Christmas: A Celebration of the Mystery

Altar Decoration of Sacriston Methodist Church, 2023

"The Word became flesh and lived among us" John 1:14

Christmas is a celebration - a celebration of the miraculous birth of the baby Jesus. Matthew and Luke describe this unique historical event in their Gospels, telling us about various events that took place around the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago. 

Our celebration often takes this narrative route. We focus our carols, sermons, decorations, customs, etc. on these events and characters. The themes that emerge from these events and characters are further elaborated by additional layers of tradition that have been added over the centuries. One example is the proliferation of figures around the manger in the nativity scene - the donkey representing Mary's transport to Bethlehem, the three Magi when the Bible only mentions three gifts, and the camels that brought them to Bethlehem. 

Another example is the tradition of exchanging gifts to represent God's gift to humanity in Jesus Christ. In the person of St Nicholas and the myths surrounding him, Santa Claus was born. The popular imagination, captivated by this man, invented the sleigh, the reindeer - curious readers can take a look at Clement Clarke Moore's 1822 poem Twas the night before Christmas, which created the modern version of Santa Claus by describing his appearance, dress, reindeer transport, chimney entry and his laughter. 

Let us take the reindeer to illustrate this further. In his poem, Clement gives the following names to the eight reindeer that Santa Claus takes to all the houses:

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

In 1939, Robert May wrote another book called "Rudolph: The Red-Nosed Reindeer”, which added the ninth and the most famous reindeer, which in turn gave rise to many films and songs about the character that are still famous in popular culture at Christmas time. We could go on and on, but this is enough to illustrate the point. 

The Gospel of John takes a very contemplative and reflective approach to the birth of Christ. John does not talk about the historical events, but he talks about it theologically. He talks in an abstract way about how the second person of the Trinity became what He is not in order to save us - "The Word became flesh and lived among us"! This abstract discourse does not explain everything about the birth of Christ, but it points to something mysterious. 

The Incarnation is a mystery that we can't fully understand. The Fathers of the Church used many words to defend the mysterious aspect from heresies, holding on to the biblical affirmations about Christ and not explaining everything away. This is the heart of the Christian faith: The Word became flesh and lived as divine-human without any confusion or separation. 

We cannot explain it, but we can stand in awe of it and enjoy the benefit it brought us. As we celebrate Christmas today, let our celebrations be rooted in John's reflective approach to the Incarnation. Let us ponder the mystery of the Incarnation. Let us ponder it in our hearts, as Mary did, and let us celebrate this Christmas with the reverence reserved for such a mysterious event.

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