My very first Christmas away from home was in 1969, when I heard Andy Williams’ song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” in Edinburgh. Albeit, I was kind of lost and nostalgic along with a few overseas students from Taiwan, Israel, Kenya and Jamaica while the local students went home for Christmas. My classmates from Northern Ireland couldn’t go home because of the conflict between the Irish Republican Army and the British Army – at least their parents came over to entertain them during the holidays.
Evening worship services of carols and lessons were very much part of our formative years. While the joyful worshippers enjoyed the festal activities at the Christ Church in Thiruvanthapuram hardly anyone was singing ‘Jingle bells’ in the Chenkalchoola colony. Prior to my first Christmas in Edinburgh – home away from home, I was cautioned to stay away from the Grassmarket where the down-and-out were too inebriate to sing “Jingle bells.”
Being students, my wife Joyan and I went our separate ways soon after our wedding in Singapore. She had to return to do her internship at Lady Hardinge Medical College and I had an assignment at Queen’s University. Our first Canadian Christmas as a family was in Oxford Mills in the Ottawa Valley where I was ordained to serve the church in 1975. While I was getting used to the rural parish, Joyan had her bucket list of fun things to do for the festive season. Hang a favourite ornament on our $5.00 White Spruce Christmas tree, go sledding with our Youth Group, get candy cane, holiday movie, our first snowman, bake goodies for guests, send greetings to family and friends, keep warm in the freezing Ottawa Valley winter, take a picture with Santa at Billings Bridge Shopping Centre, go caroling, listen to Liona Boyd’s Christmas music, enjoy eggnog…etc.
During the summer holidays it was almost like a pilgrimage to join my brother and his family in Skokie, Illinois. Joyan would collect colourful festive knick-knacks wherever we traveled such as Edinburgh – Scotland, Jalan Kayu – Singapore, Gore – New Zealand, Quincy Market – Boston, etc. However, the longer you live, the more imperative it is to learn to live with ambiguity in life. Sure, it is easier said than done. The graphic pictures of atrocities unfolding in Kyiv and Gaza helped me to look beyond my own grieving process this year. For the innocent hostages, it is mighty hard to sing “Jingle Bells” in the Gaza tunnels this Christmas.
During the pre-Christmas season, known as Advent, members of our darting elevator community keep asking, “Are you ready for Christmas”? For sure, getting ready for Christmas includes shopping, travel plans, guests, gift-wrapping, eating and sipping eggnog. Is this the most wonderful time of the year for you? Hope it is. Not for the vulnerable civilians under attack in Ukraine. And certainly not for the dozens of innocent hostages hidden in the tunnels in Gaza – civilians, children, soldiers, peace activists, grandparents from more than forty countries. Whether in Ukraine or Gaza “power” is the ultimate aphrodisiac for the aggressors.
Can the Baby of Bethlehem save us from violence and war? Can the prince of peace save us humans who try to play God like mythical Icarus “flying too near the sun” of artificial intelligence? James Forbes once said: “People in the white church think God needs them. People in the black church know that they need God.”
Conformity must offer us both integrity towards identity of character to fit in as well as innate independence to foster critical thinking. It is hale and hearty to differ from the traditional “religious imaginary.”Some sing carols and listen to the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem while others celebrate “CristesMaesse,” the Mass of Christ from ancient Greek Christós meaning “anointed” a translation of classical Hebrew māšîaḥor“messiah.” Jesus was familiar with his title Messiah and yet his foreign title Christós overly used in the church as if it is his ‘last name’!
Jesus was born in Palestine. Jesus was not born on December 25th, albeit the birth of Jesus is celebrated by majority of his followers on this day. Early disciples did not celebrate his birth. The industrious farmers and hunters in the Greco-Roman sticks needed a seasonable mid-winter break similar to spring break in Canada. Most cultures amplify a whopper about faith traditions. However, what day is Jesus’ birthday is still a mystery; no religion exists without mysterious myths.
The angels sang “Glory to God in the highest” and the shepherds, in their joy, “went back to their fields glorifying and praising God.” However, the emperor and his soldiers were busy scheming to smother Mary’s son Jesus. The same way the hostages must flee to Egypt for a breath of fresh air of freedom, Baby Jesus had to do the same in the desolate desert. Without Egypt, no belting ‘jingle bells’ during this festive season.
Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and the fishermen took three decades to sing “jingle bells.” The evil empire took three hundred years to do the same! Suddenly the pagan empire became spiritual to annex more colonies elsewhere with the help of the Good News of Jesus. So, the traditional pageant goes on and on in our fading memories, our bleak city streets and hopefully in the ravaged deserts, shrines and shelters of our world.
May you have vim and win to get creative things done,
May the bright sun guide you on your journeys,
May you be refreshed by snow squalls and rain drops,
May you have enough dough to pay for your spread,
May you slow down and enjoy those around you,
May the Holy One and a friend be always your company.
(The Reverend Dr. John T. Mathew is an ordained minister in The United Church of Canada, former faculty at Huntington/Laurentian University, founding president of Sudbury Interfaith Dialogue, Merrill Fellow (Harvard University), Pastor-Theologian (Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, NJ), ecumenical guest minister at St. Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, The Church of Scotland and interim minister in The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand)
A fine article, thanks
Deeply appreciate your taking the time to peruse in spite of these frenetic days!
Merry Christmas to you and yours……JM