old and new
Friday, December 05, 2008
♥ Friday, December 05, 2008
It is advent; and it is adventitious as it is a forgotten irony that the beginning of the church year starts at the end of the secular year. Does the secular old end with the religious new?
A child born in a manger; the crisis in Mumbai. The three wise men in their pilgrimage to whom the Star pointed would be King; a flood that left what used to be a home in ruins. A revelation to the virgin mother of the son of God; a new waterborne disease that affects the dehydrated indigenous in Africa.
And we ask whether what happened 2000 years ago, changed anything, anyway.
Yes there is. Meaning is what has made Change. The meaning of a child born who was set to be crucified on a cross for the sins of the world; the meaning of suffering borne on a "sheep silent to the slaughter", is where the secrets and mysteries of hope lie. For it is through this meaning, that a new dignity in place. A dignity that identifies with those who are lost and those who are in the pain of loss, for "by His wounds we are healed". The secular old does not end with the religious new. The New makes all the Old meaningful.
The advent of the Son of Man cant be understood without his dramatic end. For it is His end that retrospectively makes all that he has experienced meaningful. They say "faith begins where fear ends", i think that it is faith that brings meaning, and meaning gives light to the shadow that fear casts.
Meaning works on a continuum- from a stranger we meet at a social gathering, to the acquaintance we subsequently come to know at supper, to the community member that we had invited to, to the friend that we will come to cherish. Take a look around, the persons you know, would fall along that line somewhere. But meaning is not subjective, it is not only who they mean to me. But who they mean to God. Thats why we pray for the sick and the lonely, the destitute and they dying- even when they are faceless, even when we have no idea who they are nor what they go through. Simply because they are persons who mean something. Christmas is about gifts. From the Gift of " a baby born one blessed night" to that unspoken warmth that ripples through the hearts of the old and lonely when a group of tone deaf young adults strive to sound melodious in a hospice, to the celebration of a friend getting married, to the ritualistic getting together on Christmas eve, if short of a better excuse, to simply be together. That's the gift one presents to another. The old in the community finds comfort and hope in the new, whilst the new find meaning in the community from the old. The magic of Christmas lies neither in presents nor in eloquence nor in music playing nor in culinery skills. It lies behind the simple act of three old wise men, bringing all that they have, knowing that it falls far short of what is deserving, to pay homage to Him who makes all things new...
