Christmas
Traditions
Carol
singing:
In
his Letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul first
tells the congregation to 'let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom;
and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and
spiritual songs to God' (Letter to the Colossians,
3.16). At Christmas, we give thanks that God's Word came
to earth to dwell among us - what better opportunity to praise
God with our spiritual songs. Carols take up the Christmas
stories in poetic form - with some poetic licence - transforming
the Bethlehem of the first century into a place that would
be familiar to the people who shared in the singing. From
the middle ages onwards, carol singers have gone around people's
homes, singing God's praises and collecting money for a charitable
cause. At Saint Mary's we come together to sing carols on
the evenings of the first and fourth Sundays of Advent, for
our traditional Advent Carol Service, and the celebration
of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, made popular
at King's College, Cambridge, in the 1920s.
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Christ: from Christos, a Greek word for
'anointed', the title given to Jesus because he was
anointed with God's Holy Spirit at His Baptism in
the river Jordan (see for example the Gospel of Saint
Mark, 1.9-11). The Hebrew word for 'anointed' is meshiach,
from which we derive the word 'Messiah', 'The Anointed'.
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Cribs/Creches:
The
tradition of depicting the scene of the birth of Jesus can
be traced back to the first Christian communities who, in
their icons, painted images of the Holy Birth. In the thirteenth
century, Saint Francis of Assisi is believed to have made
the first model of the crib at Greccio (Italy), a tradition
that soon spread across central Europe. Today, the municipality
of Bethlehem displays a wonderful selection of cribs from
around the world on Manger Square, showing how popular the
depictions of the birth of Christ have become. As in many
other churches, at Saint Mary's we place the figure of the
child Jesus into the crib during our celebration of Midnight
Mass,
and then bless the crib with the following prayer:
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Mass: The celebration of Holy Communion, when Christians
meet to break bread in remebrance of the last supper
that Jesus shared with His friends before He died
for them. (Close)
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GOD OUR
FATHER,
on this night your Son Jesus Christ was born
of the Virgin Mary for us and our salvation:
bless this crib which we have prepared to celebrate this Holy Birth;
may all who see it be strengthened in faith,
and receive the fullness of life He came to bring;
who is alive and reigns forever. Amen.
From:
The Promise of His Glory, © 1991
Christmas
Trees:
Orginally
a German custom, Christmas trees were introduced to England
in the nineteenth century, reputedly by Prince Albert. The
evergreen trees reflect the nature of the birth of Christ
who came to be a light in the darkness, and echo the prophecy
that tells of new growth from the root of Jesse - how God
will grow a 'shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch
from its roots' (Isaiah, 11.1). In Christian mystic
tradition, the Christmas tree with its lit candles is sometimes
compared to the burning bush of Moses - a bush in which God's
messenger was present, 'blazing, yet not consumed' (Exodus,
3.2). It is a poignant reminder that, at Christmas, we -
like Moses - enter holy ground in the places of our worship.
Christmas
Presents:
The
greatest gift of Christmas, we believe, is Jesus Himself.
As a token of that great gift to humankind, Christians have
been giving each other gifts, too; small reflections of their
love and devotion to one another. Over time, people claimed
that these gifts were given by the 'Christ-child' instead
of the real donor. From the nineteenth century onwards it
was increasingly said that 'Father Christmas' had brought
the gifts, an amicable Scandinavian around whom fairy-tale
stories, such as his reindeer fleet and elf-factories, were
spun.
In the United States, Father Christmas is popularly known as 'Santa Claus',
a name that derives from the Dutch Sinterklaas - Sint Nikolaas. Saint
Nicholas of Myra was a third century bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey.
Patron Saint of sea-farers, it was no surprise that the port of Amsterdam (and
therefore the Netherlands as a whole) adopted him as their patron, too, and
spread his fame. According to legend Nicholas was a friend of children in need
whom he supported by generous gifts. It is no surprise, then, that when looking
for an alternative source of the gifts we share at Christmas-time, Nicholas
was found to be ideal. Saint Nicholas is commemorated in the Church's calendar
on 6 December.
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