Tomorrow is the Second Sunday in Advent, another reminder to us of what we are about to celebrate: the fact that God becomes man, the mystery of the Incarnation. In tomorrow's Gospel St Luke tells us how John the Baptist went about preaching a message of forgiveness and this notion of forgiveness is tied in with God's plan of salvation for mankind. Our celebration of the birth of Christ has been hijacked by commercialism.
That does not mean that we have to ban all the fun and joy it brings at this dull and dreary time, especially to children. The Christmas lights and decorations do, of course, make it a festive time. But like everything in life it is important to stay focused and remember exactly what we are celebrating. Many weeks ago the big stores had their seductive "gift-wrapped presents" on display. Christmas boxes were luring the customer to buy that camouflaged bottle of alcohol. Along with fooling the customer, it is playing a significant role in destroying our forests. But to say a word about it you can be accused of being a kill-joy or someone who does not understand the Christmas spirit.
And then there are all the Christmas office parties. The companies invite their employees to "celebrate". That's all well and good provided the same companies treat all their workers with dignity and respect. It's all part of the jigsaw that the world of commercialism has managed to plunder from the Christian message which we call Christmas.
It is impossible not to be cynical about it. John the Baptist goes about preaching a Gospel of forgiveness and he sees this as part of the overall plan for preparing for the coming of the Lord (St Luke 3: 1-6). Any words dealing with forgiveness at this time of the year can be seen as cynical ploys or mawkish gibberish devoid of all sincerity and meaning. But it might well be the challenge of modern Christians to put Christ back into Christmas and to tell the world of commercialism where to go with its wares. Have we the courage and the strength to do that? Have we the Christian idealism to jump off this mad hurdy-gurdy we call Christmas? The familiar words in the Our Father - "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" - might well give us food for thought on this Second Sunday in Advent. No, it is not a question of letting others walk all over us. But it is a Christian thing to extend the hand of friendship and never to tire of offering forgiveness. That is not at all easy. But it is what Christmas is about. God becomes man to offer salvation to all, to forgive us our wrongdoing and to bring us back into his life.
Maybe this Christmas if each one of us made a strong resolve to offer the hand of forgiveness to those who have hurt and offended us we would be celebrating in a most extraordinary way the birth of Jesus Christ. And it might also be a step in moving away from all the garish things that are synonymous with Christmas. The God who becomes man does so to offer us his grace and thereby extend the hand of forgiveness. We might well try doing likewise. Few of us are capable of making drastic changes overnight. But maybe the hype of traffic jams, the queues in shops might just set us thinking: "What is this all about?" Our Christian tradition might come to our rescue and give us the resolve to look at it all and ask: Might we not well do something this Christmas which would add to its Christian relevance? Even if we spend some time thinking of the mystery of God, forgiveness and salvation. There is something great in offering and receiving gifts at Christmas, they are a symbol of love and friendship. Hopefully we can use them in reminding ourselves of God's love for us and our love and respect for one another.
M.C.