The Associate Minister’s Musings
February is a strange time in the church’s year; we have celebrated Christmas and Epiphany and are heading towards Lent, Easter and Pentecost. Of course in reality the events that we celebrate at Christmas and Easter were decades apart but we have to get them all into one year, and this causes real problems for those of us who are chocoholics, for they all get confused together. Let me explain ... when I went into the shops just after Christmas there were the chocolate reindeer and polar bears available at bargain prices, however, next to them (at full price) were the bunnies and lambs. Well, it’s just not right is it? I should be able to finish the reindeer and polar bears, and get them happily established on my hips before I am tempted by the lambs and bunnies, otherwise they might all get mixed up and end up depositing their fat in the wrong part of my body.
Now, I know that biologically I don’t have areas of Christmas fat and others of Easter fat, it just covers me all over, but it has to be said that many shops don’t understand the problems that they cause us as we try to sort out our seasonal chocolate requirements. This might be a silly example. However, many of us treat our faith in the same way; we don’t link Christmas and Easter but treat them as completely different seasons and events when actually they are intimately linked together. Both are about God’s love and promises to us as we remember Jesus coming to earth at Christmas and returning to heaven at Easter. Both of these events are significant and we need both of them to understand the completeness of God’s love. At Christmas we recognise Jesus as the bridge between heaven and earth, the one who willingly came from heaven to earth to live among us; then at Easter we think about Jesus’ life on earth coming to an end, his return to heaven and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit to support us as we live our lives here.
So should I be worried about mixing my seasonal chocolate? Not really, for Christmas and Easter are mixed up together in the love of God and the mystery of the incarnation and resurrection. Christ comes to us not only as the cute baby, but as the teenager, as the adult in joy and pain, grief and celebration, in knowing God’s presence and crying out in loneliness and isolation, with every emotion that we will ever experience. So you can eat the chocolate bunnies alongside the reindeer, and maybe this year reflect on the mysterious mixture of our experience as we move through the seasons of the church year, remembering that however you feel, whatever changes you face, one fact remains, which is the love of God. This love is constant, and like chocolate comes in many different shapes, all of which should always be accepted, enjoyed and celebrated.
Julie Watson
February is a strange time in the church’s year; we have celebrated Christmas and Epiphany and are heading towards Lent, Easter and Pentecost. Of course in reality the events that we celebrate at Christmas and Easter were decades apart but we have to get them all into one year, and this causes real problems for those of us who are chocoholics, for they all get confused together. Let me explain ... when I went into the shops just after Christmas there were the chocolate reindeer and polar bears available at bargain prices, however, next to them (at full price) were the bunnies and lambs. Well, it’s just not right is it? I should be able to finish the reindeer and polar bears, and get them happily established on my hips before I am tempted by the lambs and bunnies, otherwise they might all get mixed up and end up depositing their fat in the wrong part of my body.
Now, I know that biologically I don’t have areas of Christmas fat and others of Easter fat, it just covers me all over, but it has to be said that many shops don’t understand the problems that they cause us as we try to sort out our seasonal chocolate requirements. This might be a silly example. However, many of us treat our faith in the same way; we don’t link Christmas and Easter but treat them as completely different seasons and events when actually they are intimately linked together. Both are about God’s love and promises to us as we remember Jesus coming to earth at Christmas and returning to heaven at Easter. Both of these events are significant and we need both of them to understand the completeness of God’s love. At Christmas we recognise Jesus as the bridge between heaven and earth, the one who willingly came from heaven to earth to live among us; then at Easter we think about Jesus’ life on earth coming to an end, his return to heaven and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit to support us as we live our lives here.
So should I be worried about mixing my seasonal chocolate? Not really, for Christmas and Easter are mixed up together in the love of God and the mystery of the incarnation and resurrection. Christ comes to us not only as the cute baby, but as the teenager, as the adult in joy and pain, grief and celebration, in knowing God’s presence and crying out in loneliness and isolation, with every emotion that we will ever experience. So you can eat the chocolate bunnies alongside the reindeer, and maybe this year reflect on the mysterious mixture of our experience as we move through the seasons of the church year, remembering that however you feel, whatever changes you face, one fact remains, which is the love of God. This love is constant, and like chocolate comes in many different shapes, all of which should always be accepted, enjoyed and celebrated.
Julie Watson