I know the obvious answer to the question above is, "December 25th." But I'm thinking here of another take on when Christmas "happens" in our our lives.
Out with a couple from the parish a few nights ago, we were talking about how folks decorate their homes for Christmas, from simplicity to opulence. Jane spoke about her family decorating the tree and how, for her, Christmas "arrived" each year when the tree was finished and it was time to put the star on the top. For her, that one particular ornament was the sure sign that no matter how many gifts were piled under the tree's branches, it was the star at the tree's top that was the constant reminder that Christmas was about the birthday of Christ.
It was good to hear this family perspective and it got me to thinking about what moments in the Christmas season are important to me and what it is that signals "Christmas has arrived" in my life and heart.
I have two such moments and they are both musical.
The first is standing in line for the entrance procession at the first vigil Mass for Christmas and hearing the organ begin to play, "O Come, All Ye Faithful." At that moment I have the sense that I'm processing with Christians around the world and over several centuries to a hymn that sings a message some 2,000 years old. When I hear the organ play the introduction - it's Christmas!
The other musical moment is hearing "Silent Night" at Midnight Mass. I remember singing this as a child and it has a powerful way of connecting me to my earliest memories of Christmas. That we're singing it in media nocte just deepens the experience of the night in whose silence all holiness was born into our world.
I'm wondering... what are the memories, the moments, when Christmas "arrives" for you? If you'd like to share some of these, please do...
-ConcordPastor
Christmas for me is getting to Church early to ensure a good seat and then the Liturgy itself. This is most important then I am ready for the family time of sharing gifts and a good meal. It's all about the Christmas Mass for me.
ReplyDeleteI was raised Jewish, so the notion of Christmas "arriving" formed along with my Christian formation. And I would have to say that "O Come, All Ye Faithful" has special significance.
ReplyDeleteIn 1976, during my haute agnostic years, I attended a Midnight Mass with a friend -- for the music. I was stunned to find myself weeping uncontrollably as "O Come, All Ye Faithful" was being sung during the processional. I felt acutely aware of my Judaism and yet profoundly touched.
Over 20 years would pass before I was baptized and it took me that long to figure out why I was so moved by that hymn.It has become a major signifier of Christmas for me.
...I sat for a few minutes after reading this post, and, my mind went blank... I found myself searching... "working really hard" to figure out- 'when does Christmas arrive for me?'- my answer is that it seemed to be different every year...
ReplyDeleteThis year, I am hoping and praying that Christmas will "arrive" for me when I feel love and peace and warmth and safety fill my heart (it doesn't even have to FILL my heart... ) -(just in case you were wondering, I have already started to feel love, pretty recently, the love from others that I know is the love of God). So, even if that's what I have when Christmas arrives, that's okay- I am most grateful for that.
...and Christmas doesn't have to arrive by Dec. 25th, I mean, it can (and I think, should) be after that too.
ReplyDeleteAnd those things that I am hoping and praying for, well, a very wise and special friend told me, 'they take time'.
This post and these comments are really touching my heart and I am a bit weepy.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, I have so many happy memories of going to Midnight Mass and O Come All Ye Faithful and Silent Night are very much a part of that.
And the excitement of seeing the Baby Jesus finally put into His place in the Creche meant that Christmas was here.
Now I would have to say that I start to see the tiniest glint of Christmas on the horizon when I sing the first O Antiphon on December 17th.
Fran
I would have to say that the Prelude Concert to Midnight Mass signals the imminent arrival of Christmas for me. Other than two years ago, when I had terrible bronchitis and felt so sick, I have gone to the Christmas carol sing in Monument Square every Christmas Eve. That is always fun. People are full of good cheer and sing with great gusto. Then I return home until it is time to leave for Midnight Mass, which, for me, is when Christmas is ushered in. I love the familiar carols and some that are not so familiar. In addition to "Silent Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" (which I really love in Latin!) some of my favorites are "Lo How a Rose Ere Blooming," "Bring a Torch Jeannette Isabella," "The First Noel,"and "O Holy Night." Actually, I love all the familiar carols!!! Happy, holy Christmas to all.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, I think it was singing "Once in Royal David's City" which was always one of the hymns on Christmas Eve at Riverside Church in NYC, where we were members. Despite how much I loved the hymn, the rebel was developing -- I would stand with mouth clamped shut and refused to sing the lines: "Christian children all should be/ Mild, obedient, good as he." One should not lie on Christmas, you see. ;-)
ReplyDeleteFor a number of years in my mid 30s to early 40s I "did" Christmas by myself, and I'm not really sure I was aware of a feeling of Christmas arriving then. Those were very lonely times.
These days, however, I think there are a number of possibilities: 1) when we cross the street from the Cathedral downtown to join the homeless congregation on Boston Common for Eucharist on the morning of 12/25 or 2) late on the afternoon of 12/25 when my sister and her family finally appear at the door to my house and we bundle in their luggage and coats and my niece, hopping with excitement, looking forward to three days together.
Or maybe it's late Christmas night, when I can hear the family upstairs, tromping in and out of the bathroom, and I'm snuggled on my makeshift bed on the living room couch, with four cats trying to find spots where they're in some kind of contact with my body, and I feel how grateful I am for the difference between Christmas now and Christmas then.
Christmas will begin for me this year when my first grandchild arrives! (Already a week late) I am beginning to understand 'waiting' in a new way.
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