It’s the time to spread a little Christmas cheer - Rev Glynn Cardy

Reverand Glynn Cardy.

THREE KEY FACTS

• Christians believe Christmas began with a baby born in a stable. It was the birth of a religious and social movement seeking to end poverty and violence and inspire wellbeing and community.
• Unfortunately, poverty and violence persist.
• Whatever we do to try to spread “a little Christmas joy” it will be a valued gift.

For believers, Christmas began with a baby born in a stable, among animals and muck, with a lurking threat from a murderous tyrant. Not a promising start, one might have thought.

In time that little baby would birth a religious and social movement seeking to end poverty and violence, and inspire wellbeing and community.

Each year at this time many of us endeavour to spread a little Christmas. To take to heart something of those old Jesus stories and bring the goodness in them alive. We try to do a bit, even if we are not capable of much, to foster afresh wellbeing and community.

Some of us try to be extra nice to shop assistants. Chances are, in this season, they are working long hours. Chances are too that they’ve recently been the recipient of grumpiness. One of the things about the expectations and resulting stress of Christmas is that some people drop their anger in large dollops on others.

There is a man in my street who, particularly at this time of year, makes a point of bringing in his neighbours’ rubbish bins. In a friendly, helpful way. If they are home, he smiles and waves. Another neighbour bakes little goodies, wraps them, and leaves them on the porch. Little, local, acts of kindness and generosity.

Christmas Carols were written long ago for people who wanted to show their belief through singing, whether on a street corner, church or home. For they knew that singing together makes the heart glad. Singing together makes for more togetherness. It can be healing. Today, we are sorely in need of more gladness, togetherness and healing.

Christmas cards, like visits from a postie on a bicycle, are in decline. Cards, whatever their printed words, are a means by which in our personal words we can tell someone they’re appreciated. Maybe if we don’t do cards, we can do letters, emails or texts. For gratitude feeds communal wellbeing.

I think Christmas too is a time to visit our local children’s bookshop, even if we don’t have children in our life. For there are many children’s books crafted with words and illustrations to help us remember and think about the unexpected blessings in life, and what we can do to make more of them. So buy a book, take it home, and read it out loud. Good stories are to be heard. The wonderful thing is the more we talk about goodness, the more we practice it, the more it catches on.

Whatever we do to try to spread a little Christmas joy it will be a valued gift.

Unfortunately poverty and violence, like at the first Christmas, still lurk around seeking to destroy. They seem big and overwhelming, sucking the hope out of life. Yet the small and seemingly underwhelming acts of kindness and generosity hold out the promise of subverting what appears big and overwhelming.

Together, as a community, we can push back against poverty and violence, making room for those who have no room, making gladness with those who have much sadness, making wellbeing for all beings (including those with four legs and tails).

Christmas is a time of gathering ourselves as whānau and communities to affirm, celebrate and pledge to work together for the best things, like peace and wellbeing, and to thwart, together, the worst.