Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU THINK, but it seems to me that this year the shops
are preparing for Christmas earlier than ever. Yet what is it they are urging
us to celebrate? In many a Christmas stocking this year there may be a copy of
this winter's best selling scientific book by Richard Dawkins: 'The God
Delusion', which seeks to suggest that everything about Christmas is a
figment of someone's imagination. It is true that much about Christmas
remains veiled and puzzling.
For more than 300 years after Jesus' time, Christians celebrated his resurrection but not his birth. The observance first began in fourth-century Rome, timed to coincide with a midwinter pagan festival honouring the imperial army's sun god, Mithra and this December date was taken over to celebrate Jesus' birthday.
Yet on what day he was born is really unknown. Even the precise year is uncertain. We know now that it was not in the year 1 A.D., as the calendar's Anno Domini (Year of the Lord) suggests. Its dating system derived from an error in working out the year of Christ's birth by a sixth-century monk in Rome, Dionysius Exigus. Scholars have since have calculated that Jesus' birth came in about 6 or 7 B.C., meaning paradoxically "Before Christ". The revised time was determined partly by the fact that Herod the Great ruled Judea when Jesus was born and history records that Herod died in 4 B.C.
In what month the birth occurred, or on what day, has been a matter of speculation for centuries. Possible dates include: January 6, February 2, March 25, April 19, May 20, October 4, November 17. A British physicist and astronomer, David Hughes, has calculated that the date was September 17, 7 B.C., based on scientific evidence, including that of a conjunction of two planets, Jupiter and Saturn, in the constellation Pisces on that date. He concludes in a book that this extraordinary celestial display was the "star" seen by the distant wise men. The 17th century German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, similarly had calculated that the "star" was a three-planet conjunction, including Venus as well as Jupiter and Saturn, in the same constellation in 7 B.C.
The celebration of Christmas was banned in the 17th century, when Oliver Cromwell forbade what was called the "heathen celebration of Christmas."
For all of the clouded chronology and controversial background of Christmas, however, we can be absolutely assured that there is ample historic evidence that a man called Jesus was indeed born into this world in Palestine some 2000 years ago. In fact there is more historic evidence about Jesus' birth than there is about the birth of Julius Caesar. There is also ample evidence that the man Jesus did indeed embark on a remarkable ministry of teaching and healing miracles, that ultimately led to a terrible death on the cross. The sheer speed and effectiveness of the spread of the Christian faith after his death also speaks volumes about the truth of the wonderful miracle of his subsequent resurrection from the dead.
In all that he taught, one message stands out - that in him God entered the human race out of love for it, to be at one with it, and to be one of it. As J. B. Phillips sums it up:
"The Christian faith is founded upon a well attested sober fact of history; that quietly, but with deliberate purpose, God himself has visited this little planet."
As that wonderful opening chapter of St. John's Gospel so eloquently puts it:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth,".
That is the mystifying message of Christmas; an awesome concept that has challenged hearts and minds since. It holds that Jesus was truly human, sharing the nature of all people, yet also truly God. As the Bible says:-
"Emmanuel - God with us," "The light of the world."
So, as you buy and wrap up your Christmas presents this year, why not spare a thought as to why we are really giving presents to each other. Remember that Christmas began in the heart of God, but it is complete only when it reaches the heart of man. Then perhaps you might remember the words of my favourite Christmas Carol:-
What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man,
I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him-Give my heart.
Pauline and I wish you a happy, peaceful and blessed Christmas.