Nick Andrewes 'Seasons'

Nick writes:

The Christmas Season

Have you thought which Christmas Services you will be going to this year? Maybe Christmas Eve is your thing (11.30 pm at St. Thomas’; 11:30 pm at St. Paul’s). Or Christmas Day (10 am at St. Paul’s; 10:30 am at St. Thomas’)? But perhaps you won’t be able to get to either this year—even if it doesn’t snow.

It is important to remember that Christmas, just like Easter, and Epiphany are not simply days, but also Seasons! Easter lasts 49 days—in fact pretty much the 50 days, which reveal the meaning of the word “Pentecost”, the name of the Festival which brings the Easter Season to an end.

Of course Christmas has 12 days, culminating with the feast of Epiphany.

The Season of Christmas is much like a kaleidoscope. Each year produces a different permutation of celebrations for the Sunday after Christmas.

This year of course, Christmas Day falls on a Saturday, so the Sunday after Christmas is the 26th December when we shall celebrate the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen, remembering those who suffer for their faith, remembering the saving work accomplished by Christ: he left the life of heaven and came to earth to lead us from earth to the life of heaven; he lived a human life, that we might share in the divine life.

The Sunday after Christmas might fall on 27th December—the celebration of the Holy Innocents, the children who were slaughtered by King Herod as he tried to kill the infant Jesus before he could grow up. We are reminded, amid our celebrations, of oppressive regimes throughout the world, where families live in fear and lives are marred by genocide.

It might fall on 28th December—the celebration of St. John the Evangelist, the beginning of whose Gospel and Epistle form the best known pair of Christmas Readings, celebrating Christ as the light who came into the darkness of the world.

Or indeed if Christmas Day were to fall on a Sunday, then the Sunday after Christmas would be New Year’s Day, when we celebrate “The Naming and Circumcision of Jesus” and call to mind that Jesus, born as our Saviour, was on the eighth day after his birth given the “name that is above every name”; and that Jesus, through his obedience to the law, revealed God’s grace and truth to the world.

Each combination of Festivals sheds a different light upon the rich meaning of Christmas: Holy Innocents reminding just how fragile Jesus became when he took human flesh; St. John reminding us of the glorious mystery of the incarnation.

Of course, the final Christmas festival is Epiphany, the feast on which we celebrate the arrival of the Magi to worship the infant Jesus. It points to Christ as revealing God’s glory to us. It leads us to reflect upon the nature of our response to the mystery of the birth of Jesus Christ among us.

So this year, let us remember that Christmas is a Season, as well as a Day. And whichever combination of Christmas services we find ourselves attending, as we celebrate the dawning of God’s grace upon the world, may God reveal more of the richness of the meaning of Christmas to us.