From the Vicarage - January 2012

A CHRISTIAN CHRISTMAS

During my trips to hospital in London in December, I was fascinated to notice how carefully the hospital avoided any reference to "Christmas".   A number of special events were being advertised to celebrate the festive season in the hospital, but no mention of "Christmas".   The preferred word was the "Festival".   I was reminded of the City Council, a few years back, that settled on the word "Winterval" to replace "Christmas".

One can see the politically correct motives for certain institutions to avoid speaking of Christmas.   To speak of Christmas means that there is no escaping it is a Christian festival.   The name of Christ is part of the word.   So it is assumed that in an area with significant numbers of other faith communities, the neutral "Festival" will give no offence.

However, in my experience, it is not the members of other faiths who are offended by our Christian festivals.   Indeed, they expect us to observe them, and are often surprised by our reticence to do so.   In Church Schools, many parents of other faiths are happy for their children to be part of our Christmas celebrations.   It is the humanists and atheists who use the other faiths as an excust to weaken the Christian content of Christmas.   If it is just a winter festival, what is it celebrating?   It is true that many families in Britain will have no thought about the origin of the Christmas celebration in the birth of Christ.   But we are fortunate to live in a town where the Church and its message are still part of the life of our community.   I was reminded of this on the day the town lights were switched on by the mayor at the beginning of December.

Our choir, and St. Mary's, processed in their robes through the High Street singing carols.   A prayer was said at the balcony of the Moot Hall, asking for God's blessing on the people of Maldon in their Christmas celebrations.   And many people then piled into All Saints to sing carols.   It is easy to be cynical and say this is just a part of the Christmas "hype", but still we have an opportunity to proclaim the message for it still means something in this town.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, over a thousand people attended our various services in All Saints.   The other churches in the town will have also welcomed many visitors over Christmas.   For some people this will be the only time of year they come.   But this means that a large proportion of the people who live in in Maldon will have had some glimpse of the spiritual meaning of Christmas.   The Church here is in a very privileged position in still being such a significant part of the town's celebrations.   This was once true in most of the towns, cities and villages of Britain.   Alas, this is true no longer in so many places.

I pray that the Christian character of Christmas will remain in Maldon for many years.   Let us not be bullied by a small minority who punch above their weight and try and convince us that the Hindus, Jews and Muslims are offended by our celebrating the birth of Christ.   And let us not be diffident in the use of "Christmas".   It is a festival of Christ.

We cannot turn it into something else.

Stephen Carter