Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/4200/-1/140/
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A Christmas Message by Rev. Dr. H. Clifton Niles
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Christmas greetings to all readers. My hope is that as you read this message something may touch and inspire you and may so change your understanding and outlook that you will become an advocate for the true celebration of Christmas.
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Rev. Dr. H. Clifton Niles
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Over the years, commercial activity, merry-making and parties and other social activities have become so popular and commonplace, that people no longer celebrate the real meaning of Christmas or enter into the real spirit of Christmas. As people who have faith in God and who have love for and commitment to Jesus Christ, we cannot join with those who would rob the world of Christ, and we cannot stand on the side as helpless and hopeless victims. We must continue to be the voices of protest against the downward slides and also advocate and advance what Christmas really is about. In one sentence we can say “Christmas is the celebration of what God did to save human beings from perishing.”
As I share this with you, this Christmas Message, I invite you to consider two things:
(1) The Scandal of Christ
Ordinarily, a scandal is understood as a mischievous and malicious story designed to discredit an individual or institution by a distortion of the truth. A scandal is an offensive rumour, full of lies and innuendos. The people who create scandal know that they want to achieve. The people who believe scandals are usually unaware that it is a scandal and they are fooled and misled.
Scandals are meant to defame, discredit and destroy a person’s character, reputation and influence. Unfortunately, once the scandal has been created, circulated and given credibility, it is very, very difficult to undo the damage it has created. The bottom line is this, scandals are dirty and destructive.
In religious thinking, “scandal” is used to refer to those ideas and practices which become hindrances to the development of faith in God and lead to disbelief and disregard for truth and principles, a preference for what is convenient over against what is right or just, and a general love and desire for the material and disregard for the spiritual and the divine.
When we speak of the scandal of Christmas, we are speaking about those ideas and practices which have now become associated with this Christian festival and which now present and hinder us from celebrating it as we should. The scandal is twofold: (a) In the first place there is the commercialization of Christmas. The “Festival of Christmas” is now regarded more as a money-making and high-spending event than as a time of celebration and praise to God for what he did to save us from perishing.
Much more time is given to advertisements of all kinds than to adoration of the Christ child, and so much more time and energy is spent in partying than to praying. The fact is that Christmas is a Christian festival, and serious Christians must do all they can to help keep Christ at the centre. There would be no Christmas if Christ was not born. Let us ensure that in our age Christ is not left out of the event that was created to honour and celebrate him.
(b) Secondly, Christians are scandalized by replacing, Christ with Santa Clause as the Centre. Our children and people in general hear more about Santa and see more Santa’s at Christmas time than they hear and see of Christ. In every corner of society, Santa is promoted rather than Christ. A most ridiculous and scandalous statement was made recently by a well known and popular radio personality when he said, “Santa loves you,” So it is no longer “God loves you,” but Santa. Can you imagine the damage that is being done when our children are encouraged to believe in a fictitious character like Santa and disregard the historical Christ? Christians must be aware that there are people in our world who are anti-Christian, and would therefore wish to Scandalize Christmas. We must do what we can to keep Christ in the centre of Christmas. I do not think an inflated rubberized figure of Santa has any place in a Christian place of worship.
(2)The Mystery of Christmas
The common understanding of ‘mystery’ is that it is something that cannot be truly understood or that there is something secretive and unknowable about it. It is therefore futile and a waste of time and energy to try to understand it. If it is unknowable, it is therefore not to be believed or fully trusted, for it can turn very well out to be a hoax. Mysteries are therefore dismissed and disregarded, or at best taken with a “pinch of salt.”
In the end, there is always something questionable about a mystery. It cannot be taken seriously and only a fool would state his/her life upon it. This is a common understanding of “ mystery”, and this understanding also scandalizes Christmas.
(a) Throughout history, Christmas always affirm that the birth of Christ is a mystery. What do we mean? Firstly, we mean that it is an event in which God is understood to act decisively in order to rescue and deliver his people. He will never act in that same manner again for that action perpetually and eternally effective. When we affirm that Christmas is the festival which celebrates the mystery of the Christ Child, we are affirming and celebrating this once and for all decisive action of God and we become participants and beneficiaries of the mystery. I believe every wise person, who truly understands mystery this way will want to be an active participant in the mystery of the Christ Child, rather than become a victim of the scandal.
(b) Secondly, “Mystery” refers to religious truth which becomes known only through the revolution of God. You see, God is far, far bigger than a human being and we come to know and understand God as God chooses to reveal himself and we are ready to receive that revolution. When we say that something is “mystery”, we are saying that the truth or insight which the person has received has been revealed by God. “Mystery” always points to the initiative of God. Since human beings live in this physical world, the mystery always occurs in human history and involves human beings. In mystery then, we always see the divine and the human interacting in novel and creative ways. In this interaction, God directs and contracts while humans (or special messengers) become the servants and the beneficiaries of God’s action. The result is growth in faith, love and commitment to God and the things of God.
(c) Thirdly, “mystery” also refers to a manifestation of divine power and truth, where, the more you understand about it, the more you realize that there is still more to understand. The mystery is therefore never exhausted. There is always something more about it. This is why the person who has been touched by mystery is always seeking more. The power of the mystery awakens in him/her a deep desire, a thirst, a hunger to learn more and to grow more. When we say Christmas is a “mystery” we are saying that in the event surrounding the birth of Christ, there is a divine power which is capable is capturing us at the core of our life and when it does, we are never the same again, but we move from grace to grace and from glory to glory, the various episodes and stories in the gospels not be dismissed but read, analyzed and understood, so that saving and transforming power inherent in them can break upon you, and you can become what God desires you to become.
This Christmas, please do not allow the scandal to hinder you. Rather, let the mystery enfold and energize you.
A blessed and joyous Christmas to all God’s loving people.