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GETTING READY

The Revd Michael Turner, Vicar of the Close (Thursday 1st December 2005)

These days of December are a good opportunity to try to get inside the mind of Mary and Joseph as they journey through the first part of God’s almighty plan. The call for a census by Emperor Augustus was a divisive act really. Although it took men to their clan’s birth town to register their existence it took their women along with them away from their own familiar homes. Imagine these days of planning for the journey and then undertaking it, great with child. Taking Mary away from her mother at the birth of her first born – something no daughter would relish. Mums are specially useful at the potential grandma stage. So Mary and Joseph know all about separation, and apprehension, yes and a bit of fear and anxiety, words we do not usually associate with a festive merry-making season.

But Christmas is like that, isn’t it? The very happiness of the occasion only serves to emphasise the reverse side of the coin as it were. Rejoice and be merry, but what if you are desperately poor, homeless and under privileged? The comforting Christmas family fireside scene – but what if your family is broken and divided and that jovial picture is too painful for you to bear? There must have been times on that exhausting journey to Bethlehem when Mary and Joseph must have wondered what exactly God was trying to do.

Should we feel guilty then about enjoying a happy Christmas, almost at others’ expense. Quite the opposite in fact. It should make us even more conscious of the year long need to promote family life, to celebrate Christian marriage, and to extend our care and compassion to all in the pain of separation and distress at this time – and there will be many. It is the Church’s job to act like Christ, to be the agent of reconciliation, forgiveness and redemption, redeeming the times, rescuing people from despair, building up the broken hearted. Trying to demonstrate that at Christmas, in the birth of Christ, the message of hope and love must be paramount.

In these December days share in Mary and Joseph’s journey, the pain and apprehension of it, and you will be sharing in the journey that many will make on their road to Christmas Day. Be aware of their pain and in your Christmas joy have some love left over for them too.

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