What are we looking forward to?

Joc Writes, in Grapevine December/January 2024/5

Christmas, John Betjeman, 1954

The bells of waiting Advent ring,
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain
In many a stained-glass window sheen
From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

The holly in the windy hedge
And round the Manor House the yew
Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,
The altar, font and arch and pew,
So that the villagers can say
'The church looks nice' on Christmas Day.

Provincial Public Houses blaze,
Corporation tramcars clang,
On lighted tenements I gaze,
Where paper decorations hang,
And bunting in the red Town Hall
Says 'Merry Christmas to you all'.

And London shops on Christmas Eve
Are strung with silver bells and flowers
As hurrying clerks the City leave
To pigeon-haunted classic towers,
And marbled clouds go scudding by
The many-steepled London sky.

And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children's hearts are glad.
And Christmas-morning bells say 'Come!'
Even to shining ones who dwell
Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.

And is it true?  And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?

And is it true ?  For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.

December is a month for looking forward, in expectation. But what are we looking forward to?

As I write, there are 4 weeks before the winter solstice, and 32 days before Christmas. You will likely read this around the 1st December, the 1st Sunday of Advent this year. That is also the start of a new Church year, liturgical Year C, when most of our Gospel readings will be from Luke. 

After the winter solstice, the days will become longer, but it will take a while before we begin to see the stretch in the evenings we so look forward to.

And then there is Christmas. We need to distinguish between the secular and the Christian festivals of Christmas. The secular Christmas is all about exchanging gifts and feasting with friends and families. It is not in any real sense Christian at all. It is a continuation of the ancient pagan festivals of Yule in the Germanic world, Meán Geimhridh in the Celtic, a very human celebration of life, warmth and relationships at the darkest time of the year in mid-winter. No wonder, in an increasingly post-Christian world, some now call it Winterval. But Christians should surely not behave like the Grinch, saying ‘Bah, humbug’ about this secular Christmas, as the 17th century puritans did when they tried to ban it. For most of us it is a time of joy as we renew relationships, and recall Christmases past together, though for some it will be a time of sadness, because of difficult memories or straitened circumstances. 

When I was a child, the secular Christmas traditions were Victorian, probably no more than 100 years old, greatly influenced by Charles Dickens’ book ‘A Christmas Carol. We began to look forward to Christmas at the start of Advent. My brother and I took turns opening the windows in the Advent calendar to reveal little pictures. We were asked what presents we hoped Father Christmas would bring. We sent off cards, and parcels with presents, to faraway family and friends. A few weeks later, singers started to go round the houses singing carols, and perhaps were offered a drink or a mince-pie. We made Christmas decorations at home from strips of coloured paper. We waited expectantly for the Christmas turkey to arrive by post, sent by my grandmother. Decorating the house would wait until the week before Christmas, when holly and ivy and the Christmas tree would be brought in, to last until 12th Night, Epiphany. Our Christmas feast was on Stephen’s Day, since Christmas Day was a working day for my father, a priest.

Things are different now. Christmas is much more commercial. As soon as Halloween is past, we are deluged with Christmas adverts, and the shops are decorated for Christmas. The Advent calendar contains sweets or toys. The decorations go up weeks before Christmas and are gone long before Twelfth Night. Father Christmas has turned into Santa. And turkeys no longer arrive by post. But I’m sure we will all plan to celebrate a secular Christmas with family and friends again this year, mixing old family traditions with the new, as is surely right. 

But as Christians, during Advent, we also look forward to a Christian Christmas. We prepare to celebrate the birth of our incarnate God, taking flesh as a helpless child 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem. And at the same time we look forward to his second coming, the fulfilment of his kingdom, and the heavenly banquet. 

John Betjeman, a devout Anglican, got it right in his lovely poem.