25 December 2023 Christmas Day

I recently read a post which spoke about the ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ TV special which recalled that one of the most significant moments in the show is the moment Linus Van Pelt ‘drops’ his security blanket when the Angel appears and says, ‘fear not’.  You see, Linus is never without his blanket, it is what makes Linus ‘Linus’, but at that moment he lets it go, and the implication is that - it is no longer needed.  Ok, for those who remember the story, yes he does pick it up again.  But later in the story they go looking for a suitable Christmas tree, and Charlie Brown settles on the smallest, most bedraggled tree in the lot, and when he brings it home it starts to drop what few leaves it has.  And at this point, Linus takes his blanket and wraps it round the base of the tree saying, ‘it just needs a bit of love’, whereupon the tree bursts into life.  I think I’m going to have to search out this program and watch it again. 

 Christmas is that time when we can allow ourselves to ‘fear not’.  When we can let go of all that ties us to fear and dread and anger.  The message of Christmas is filled with love and peace. 

But within the story of Christmas we are presented with a staggering paradox.  The everyday affairs of ordinary people were intersected by God becoming man.  Eternity invaded time.  Before gave way to After.  God had spoken to humanity, in many different ways and times and places, but on this night, in Jesus, God spoke a different word to us.  In his human incarnation, Jesus embodied a divine affirmation.  An affirmation that God embraces the entire world and everyone contained in it, and God meets each and every one of us in extraordinary and exceptional ways in all the unexceptional times and places of our ordinary lives. 

And this is summed up in the poem titled ‘B.C:A.D’. by U. A. Fanthorpe, the first woman nominated as Professor of Poetry at Oxford University. 

This was the moment when Before 

Turned into After, and the future's 

Uninvented timekeepers presented arms. 

This was the moment when nothing 

Happened. Only dull peace 

Sprawled boringly over the earth. 

This was the moment when even energetic Romans 

Could find nothing better to do 

Than counting heads in remote provinces. 

And this was the moment 

When a few farm workers and three 

Members of an obscure Persian sect 

Walked haphazard by starlight straight 

Into the kingdom of heaven. 

 May your Christmas journey continue into bright futures, and may God meet you in extraordinary and exceptional ways in all the unexceptional times and places of your ordinary lives.