Beyond the tinsel

IThis year my Christmas will look very different. Not just because it will be the first without my family but because I am in a different culture entirely.

I thought that I had a good Christian view of Christmas. But being in a country where the possibility of a white Christmas is pretty much nil.
Also in a culture where you are very much Christian and yet don't go to church on Christmas day is alien.

It has lead me to ponder the bare bones of Christmas. What it is and why we celebrate it. The other day I saw the Grinch stole Christmas for the first time and I wonder if  that is the secular perception that it is just consumerism gone crazy.

Christmas comes from the mass of Christ we celebrate his birth that is not new news to most people. Most people have random childhood nativity memories. I as Mary in my nursery nativity play swapped josephs half way to Bethlehem. Because Joseph one decided that he would rather be a shepherd with guys brother. I know of stories of the first  innkeepers saying come in we have cable or wise men running off with the gold.

But where does that leave us with unto us a child is born unto us a son is given. Because god himself intervening in human history to change it and our fate in a world where everyone had turned away (psalm 53:2-3) was not enough? The creator and architect of our very universe would wear human flesh and come to earth as we do cocooned in our mother. Vulnerable, dependant and naked.  He showed us what it means to love to be close to god and the life that he would have us live. Perhaps that is the point him and only him our god is with us.

History

As I have said a few times my degree is in History. A  lot of people think that History is the past and a study of the past. Which in many ways it is but true History is more than that. What happened is the Past, our understanding of it that is history. The Cambridge dictionary defines history as ( the study of ) past events when considered together. 

History is an admission of our humanity, It is saying that we ourselves are fallible and we can only see things through our own filters and perspectives. My first ever history lesson in Secondary School we were taught about bias, Bias is not history's dirty secret but it is one of the foundations of Historical inquiry. Put another way we would not have History without people seeing things in different ways. After all if you were talking objectively Hilter was one of the most Charismatic public speakers that ever lived but there are few who would agree with his view of German History. If any society is burning their history books it is a sign that they are totalitarian because it shows that they do not value anyone else's opinion and have to make sure that everyone is on their agenda and version of the past. 

Lately I have been thinking about filters and perspectives a lot. I have also been thinking about my personal History and wondering if I need to reform my view of my History through the filter of the knowledge of Christ. After all perception is 9/10ths of conviction. What if I let Jesus write my History book. What if I let him decide what was a defining moment in my life. What If I let him decided to what extent I am good, lovely, lovable? would my view of others change? would my view of myself change? So I decided to give him my past as I remembered it and let him reform my history and personally it has made me more able to move on from things in my life. After all we are told to  forget the former things - do not dwell in the past (Isaiah 43). in the message that passage says ' be alert, be present' and I think we have to let God deal with our stories so that we can live well in the now. 

I think that is part of what we carry as Christians.In the Bible it says of Christ that he is the lord of History. We are also told to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Therefore isn't that part of the hope that he brings to people the ability not to change the past but their perception of it. If all things come together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes, then surely he can give you a new view of your past.

So when we declare that we will change History for Christ when we believe that God wants us to change the trajectory of the world we are in. We should also be aware that he wants to show people a new perspective on the past that they have lived too.