One level of Christmas
awareness, the most prevalent one, understood by most, tells us that it is a
time for giving gifts. And so I watched
a young mother at the supermarket, with a toddler and various items of food in
her trolley, thoughtfully taking down from the high shelves two large parcels
of exciting things for a child – hair brushes and mirrors, tea sets, dolls and
other playthings – all pink, shiny and plastic under their clear plastic
lids. Gifts are compulsory, somehow,
even if they can scarcely be afforded – and O O Henry wrote that classic short
story, The Gift of the Magi, about a destitute young couple in New York. He somehow managed to buy her a hair brush
for her exquisite long hair, but she had sold her hair to pay for a gift for
him.
The Wise Men brought
gold, frankincense and myrrh, not quite what you need for a young baby, but an
absolute gift for Bible interpreters of symbolism, ever after. I hardly imagine most people are thinking of
gifts for the Baby Jesus. It is more a
matter of computations about how much to spend, what is appropriate, what is
affordable, what would be welcomed, what the other person has given me. Some give reckless gifts, knowing there will
be a reckoning later. What matters is
the giving of gifts, and the response of appropriate gratitude. Almost the entire commercial world is
depending on people making generous decisions about gifts.
But Christmas is actually
a Christian season for Christian believers.
It is a time of light and love because of God’s gift. It is a time for treading softly in the
awareness of mystery. Something has
happened we didn’t deserve, don’t understand, something we need to receive
before it drowns in sentimentalism and activism – something which has no
affinity whatever with the Santa Parade.
It is our season and our high feast. It is above all a time for being still and
receptive.
And the extraordinary
discovery is that we have no gifts. C S
Lewis coined the amazing phrase, Surprised
by Joy. He received a gift. He felt that nothing in him was sufficient or
appropriate for a gift in return. We
receive the gift, and we respond by quieted, softened and joyous hearts. That is the point. I think also it is a time in which, in
stillness, we can bear part of the pain of the world, lift a bit of the load,
in our hearts. I can’t imagine what it
is like at Christmas in those American homes with a child missing because of
hate and violence. The gift is a gift of
peace and love. Receive the gift.
Our Warkworth Christian Meditation group is now in recess over Christmas and January. We expect to resume on Friday 1 February, and the next blog entry will be then. Good wishes... Ross Miller
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