The
How we really renew faith during the Christmas season
LORNA DUECK
Executive producer, Listen Up TV
January 3, 2008
The
telltale polling of Christmas past has revealed a puzzling lack of
connection in Canada's spiritual life. Ipsos Reid's "the meaning of
Christmas" survey uncovered the odd reality that 47 per cent of those
polled said "we will be having a Nativity scene in our home" but only
23 per cent declared the holiday was "a time to reflect on the birth of
Jesus Christ."
News
that fits perfectly for the portrait emerging of our soul, the picture
shows we have a form of religion, but we're losing its power.
Reflection on the birth of Jesus Christ is hard work, sourced by truth
and experience, and it takes time. Hauling out the Christmas
crèche does not.
"Use
it or lose it" most certainly applies to the world of faith, and when
the most vibrant and widely practised holiday in the country erodes
from its origins, eclipsed by beliefs of family and commerce, we're on
track to lose. It might be interesting to examine why so many of us
have Nativity sets in the first place. When a near life-size model of
one went up outside Toronto's Old City Hall this year, what
were
we thinking in having these things around?
It's
because, somewhere, a relic of belief in our lives decided we should
try to be reminded of the mystery of the Incarnation - that doctrine
that explains God's gift of putting Jesus in a baby and taking on the
messiness of human life from innocence to sin and all the way through
to redemption. The fact that the Incarnation story has survived at all
and still permeates Christmas gift-giving adds to the mystery of its
origin outside the realm of humanity.
A
marvellous collection of religious authors in the new book God With Us
explains it this way: "In-flesh-ment, God in human form in Jesus
entering our history; this is what started Christmas, this is what
keeps Christmas going." The challenge to reflect on that does not go to
those who wrote to The Globe and Mail congratulating the newspaper for
its neutral Happy Holidays front-page greeting; rather, this is an
inside conversation to the 76 per cent who make the Statistics Canada
nod that Christianity is our faith.
When
23 per cent of Canadians describe reflecting on Christ as the meaning
of Christmas, it may be useful to consider a few things we stand to
lose.
Hope:
If God's incarnation is real, it implies that the material life, each
person, each activity, can be seen as something that matters to God and
has the potential for something outside our limited imaginations. We
are not just wrappings around a meaningless cycle of activities; even
the most puzzling and painful life has reason and purpose because God
chose to make flesh His home.
Epiphany:
I don't just mean the season that began on Dec. 25 and goes until Jan.
6, but rather the fullness that the word implies - "manifestation" and
discovery of it. It means we can actually participate in God's
appearing into the world around us; in fact, we are urged to. As Emilie
Griffin writes in God With Us, "not by denying the uncomfortable facts
of our environment and our troubled societies, but by letting the
Incarnate Christ transform us. The God life within us will strengthen
us in times of war and peace. And with transformed hearts we will do
what we can for our anxious neighbours and our societies."
Truth:
When we neglect to reflect on the Christian story and attend church
together, we lose the facts and experience of God dwelling with
humanity. There are endless shortcomings of organized faith, valid
grievances with religion that were not encounters with God but rather
encounters with gross human error. When that truth halts our Christian
interest, we miss the other stubborn truth that God's history has
always been to communicate with and among people, despite the fact they
cannot replicate holy love. It's the message of grace, and it waits for
our attention.
Lorna
Dueck
is the Executive Producer of Listen Up TV, a
spiritual
perspective on news and current events seen Sunday mornings at 11 a.m.
on Global TV. www.listenuptv.com
Pacific 1:30
am Monday
Mountain 2:30am
Central 3:30am
Eastern 4:30am
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Eastern 8pm Monday
10:30am Wednesday
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Read Lorna's Globe & Mail columns by searching
our archive.
Read 'Media & The Message'. Lorna says if the church wants to impact society, we need to share our stories.
On April 30, 2005 Lorna was privileged to receive an honorary Doctorate of Christian Ministries from Canada's largest Christian university, Trinity Western University. Lorna was recognized for the witness and leadership that Listen Up TV has provided in public messaging: "a leader in the voice of evangelical life in Canada."
