Categories: uncategorized
Date: 01 December 2007 07:16:16
I've already described the Grinch that lives within me to regular readers. It's a Grinch that has seen me, on occassion, effectively cancel Christmas. It's a Grinch which makes me sour at a time when others are joyful and it's a Grinch which, if I'm honest, makes me the sort of person you want to avoid during December. The Grinch combined with a complete lack of confidence and underdevelopment of social skills makes for an uncomfortable time.
Yet over recent years the Grinch has mellowed slightly and for the last couple of years I have voluntarily put up a Christmas tree and decorations (yes I really would have made a good Calvinist puritan in some years past). However, the Grinch still remains and rears it's ugly head making comments such as yesterday's of "we've got three weeks of term left do we really have to have the decorations up yet?"
However, I want to remove my Grinch. That's not to say that I want to become somebody I'm not and a Christmas extrovert who indulges in oversized Christmas tat rather I want to be positive about Christmas and not be so negative towards those who love the season. I want to see the beauty in the Christmas tree in church rather than thinking it rather inappropriate. I want to sing carols, without caring I'm out of tune and worrying about the reaction of those around me. I want to go to the Christmas do tonight and confidently enjoy the experience (within my own boundaries) rather than dreading the event. I want to celebrate the gift of Jesus rather than getting hung up on the fact Christians hijacked the mid-winter festival and now complain when others in our society are claiming it back. I want to sit in churches and engage with the activities without wanting to scream that my bible reads nothing like the story they are portraying and wanting to get all PC about the young, unmarried mother, the homeless young couple, the child born in vunerable circumstances rejected by family and dependant upon the hospitality of others, the unsanitary conditions he was born in and the fact he and his family became asylum seekers.
Yet I don't want to become so comfortable with Christmas without the Grinch that I buy into the whole thing unthinkingly and without questioning what disturbs me. I'm scared that in some strange way my Grinch holds my integrity at this time of year although it also leads me down dark paths which are clearly not those God intends me to walk.
So it is that I invite you to join me during December as I seek to remove my Grinch and celebrate the season. Welcome to advent.