Paradox
The reason? Christmas is a time of paradox. G. K. Chesterton called it "topsy-turvydom," which is really the perfect word to describe the indescribable mystery of God becoming man, of the Almighty becoming a baby, of a King taking shelter in a stable. Your brain will go in twists and turns trying to comprehend it; and yet perhaps the best ways we have to understand have been passed along not in doctoral theses, but in carols; even the Gospel's story is so beautiful, poetic, and lyrical that you can just close your eyes and listen to the rhythm of it in any language and still be touched. (Why do you think A Charlie Brown Christmas is such a classic?)
And of course we writers have all noticed another paradox, completely un-theological, connected to the Christmas season: "they" always say not to submit to editors between Thanksgiving and Christmas because the editors are too busy to read submissions...but what author on earth has the free time to be submitting then anyway?
:) I'll be back to blogging and reading and commenting again seriously in the New Year, but until then I have mysteries of Christmas to share with my children, writing to squeeze in when they're asleep and I'm not making them presents, and lots of rationalizing as to why I'm still not making all the Christmas cookies I planned on this year....
In the meantime, I pray that you all have a most blessed and merry Christmas! God bless you!
My children and I too have been pondering the mysteries of Christmas. You simply must read this post. I think you will enjoy it tremendously: http://blog.adw.org/2010/12/paradoxes-of-christmas/
ReplyDeleteI have been making simple little Christmas gifts with my children. My husband did all the baking and miraculously, after all the prayers I am much, much better. Praise God!
God bless you, Faith, and may you have a very blessed Christmas season and all year round.
Merry Christmas, Faith! It's my favorite holiday.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Faith and family. Rejoice instead of baking cookies : )Hugs.
ReplyDeleteMy very-part-time job is as worship coordinator at our church, and so I've been immersed in carols this month. It's been wonderful! I've been planning our Christmas Eve service the last few days, and it's so nice to have all these wonderful truths stuck in my head all day long. God coming to earth is a paradox indeed! Some of the most important Biblical truths are that way, though, aren't they? Our brains can't wrap around them.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a wonderful Christmas, Faith! And you're making presents for your kids!? I'm so impressed. :) Seriously.
Amy
The Christmas story is quite the brain twister, isn't it? I love how you expressed that the topsy turvy beauty is best understood through art (like music) rather than scholarly attempts to explain.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a blessed and joyful Christmas!
"Only a poet can truly appreciate Christmas, for poetry is that vehicle by which words and images lead us to a deeper vision of reality." --God's last Word by Peter Stravinskas. Published in Advent: Meditations for the Season, Twin Circle Publishing Co., 1988
ReplyDeleteThe meditation "God's last Word" by Stravinskas is so beautiful. I like to share with you a couple of sections that expressed the meaning of Christmas so well:
ReplyDelete"Fulton sheen once observed that most mothers after childbirth look up to heaven to thank God. Not Mary. She looked down--for heaven was in her arms! This was possible because God loves us so much that he gave us Himself in the person of Jesus. This is why the exchange of gifts at Christmas is such a beautiful custom; our buying and wrapping and giving all demonstrate that we have caught on to the meaning of this feast, that we want to imitate the generosity of God who began the whole process by being the first to give us a Gift--the greatest and best gift ever given at Christmas--His Son."
"Some people will wonder how Christians can naively celebrate this feast of joy--when thousands of the poor are still in our midst, when violence and crime rise daily, when family life is in a shambles around the nation.
"The monk Thomas Merton had an answer for such people in lines he wrote describing his first Christmas in the monastery. He said: 'Christ always seeks the straw of the most desolate cribs to make His Bethlehem. In all the other Christmasses of my life, I had got a lot of presents and a big dinner: But [now] I would have, indeed, Christ Himself, God, the Savior of the world.'
Therein lies the answer to the question raised. At Christmas, we hear God's response to human suffering. It is His last Word on the subject, and the Word is His very own Son."
Merry Christmas!