IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN...

Even if we spend much of our life in front of a computer, we can't fail to notice that in December it's dark for longer than it's light. At the end of the month, light begins, just a little, to creep back. People from long ago seem to have marked this event of nature, the Winter Solstice, with religious ceremonies and with partying. Saturnalia and Kalends in the Roman world were Winter Solstice celebrations, as probably was Yule among the Vikings.

That midwinter is connected by us with the birth of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with the Christian Gospels...they don't tell us what time of year Jesus was born. The celebration of his birth on 25th December began in Rome in the 350s, so as to connect the "Light of the World" with Solstice celebrations of returning daylight.

What the Gospels do describe is a happening on the margins of normality. Jesus is born of an unmarried girl, his first bed is an animal feeding-trough, he is sung to by...angels? He is visited by shepherds, rough outsiders, and by star-gazing strangers from "the east" who bring mysterious occult gifts. Mainstream life takes no interest, except Herod the local king, whose response is to despatch some hit-men. So into the darkness of planet earth comes this light-bearing child, and there are beings who welcome him, though most are indifferent and some are hostile.

When our ancestors took part in the festival called Kalends, they were honouring Janus, two-faced Roman god of thresholds and new beginnings. Today we say we're free from religion, but we bow down before far more relentless deities than Janus. The media and advertising gods are telling you what you must think as I write this, telling you what you must have in order to be happy, demanding compliance, demanding sacrifice even if it bankrupts you and your family. Jingle-bell muzak, Christmas is not complete without...

And yet there in the margins is Christ, the "Light of the World", who is real, who is Immanuel, God-with-Us, who can be found, and who transforms everything. And there also is the magic of nature,the Winter Solstice, and the generosity, goodwill and hope that often shines through this time, along with much consumerist illusion.

So "this time" is a bit of a mixture...probably always has been. May your season of good will be actually good, not merely strssful and horribly expensive. And somewhere, somehow, in amongst happiness, humbug and hassle, may you be blessed, not merely by the reurning sun, but by Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God-with-Us.

Paul Nelson