At this time of year we all like the familiar, warm feeling of Christmas - carol singers with candles, mince pies and mulled wine, nine lessons and carols, a Christmas tree with baubles and tinsel and enticing presents beneath. Somehow it is cozy and safe, reminding us of childhood excitement, snowmen and sledges, followed by hot chocolate.
If only that were the message of Christianity at Christmas!
I'm all for the things above - a time to pause from the bustle of life and re-connect with family and give gifts. But actually I'm very glad that this is not the message of Christianity! For it is also somehow irrelevant to the rather harsher realities of most of life, which includes financial struggles, unemployment, rejections, broken relationships and anxiety. If Christianity has anything useful to offer, it must be relevant to real life.
Perhaps that is why the Christian celebration of Christmas is about God coming into the world as a baby, born in poverty in a muddy shed, welcomed by a few and ignored by the majority, and the family's flight as refugees into exile as the despot ruler massacred children in an attempt to kill the baby.*
Umm, not much tinsel there ... and yet the Love of God revealed.
I hope you have a loving, safe and peaceful Christmas.
* You can read about it yourself in the Bible, in Matthew Chapter 2
Tuesday 18 December 2012
Friday 14 December 2012
The wisdom of giving up
In my last post I talked about how difficult it is to know in the present when it is time to stop doing something - though we can all see with hindsight when we should have stopped. This post is on a similar, though slightly different theme: about giving up.
We don't like giving up. We are trained to persevere, to try harder, to keep working until we - hopefully - overcome. And, conversely, no-one wants to be seen as a 'quitter'!
But there are some times when it really is wise to give up!
When something cannot be accomplished, known or understood, to keep on trying leaves us immobilised, stuck, in limbo.
I think of people who cannot get over some terrible event because they cannot answer 'why?'; I think of people stuck following some significant injustice, but powerless to change the outcome; I think of people unable to move forward following a break-up or major rejection that they cannot reverse.
In these circumstances, giving up is the beginning of moving forward; it is the start of moving forward and living again.
Not everything can be known, not everything accomplished. When we have reached an impasse, despite our best efforts, there comes a time to give up, to let go. Here, the only - and best - human answer is "we don't know", or "I have tried but cannot do it".
But for Christians, this is also about knowing it is time to put the matter back into God's faithful hands - where it belongs - knowing that He does know, is just, and is loving.
We don't like giving up. We are trained to persevere, to try harder, to keep working until we - hopefully - overcome. And, conversely, no-one wants to be seen as a 'quitter'!
But there are some times when it really is wise to give up!
When something cannot be accomplished, known or understood, to keep on trying leaves us immobilised, stuck, in limbo.
I think of people who cannot get over some terrible event because they cannot answer 'why?'; I think of people stuck following some significant injustice, but powerless to change the outcome; I think of people unable to move forward following a break-up or major rejection that they cannot reverse.
In these circumstances, giving up is the beginning of moving forward; it is the start of moving forward and living again.
Not everything can be known, not everything accomplished. When we have reached an impasse, despite our best efforts, there comes a time to give up, to let go. Here, the only - and best - human answer is "we don't know", or "I have tried but cannot do it".
But for Christians, this is also about knowing it is time to put the matter back into God's faithful hands - where it belongs - knowing that He does know, is just, and is loving.
Saturday 8 December 2012
Not knowing when to stop
We human beings seem to find it impossibly hard to know when to stop. We cannot identify the point in time when enough is enough - except with hindsight!
For example:
They are all forms of addiction - for money, excitement, control, independence - and they thrive on the fantasies:
We are just not very good at knowing when enough is enough.
You may not be a rogue trader or a problem drinker, and so dismiss the gross examples above as not applying to you. But for the same reasons we all put off saying to God, "we've sinned, please have mercy on us!", thinking that we can always get right with Him at some (indeterminate) future time, 'before it's too late'.
Umm. Really?
The Bible says:
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
(Isaiah 40 v6-8, NIV)
For example:
- the banks lending mortgages to those who couldn't afford to repay, and eventually going bust
- people seeking sexual gratification in more and more extreme ways, and wrecking their relationships and reputation along the way
- a 'rogue trader' betting on the stock market and jeopardising the very survival of their firm
- the gambler, drinker, smoker or drug addict not knowing when it's time to quit, until it's too late
- an elderly person not letting go of some independence to accept needed care, and ending up having decisions taken out of their hands when the inevitable crisis arises
- all of us continuing to emit greenhouse gases, and causing irreparable damage to the world's climate.
They are all forms of addiction - for money, excitement, control, independence - and they thrive on the fantasies:
- that we are wiser than we actually are
- that we will be able to spot some point in the future when it's time to stop
- that we can always change our minds later, if or when we need to
- or blind optimism that 'something will turn up' or that a solution is 'just around the corner'.
We are just not very good at knowing when enough is enough.
You may not be a rogue trader or a problem drinker, and so dismiss the gross examples above as not applying to you. But for the same reasons we all put off saying to God, "we've sinned, please have mercy on us!", thinking that we can always get right with Him at some (indeterminate) future time, 'before it's too late'.
Umm. Really?
The Bible says:
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
(Isaiah 40 v6-8, NIV)
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