Patience is a Virtue by Rev. Trevor Jamison

Patience is a Virtue

It was a surprise to see the tree that lay abandoned, its useful life at an end. Lying in front of the house, water glistening on its branches from winter drizzle that was falling steadily from a grey sky, it was now ready for collection. A line of string, tied roughly around the tree, held branches in check, preventing them from spreading too far and causing any inconvenience. I could just make out an irregular circle of green pine needles that had dropped to the ground around it. No doubt green would soon turn to brown, visible to all unless gathered up and taken away as rubbish or for recycling. It was a sad sight. Something that had once been living and valued now was dead and discarded. Out for an afternoon walk on Boxing Day, only one day after the big event, I had spotted the first ex-Christmas tree of the year.

Perhaps I am too sentimental. Perhaps disposing of the tree by Boxing Day is just the action of someone prepared to follow through on the logic of the Western Christmas. After all, Christmas, it seems, starts early, long before Christmas Day itself comes along. Driven by consumer demand, itself driven by corporate advertising, we are all encouraged to get into the Christmas spirit as soon as possible. Boxes of Christmas crackers and festive fare line the supermarket shelves from months ahead and the bombardment of perfume and toy advertisements issues from our television screens for what seems like an eternity. My personal favourite (congratulations to M&S here) was the display of pork pies, adorned by the signage proclaiming, “Essential Christmas Eating” whilst the date on the packaging informed us, “Use by 23rd December at the latest”.

This drive to celebrate Christmas early (and then to declare it over by the December 26th or soon after) is at odds with Christian tradition. For us, the period prior to Christmas Day is called Advent. It is a time of preparation, pondering and awaiting the coming of the Lord to a world in need of help. Christmas, in Christian tradition, only really begins on Christmas Day, or perhaps when the sun has gone down on Christmas Eve, marking the end of that day and the beginning of the next.

Not for the first time in life there is a gap between Christian theory and Christians’ practice. My first service of Christmas carols this year kicks off on December 7th. Previously, I have participated in a church Christmas bazaar (with Santa) that took place in November, on the distinctly un-ecumenical basis that “we have to get in ahead of the others”. I have, in my time as a church attender and member, grumbled about ministers who refuse to pick many Christmas carols on Sundays in December, despite the fact that they must know that most of us won’t be in church on Christmas Day itself. Like most people, I’ll be busily out and about in the run-up to Christmas Day this year, present-buying and making other preparations.

As Christians, we want to share the good news about Jesus with others. We would be foolish to reject the opportunities that this time provides, when people who seldom have time for things to do with church want to be involved in a Christian festival, however peripherally. Let’s face reality: a lot of this activity is fun for us as well. What we want to avoid is placing so much emphasis on Christmas celebration in the days ahead of Christmas that we arrive there, exhausted, jaded or bored. We want to be able to celebrate Christmas as the beginning of a season, not as its end, for we want to celebrate the birth of Jesus as a new beginning for the world that God loves.

Trevor

This entry was posted on 07/01/2009 at 01:20 pm and is filed under Uncategorised. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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