Maybe I'm a Grinch but...

Maybe it’s a good thing that  Advent & Christmas happen at the end of our calendar year. There is very little if any reviewing and critiquing like for example New Year when we’re expected to review the past year and make resolutions for the coming one.

I honestly believe that the number of people who have no idea of the reason for celebrating the Christmas season is increasing in Ireland. I suppose it hit home when I realised that the Advent calendar with a different Biblical thought for each day is now a chocolate a day or for the adults a bauble or even an alcohol minitature a day.

Does anyone have any comment, I wonder. Is Christmas a stand alone commercial event loosely based on a pretty story or does anyone note there is a very old tradition and belief on which it is based. Sure, the Christian Church has taken over many a pagan tradition from the season timing to the feasting but now the tables are turning and it is increasingly a commercial opportunity to encourage consumers to release more of their hard earned wages.

There is a passing reference to the Christmas message, but it’s increasingly relegated to the corner.  

We have sanitised the season & the circumstances. For those who do have a nodding acquaintance with the Christian tradition, the shepherds don't reek of sheep; the stable is well lit & the place is immaculately clean & Baby Jesus was born with no fanfare but also none of the usual messiness associated with birth. Look at the Crib tableaux. They are utterly pristine; the toy animals have never seen a speck of dirt, & Joseph & Mary obviously shower every day & wear perfect clothes made from top quality cloth.

I venture to suggest that Mary & Joseph were poorer than poor; if they'd had any money, the hoteliers or B&B owners would have ousted less well off people to make way for important guests, wouldn't they? There was no social media or Joe Duffy where you could complain and who was going to listen! With all the demand on space in Bethlehem, accommodation charges were probably exorbitant as everyone tried to cash in on this unexpected windfall courtesy of the hated Roman Emperor.

Baby lambs smell somehow nice, but as they grow, sheep wool doesn’t; the same is true of any other animal and human.

This year there were a number of events to celebrate different aspects of the Christmas season in Rosscarbery: the Carol Service; the Children’s Service; The Story of Christmas; and of course the traditional Christmas Day services held in all churches, but one of the most interesting for me was the pageant held in St. Fachtna’s Church. Here there was a wonderfully well behaved donkey who walked sedately up the aisle but needed a bit of encouragement to depart! Two adorable lambs snuggled contentedly in the shepherds’ arms for the entire service but the animal who provided the reality check must have been the goat. He wasn’t a big goat but he apparently ensured that those participating in the pageant remembered his presence; he enjoyed the straw; I saw him trying to eat the sheet on which Mary had lain, but of course what goes in has to leave the body and those in the stable scene had to contend with the strong smelling goat! “Lest we forget” was the only phrase that came to mind when I heard.

The Christian Year begins with Advent and continues through the year reviewing and remembering aspects of Jesus’ life and it’s bearing on Christians today. Advent and Christmas more than any other season are more commercial than anything else even Easter. Maybe in Autumn 2018 as everyone returns to routine after summer holidays, we should be having reality checks on the Christmas story and preparing for same!

Until next time

Avril