Unwrapping the Gift

Incarnation brings to mind the central Christian fact that God and Man meet. Incarnation reminds us that a God who merely exists means nothing to us. The Incarnation of God is the core reality for everything that has to do with God and Mankind. Throughout the liturgical year, in the stories of scripture, in our religious experiences, incarnation lies as a key to our ability to relate to God. Because it is God who comes to us.

Christmas is the one time of year when the Christian community stands back to contemplate that central God fact. Our God is the God who becomes human.

Christmas is the time for us to unwrap the incarnation fact of God. It is a time to reflect on the simple wonder that is God becoming human. And it is a time to really see that becoming-human in the very singular story of Jesus Christ.

Our perception of the shape of God's becoming human is uncovered or revealed in the Jesus story. At Christmas, in the lectionary readings and prayers, we are amazed at the fact of incarnation itself and how it begins to unfold in Jesus' life. Christmas time is contemplation on the God-made-Man story.

A Liturgical Season

Christmas sits in the middle of wider liturgical context of advent and Jesus' mission. For four weeks before December 25, we prepare for the incarnation fact celebrated in the vigil remembrance of the nativity. Christmas begins and develops over the next three weeks cumulating with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This three week celebration of Christmas unfolds for us the gift of God's incarnation.

The pastoral challenge for the Christmas season is manifold. The entire weight and persuasion of the secular model for Christmas promotes the beginning of the Christmas season sometime in October with the Santa Claus parade and its end on Boxing day.

The money, time and energy expended on that view of Christmas is hard to overcome and becomes more deeply entrenched through a myriad of verbal and non-verbal reinforcements.

Our present liturgical celebration unfortunately has nowhere near the power, shape and means to promote the unique Christian understanding of the feast of incarnation. Our Christmas begins on December 25th and ends on the Baptism of the Lord. It is diametrically opposed to the secular vision of Christmas TIME.

It is TIME NOW to plan for the development of our Christmas model. After all, the season of the impossible (God becoming man) is full of the spectacular and astonishing. It is a time especially favorable for contemplation. Let's simply sit in awe, wonder and alive to the sense of mystery faced with incarnation fact. Virgin births and kings born in stables are events to ponder.

To Help Us Experience

Christmas time needs some liturgical rethinking. Several clear examples come to mind. In the lectionary texts, two key words pop up: light and revelation.

We have an Advent pattern of wreath lighting now. This unfolding of the Advent wreath, and of our anticipation of incarnation fact, could very well be manipulated into a Christmas wreath which lasts for the entire Christmas season.

Liturgically, the Advent/Christmas wreath reinforces the image of light for incarnation. Please be aware that this image of light is and should be kept distinct from the Easter light. As you work with light in Christmas, keep in mind the pure astonishment of incarnation.

The practice of putting lighted Christmas trees in the sanctuary could also benefit the Christmas season providing the trees sit present but dormant until Christmas vigil and remain lit until the feast of the Baptism. The trees naturally enough take up the advent image of "light in the darkness" for incarnation. Let darkness be present during advent and light be present for the Christmas season.

The image of Revelation can be highlighted by manipulating the lectionary to suggest the unwrapping or unfolding of the Word of God. This is present in the simple opening" of the book. Careful book handling of the lectionary, without going to uncomfortable and distracting extremes of carrying it over one's head in procession, will reinforce the image of unfolding incarnation fact. Dressing the lectionary as a gift with also promote the visual action of unwrapping or unfolding.

To reinforce the image of revelation, and other Christmas images, throughout the entire Advent/Christmas season, the practice of building residual images is very helpful. A wall hanging, for example, could have new work added for each liturgical advance in time and space. Sunday by sunday and/or feast by feast, images related to the unfolding of incarnation fact are presented and left in view. At the end of the christmas season, we have before us the visual cumulation of Christmas imagery. This will promote our sense of contemplation and our ability to contemplate.

As well, hymnody will help us develop our feel for the unfolding of incarnation. Hymns which promote light and revelation can help reinforce those images.

Another view of our part of the Christmas season is to imagine it as a three week drama. In our readings, we have very strong dramatic characters. These characters unfold for us bit by bit incarnation fact. These characters unwrap the gift of Incarnation. These characters and/or their reaction to incarnation fact could well become part of the visual cumulation of Christmas imagery.

Developing a strong shape for the Christmas season will only come out of a strong sense of awe, faced with incarnation, coupled with the genius of the spirit-filled community. It will take a lot of work, effort and love to assert a truly Christian shape to the Christmas season. It is not impossible. Afterall, our cultural shape of Christmas is less than one hundred years old. This is a tear drop in the history of man's search for religious expression. It is a momentary abberation in the history of Christian experience.