Minister's Letter
December 2011
It never ceases to amaze me that I'm taken by surprise each year when Christmas comes around. I know when Advent begins, I know how many weeks it is until Christmas Day and the television and media adverts remind me what the ideal Christmas looks like. Yet, this constant bombardment doesn't allay my fears about being properly prepared. Perhaps my surprise comes from the realisation that I resist that picture of the idealised Christmas. It's not about singers crooning about being home for Christmas. It's not about mistletoe and turkey and receiving the most extravagant of gifts. That's why I make a point of attending the Advent Carol service held on the first Sunday afternoon of Advent in the Cathedral of the Isles in Millport. That beautiful building, its candle-lit environment, the music, the choir, the readings and the congregational hymns draw me back instinctively to what Christmas is really about. That setting and that service turn my anxiety about preparing for Christmas into a genuine joy and anticipation of welcoming the Christ who came and who continues to come into our lives and who defines what the celebration of his incarnation is really about.
We speak a lot about waiting in Advent. We speak a lot about preparing ourselves spiritually. But, truth to tell, maybe what we should be speaking about and thinking about is the One who came into our world in the simplest and least ostentatious of ways.... Jesus, who is the Christ. He's the surprise who makes this season significant, who shapes our thinking and our preparations. He's the surprise of the God who knew how much his Creation needed a Saviour to rescue us from our own destructive ways.... and sent his only beloved Son to do just that.
Ponder on this mediation....
“What are you getting for Christmas, sir?” the schoolgirl asked.
I understood the emphasis on getting more than giving, but was saddened that for herself she knew already – in fact she'd chosen and received her gift on the seventh of December!
I was so sorry, for she had denied herself surprises - and Christmas is about surprises;
unexpected cards
unexpected callers
unimagined gifts ….
all reflecting and in the spirit of that surprising story.
It's so familiar now that we are unsurprised – but think....
rough shepherds leaving their sheep and running - to see a baby!
And a baby – in a manger! (of all places)
And a baby that is God? This is the most surprising thing of all:
not with a blast of trumpets,
not cracking the skies,
no thundering roar,
no blinding light,
not making the world take notice.... as we would have expected - but quietly, unobtrusively, unrecognised, almost unnoticed …. the way he always works!
And this surprising God has more surprises still in store for you as you will see …..
May the peace and gentleness of the Christ Child surprise you all anew this Christmas.
Marjory Mackay
