How we stole Christmas
There is no Christmas like the first Christmas! Something has happened to the family Christmas since my grandparent’s time. I recently had a revelation about how this has come about, how our world has stolen Christmas.
There is a scene in A Very Scottish Christmas where Josephine Morgan [Jo] is visiting the family grave site in Glencrave. Jo has invited her dysfunctional family to Glencrave Castle to reveal that she is a Duchess and has inherited the castle which she wants to pass on to them. Her children Lindsay and Brad are estranged and have their own problems.
Lindsay observes her mother among the tombstones and realizes the family and heritage she is part of. How different their lives could have been. In America, where their business worlds kept them separated from each other, they had lost what was their heritage and family.
Now for a few days the Morgans renewed family roots and celebrated Christmas in the castle with all who enjoyed a livelihood keeping traditions alive and the Morgan clan functioning. Jo had severed ties and responsibilities to her clan to run off to America to marry the love of her life whom she later divorced.
Viewing this romantic story brought back the image of the tombstones of my great grandparents in a tiny graveyard plot near the family home in Saskatchewan. There now too are buried the family members who shared home, church community and love in those precious years that made up my first Christmas memories.
The realities of the Rolheiser family clan involve something more substantial than the titles of Dukes and Duchesses. We experienced kingship of a different kind – baptism and its indelible mark on the soul. Brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ’s clan ties us to the Father’s Kingdom. That realization was ours in the close-knit clan in the hills at St Donatus.
Today, time and circumstance have led children to their own nuclear families who may lose the vision of the clan and its proximity. Even annual family gatherings are not always possible. The challenge of passing on the spiritual vision of the elders is daunting.
Sometimes it seems the Bethlehem star shines dimly and the faith of our fathers falters. A younger generation too busy to hear, too distracted to reflect, but too intelligent to ignore the calling of God, wonders aimlessly on Sunday morning. They are busy with important things.
And yet, Jesus is the author of second chances. Of seventy-seven chances. And even when we have “no chances” left, we get another chance with God. We have another Advent and another Christmas to get our lives straightened around, and to get it right. And we can share the true meaning of all this with our loved ones.
“The Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord.” (Henri Nouwen).
"Glory to God in the highest heaven!” Heavenly peace descends to open hearts. Strains of Joy to the World break through the darkness. The magic of Christmas memories breaks through our hardened hearts. Christmas is again a Holy Night.
As we pause to listen, memories of Christmas past bless us. Grandfather and Grandmother! Is that my Mom? My Dad? Is that--? My eyes grow moist.
(565 words)
