FROM THE PROVINCIAL’S DESK - Christmas Summer 2020/21

At last Christmas is here... and then we’ll begin again - a New Year - 2021!

But what a year? What – a – year!

What a year it has been. What has it been for you, for us, and for God’s mission? Maybe now as we come to the end of one of the worst years in history – what has this year meant to us, to me – what then has the Christmas message have for us in a Covid19 period?

A couple of years ago I was told of a story of a woman who worked in an office in North Sydney, and of how she got really excited about the Christmas period. She would come into the office on the last weekend of November and decorate it all, beginning with a Christmas tree, tinsel on all the walls, presents under the tree, Christmas lollies placed strategically around the office and even down to a Nativity scene. It had the lot.

Another woman in the office asked her on the Monday morning, why she got so excited about the lead up to Christmas.  Her reply was: “Well, this is the best part of Christmas for me… [and with a lump in her throat] because Christmas day is the loneliest day of the year.”

Christmas time for many is a really hard time of year.

For some it brings up the loss of family members; for others it opens old wounds and scars from past events.  For some people Christmas can be a violent time or an extremely lonely time. Today, as I write this introduction to our magazine, I ask myself what will it be like this year, with so many working from home due to Covid19, isolated and lonely?

So, what does Christmas really mean? 

What does it mean when we say: Today is born a saviour, Christ the Lord?

How did Christmas go from what it was originally – a story of alienation, political tyranny, homelessness, working-class people, pagans, and angels – to Santa Claus, wonderful Christmas trees, sentimental Christmas songs, and beautiful nativity scenes… all of which I like.

Over the four weeks of Advent we light the Advent Candles – all of which, in most places, are on stands, up high for all to see… and then, come Christmas Eve, we place the child Jesus at floor level.  It is a movement of coming down.  Entering in at the bottom.

But this not the world we live in today. We live in a world which is about climbing up, to be on top.  Like the Trumps, the Murdochs, Rineharts, Palmers, corporate leaders, as well as many of our political leaders, left and right, and I could go on and on, of this world… and, maybe, when in my 20’s, I thought this is what life is really all about…  climbing to the top.

But on Christmas night, here is our God doing the opposite, our God comes down the ladder. Yes, on the one hand we praise and sing “Glory to God in the highest”; he is our God-hero who has come to save us. But on the other, here is our God, the God-hero, who is an infant, a baby, small, helpless, fragile, and is placed into the hands of others who will take care of him.

Here, Jesus is born in a stable, among the animals; let us picture this scene: Here is the new born child, Jesus, here he is among the animals, the straw, the smell, the manure and a lot of other things… think about this… imagine it if you can… smell it… breathe it in… here is our God, born into a smelly, stinking place – this is our God – this is our saviour!

Who of us would have ever thought of this as an image of God… no one! Not only is he born into the mess and smell of a stable, but he is also born into a despised race, who are also occupied by a foreign country.  He is at the bottom!

THIS MUST HAVE MEANING FOR US

For me, this story is about God meeting us in the mess. In my mess. In our mess. In this Pandemic Covid19 mess. In the smell and stench of the stable of our lives our God meets us – meets us where we are. Where we are most helpless – where we are most powerless – our God meets us.

It is about our God coming into our loneliness, our pain, our poverty, our vulnerability, our helplessness, and meeting us where we are at.

This is HOPE.

So many other great religious traditions try to move us beyond the human experience: for the Hindu – it is Nirvana;  the Buddhist – it is enlightenment; the Jew – it is heaven; and we could go on, but for us, our God meets us in our humanness… in our body… in our here and now.  Our weaknesses, our failures, in our nakedness, in our times of loneliness, in the midst of family breakdown, in our addictions, in our poverty – our God meets us.

Not only this, but our God also meets us in our togetherness, in our moments of joy, our moments of fun, in all our good times - our God meets us.

A lot of us fear ‘this reality’, that we meet our God in our humanity, in our togetherness.  In fact the Christian story assures us that we do not have to leave the world, we do not need to enter into nirvana, enlightenment, or even heaven to meet God, for our God comes to us – Emmanuel: God–with–us.

As we experienced this terrible year of Covid19 - one cannot hide from the pain of the world. One cannot cover it up. All we can do is share it – God did.

God left whatever throne people had put him on in their imaginations and came to earth. God walked down the ladder, letting go of being powerful and mighty. This is who OUR God is: a baby, fragile and helpless, the one who shares our poverty, our helplessness, our powerlessness; the one who enters our very human, lived condition and shows us the way of hope.

This Christmas, and hopefully a post-Covid19 New Year, let us walk down that ladder, let’s let go, and discover where we least expect to find God, in our own very lived, human, messy condition.  And from this place we can then sing: “Glory to God in the highest and peace to all of goodwill. 

Have a very peaceful, joy-filled Christmas and we look forward to 2021 to continue God’s mission – being on earth the heart of God.

Finally a really big thank you to our Deputy Provincial, over the past three years, Stephen Dives msc. Steve has not only been a wise council to me over this period, but a wonderful friend, who has been supportive, encouraging, and showing great brotherly love. Thankyou Stephen. I wish you every success and blessing as you take up this new chapter of being Superior of Sacred Heart Campus, Kensington. Thank you!

Cheers! your brother MSC,

Chris