer and more beautiful.
Let's have another minute for reflection.
And we mustn't forget the wonderful tradition of Santa Claus.
In 1897,
Virginia O'Hanlon,
A young girl from New York City wrote to the New York Sun.
Dear editor,
I am eight years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says if you see it in the sun it is so.
The editor's reply printed in the newspaper is remembered to this day.
Virginia,
Your little friends are wrong.
They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical age.
They do not believe except they see.
They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds.
All minds,
Virginia,
Whether they be men's or children's,
Are little.
In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect,
An ant in his intellect.
As compared with the boundless world about him as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes,
Virginia,
There is a Santa Claus.
He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist.
And you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.
Alas,
How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus.
It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.
There would be no childlike faith then,
No poetry,
No romance to make tolerable this existence.
We should have no enjoyment except in sense and sight.
The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus.
You might as well not believe in fairies.
You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus.
But even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down what would that prove?
Nobody sees Santa Claus but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus.
The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.
Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn?
Of course not.
But that's no proof that they are not there.
Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside.
But there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart.
Only fate,
Fancy,
Poetry,
Love,
Romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond it.
Is it all real?
Ah,
Virginia,
In all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus?
Thank God he lives and he lives forever.
A thousand years from now,
Virginia,
Nay,
Ten times ten thousand years from now,
He will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Let's have another one minute pause now.
It would be important that we wouldn't lose sight of the messages for life given to us by the special person whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.
These teachings are of universal application,
Wise advice to all people of goodwill,
Whether Christian or not.
If only we could all remember these words and do our best to apply them in the year ahead,
What a wonderful word it would be.
Simple everyday instructions such as love your neighbour as yourself,
Do to others as you would have them do to you,
Bless it are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God,
Let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Where your treasure is,
There your heart will be also.
Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself.
A new command I give you,
Love one another as I have loved you,
So you must love one another.
No one can serve two masters.
You cannot serve both God and money.
But I say to you,
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
These quotes from Jesus provide a moral and spiritual framework for a good life.
They emphasise love and compassion.
They encourage us to focus on eternal values and abandon the blind pursuit of mere material possessions.
In a world where it is difficult to tell fake news from truth,
Where images can be manipulated to give the impression that people have said something that they have not said,
Where there is a growing gap between the small number of super-rich and the huge numbers of people desperately poor,
Where we see people enduring war and suffering and the alarming return of petty nationalism,
And all this at a time when humanity faces an existential threat due to global warming.
There has never been a greater need for people to find inspiration from ethical leaders.
In the midst of all the lights and all the tinsel,
All the shopping,
All the busyness,
All the madness,
Every 25th of December we have a reminder to look again at the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth,
To dream of a better world and a kinder future,
A dream of peace on earth and goodwill amongst all peoples.
Let us work to make that dream a reality.
Namaste.
