The Central Miracle of Christmas - Within

I like Christmas trees too. I am particularly fond of the beautiful crib, delicately tended and arranged - and always contrasting its bare simplicity with the sparkling grandeur of the vestments on the once bare tree.

The unnecessary presents under the tree can be charming too, since the materialistic culture that rules us has decreed that no matter our need or ability, we must produce something for everybody, with everybody expecting something from us and something in turn always turning up for everybody!

It may be that the secular and meaningless songs (White Christmas, Let It Snow, Winter Wonderland etc. etc.) that blare out of the speakers in the stores we visit are the first herald of the emptiness that has seized our generation as Christmas approaches - very different of course, from the the heralds of Angels who appeared to shepherds watching over their sheep at night, announcing the birth of the Saviour.

It is understandable I suppose that the recent, non-Christian, American immigrant composers of the secular Christmas songs of the 20th century wished to “fit in” with the Christian culture that had fostered the traditions and songs of Christmas over 2000 years - and that they therefore composed songs for the season, with lyrics that had nothing to do with the Christ of Christmas. But the merchants of tinsel and glitter and unnecessary shopping that rule over our culture at Christmas also probably know that playing “Silent Night” or “Away in The Manger” in our Christmas stores as we shop, will prevent us from spending scarce dollars on useless gifts for people who don’t need them!

During these politically fraught times, various “leaders” from our Western nations give us “Christmas” messages that are filled with empty platitudes about “togetherness,” “being there for each other,” “family,” “community,” “solidarity” and so on. We should not blame them - they are merely reflecting the society and the people who put them in power. And since most of our leaders are actually psychopathic warmongers and globalists, they could not possibly bring themselves to speak with any degree of conviction about the Prince of Peace or about the God of the universe who was born in a manger for us.

Several magnificent Cathedrals and Churches, almost empty for most of the year, fill up with festive crowds on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Here it is that the secular culture clashes with the spiritual and changes unwittingly to condescending acceptance of the enormity of the implications of the birth of Christ. This should be welcomed by all Christians everywhere, for the ways of God are mysterious - and who knows but that the carols of Yuletide may in fact draw even the most resistant reveller to the foot of the Cross, there to receive healing and hope and a new and eternal life.

Whether in the hallowed precincts of the Cathedral with candles and choirs clad in white; or around the piano at home; or with the rustic voices of roving carollers who move from door to door in the frigid cold, the true songs of Christmas have never failed to lift weary hearts away from the crippling despair of mortality and toward the new dispensation of hope, eternal life, and the Kingdom of God.

The new dispensation began in a manger, proceeded with majestic intensity to the Cross, then sealed our redemption with the Resurrection.

And this is why both in the Western and Eastern Churches, Easter is regarded as at least as important a festival as Christmas. For if the Gospel had ceased with Christmas, the mission of redemption would have been incomplete. The Eastern Orthodox Church still celebrates Easter (“Pascha” in the Eastern Church) with a glorious series of Resurrection feasts and proclamations, but for the Western Church (except in the community of the ancient Latin Mass), Christmas has mysteriously supplanted Easter as the primary festival in the Christian calendar. The latter is a tragic development, but it is undoubtedly linked with the loss of our collective memory and the sense of history of the touch of Christ upon our Western centuries.

To regain and restore that collective memory and what I shall call the “Christian consensus” to our societies and nations, we must remember that the central miracle of Christmas is within. No change of government, no political leader by themselves can restore what is lost, since “the heart of man is desperately wicked above all things.”

The miracle of the Incarnation happened in Bethlehem on Christmas Day of course - and nothing can diminish the glory of the birth of the Saviour. But the Incarnation, the Cross and the Resurrection also mean that the heart of man, each of our hearts may be changed, may be transformed, may be born anew to a new and eternal life and destiny.

There are many carols that describe this magnificent possibility of Christ being born in each of us- such as the beautiful carol by the English poet Emily Elliot, “O Come to my heart Lord Jesus - there is room in my heart for Thee:”

“Heaven's arches rang when the angels sang,

Proclaiming Thy royal degree;

But of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth,

And in great humility.

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,

There is room in my heart for Thee.

“The foxes found rest, and the birds their nest

In the shade of the forest tree;

But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God,

In the deserts of Galilee.

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,

There is room in my heart for Thee.

Thou camest, O Lord, with the living word

That should set Thy people free;

But with mocking scorn, and with crown of thorn,

They bore Thee to Calvary.

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,

There is room in my heart for Thee.

Or the magnificent poem and carol by the American bishop Phillips Brooks:

“O holy Child of Bethlehem,

descend to us, we pray;

cast out our sin and enter in;

be born in us today.”

I shall be going back soon after I finish writing this, to the cinnamon and citrus spice of mulled wine and the dark chocolates with caramel that I made last week - and to the multiple, beloved, joyous festivities of the most important event in the history of mankind, the birth of our Saviour.

And I wish every one of you, my readers, a very Merry Christmas!