Posted Friday 10 December 2010
I usually try to take my main holiday in October – I’ve found that it’s a good time to drive with friends on the Continent, especially in Germany and Austria. In recent years part of the ritual of such trips has been visits to Christmas shops where we’ve been able to buy very beautiful and very traditional Christmas Tree decorations – anyone who has been to Oberammergau will know the kind of shop I’m talking about! This year, with the same friends, October found me not in Germany but in the US, in particular in Boston. Not far from the Cheers! Bar (which we later visited) we found a Christmas shop and, of course, were drawn inside.
At first, I was horrified by what I saw as the vulgarity of the decorations on display, from fried eggs (sunny side up) through the US Capitol to Uncle Sam. What on earth had any of that to do with the real meaning of Christmas? And why would you put such things on your Christmas Tree? Eventually, after pretty persistent searching – and there was floor upon floor to look through – I did find two very beautiful decorations of the Virgin and Child which will have pride of place on my tree this year.
However, by the time I unearthed these, I had begun to change my mind about this experience and I’ve been thinking about that ever since. First of all, everyone in the shop looked delighted: this was a happy experience. And it’s good to see people happy, amazed, full of wonder and delight. (Who, then, was I to think this vulgar?). Second, I began to realize that all of human life was here, aspirations, desires, longings, portrayed in the multitude of apparently secular decorations on offer. Maybe this was profoundly to do with Christmas, with Incarnation: I felt a Christmas sermon coming on. At that point we went over the road to Cheers! The holiday continued, but the seed had been sown.
So, I’ve gone on thinking about all of this. The religious decorations I found in the midst of so much else have come to symbolize for me the message of Christmas – God being in the midst of our human experience, sharing our longings, desires, aspirations, understanding and transforming them from within. This, as it were, is God’s project for our world, and Christians, including the members of our Diocese, celebrate its beginning at Christmas as they gather around the Crib, decorate their Christmas Trees, celebrate Midnight Mass and share their Christmas tables with friends, family and those who would otherwise be alone.
On behalf of the whole Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway may I wish you a very Happy and Blessed Christmas.
+Gregor
Category: Thought for the Month
