Happy 'Winter Festival'!

Christmas originated from a Pagan mid-winter festival.  The Romans piggy-backed on an already existing festival in order to establish their new religion over the masses.  Jesus wasn't even born in December!  It was probably April.  'In the bleak min-winter'?  Not really.

Every year, it seems, there is some town-council that 'bans Christmas' in favour of calling it a mid-winter festival.  But if Christmas didn't originate with Christians, then is there really an imperative to keep Christ at the centre of it?

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I love Christmas.  I hate winter - the cold, the dark, the wet, and I don't think it's any surprise that the pagans started having a mid-winter festival.  Nowadays, when the nights are long and dreary, it's the ideal time to light up our houses, warm ourselves with mulled wine, and cheer each other up with gift-giving and music.  Without this our winters would be darker and we'd all be much more miserable.  I think everyone who has a winter should have a mid-winter festival, and that doesn't have to be anything to do with being a Christian.

But what about the child in the manger?

The apostle Paul writes: 'So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God'. (1 Corinthians 10:31).   I want to put God at the centre of all my celebrations and worship him in everything I do.  Winter is hard - what better thing to do, then, to draw comfort from God's word and fellowship from others, and live out his mandate to spread that love to the rest of the world, at a time when they may need it most.

But what about the special focus on Jesus' birth?  As I said, it's not like it's Jesus's actual birthday or something explicitly set out in the Bible.  We could just have a celebration and give thanks to God like we would at any other time.  But I'm not ready to dismiss the ecclesiastical calendar.  Maybe it was just an accident of history that the Romans hijacked the mid-winter festival for Christendom, of maybe it was God's divine plan.  I don't know, but I think it's actually quite a good time to remember the events of Jesus' birth.

Light of the world, but may not have been born in a stable.

One of our treasured wedding gifts from a friend.

Paul also writes:  'Since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.' (Romans 1:20).   Jesus may not have been born in winter, but he was born in a spiritual winter.  It had been 400 years since the last prophet had spoken, and although a remnant of Israel had returned to the promised land, they were under occupation of the Romans, and the world needed a saviour just as much as it does today.  John started his gospel, often read at Christmas, with: 'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome/understood it' (John 1:5).  Isaiah writes: 'The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light' (Isaiah 9:2).

Christmas is quite literally a light in the darkness.   The nights are closing in, and yet the small lights on the Christmas tree shine brightly.  It's no spring, when there is new life, daffodils, and lambs galloping across the fields.  But if we believe that God can speak through all things, then that light is hope, and that hope is in the baby in the manger.  Here we remember the infant Jesus, and it's like seeing light at the end of the tunnel as the prophecies of a Messiah, born in Bethlehem are fulfilled.

And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel

(Micah 5:2)

The gifts brought by the wise men made it clear that Jesus' purpose was not to remain lying in the manager.  Gold for a king, frankincense for a priest, and myrrh for one who was going to die.  The pinnacle of Jesus' life wasn't fulfilled at his birth, but at his death and resurrection.   And yet we catch a glimpse at Christmas of what he is going to do.  Let's not get stuck singing Away in a Manger, but look forward to the more important things to come!

So I have no intention on being militant over the mid-winter celebrations.  I'd rather everyone had something to celebrate.  If I grieve the lack of Christ at Christmas, it is because I grieve the lack of Christ altogether.  I want people to know that the creator of the world loves them, and wants to know them, all year round.  I don't want people to the carol services to maintain the tradition, I want them to come back so that they can know Jesus, as he is for life, and not just for Christmas.
Shall I repeat this post at Easter then?