December 19th, 2024
Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s Christmas video.
I came across a joyous poem by Wendy Cope a few weeks ago, entitled Motorway Music:
Motorway Music
At last, in spite of everything
The moment does arrive.
This year it was on Christmas Eve,
Teatime, M25
When I switched on the radio
And heard ‘Nowell, Nowell’,
And had to join in singing for
The King of Israel
Along with half the choirs on earth
And all the choirs of Heaven
As I drove through the pouring rain,
Approaching junction 7.
And then my passenger woke up
And came in with his bass.
I wanted to see happiness
Like ours on every face.
In every car the traffic slowed.
The queue went on and on.
The sound of trumpets introduced
Another Christmas song.
Who cares about a traffic jam
While herald angels sing?
Each year the moment does arrive,
In spite of everything.
It’s a poem that evokes for me something of my pre-Christian Christmas experience. The Christmas carols may have been aural wallpaper then, and it was utterly devoid of any spiritual element, but it was nonetheless joyous. There was something wonderful about presents, decorations, gathered family, parties, feasting, the Queen’s message and ropey old James Bond films as a shared experience. Rather like the punchline of a joke, Christmas interrupted a predictable routine with colour and life. I find the same feelings evoked driving around a corner in November (they do start earlier and earlier these days) confronted by the first over the top set of house Christmas lights. I know some people think they are tasteless. For me, the blingier the better. Praise the Lord for LED lights so the exercise is far less expensive than it used to be.
Joy is often more powerful when it takes us by surprise. I am surprised by joy when my 11-month-old grandson waves at me on a Facetime call. The title of CS Lewis’ biography is, ‘Surprised by Joy’. I look back at my childhood Christmases now as a black and white memory. Christmas without Christ has become inconceivable; the discovery of Jesus places the whole thing in technicolour. Shepherds on a hillside were surprised by joy as the angels sang. Mary and Joseph were filled with joy at their newborn son. Christmas seamlessly follows Advent on that basis. If Advent anticipates God’s intervention the Christmas stories illustrate it in a colourful, down to earth way. God becomes a human being from humble stock, not into royalty or power but for everyone. The joy of Christmas is that God’s eternal plan to restore broken humanity begins to be revealed in all its glory.
This joy is not a New Testament invention. Nehemiah stated to a returning exiled people blinking into the light of restoration, that the joy of the Lord is your strength. He promised it was their recognition of a supernatural rescue that gave them a new security and trust. The psalms are riddled with joy through and through. Jesus anticipated something similar in John 17: 13, “but now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Later, as the Church began to take root, Jesus’ brother James exhorted us to, “consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds”. That’s the extraordinary thing about joy. Unlike mere happiness, it transcends circumstances rather than responds to them. Paul talks about joy as a fruit of the Spirit, The Holy Spirit given to all Christians – something that flows out of us as gift.
Joy is a great source of inner strength. If someone is depressed or discouraged almost any obstacle or hardship can be enough to incapacitate them. “A joyful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones”, says the writer of Proverbs.
I hope that we Christians might point people to the source of joy. Maybe we can share ours with those we know are going to feel lonely and isolated. Joy is to be shared, not hoarded. There is so much joy to be had in the everyday celebrations of Christmas, but they can be signs of something altogether deeper. Christians can and will celebrate amid conflict in the Holy Land, on the frontlines in Ukraine and in a newly liberated Syria. Even brothers and sisters locked up for their faith will find it. I pray we will all find it this year, whatever our circumstances and anxieties.
I hope you all have a wonderful, joyous Christmas season. May that particular fruit of the Holy Spirit overflow in us all, and I will be back in the New Year.
+ Richard