MusicThe Sunday before Christmas Day in our church is Music Sunday. Marion and I, as two of a group of piano, violin, voice, upright bass and percussion, accompany some of the songs and carols. In addition we offer a piece of our own choosing and I thought you might like to hear it, not performed by us, but sung most impressively by a large BBC assembly. It's a well known West Indian carol. Just turn on the sound, click the white arrow and go 'full screen'. At the end click out of full screen and you'll be back to the blog. Not for allGoing to a church service and singing carols is not everybody's way of celebrating Christmas. In New Zealand fewer and fewer people have religious affiliation. 'In the 2018 Census, 2,264,601 people in the census usually resident population count reported they had no religion. The 2018 Census results showed almost half the population (48.2 percent) had no religion, compared with 41.9 percent in the 2013 Census, 34.6 percent in the 2006 Census, and 29.6 in the 2001 Census. “This latest result supports an increasing trend in the number of people reporting no religion in the last few censuses. Now, those with no religion outnumber those affiliated with at least one religion,” census general manager Kathy Connolly said.' ¹ No religion? So what do I celebrate at Christmas?I went looking on the internet for some ideas and I found this intriguing quote, from a piece Karoline Tuckey wrote for RNZ on Christmas Day 2019. It's about the way various communities celebrate Christmas. and one of those communities is the skeptics society. 'Craig Shearer, chair of the New Zealand Skeptics, says most skeptics and atheists still take part in Christmas festivities, despite it being a religious celebration. Skeptics promote a philosophy of scientific and critical thinking, and encourage everyone to examine the reasons behind their beliefs, he said. He enjoys the social traditions of the holiday. Shearer said although there is room for doubt, most historians agree the Christian Jesus was likely a real person - but whether he performed miracles and was resurrected from death is another matter. He said many skeptics share Christmas celebrations with family members who do have religious beliefs. But in the spirit of skepticism he urges everyone to rethink the materialism surrounding Christmas. "Often people are going into debt and regretting it months afterwards, but also it then ties into climate change and this whole thing about continuing to expand the economy, and needing to spend more and more money all the time." The experiences of Christmas are often what we value much more... than the material things, he said.' ² So treat Christmas a s a cultural custom. Join in with family members and value those experiences, but go easy on spending up because it leads to uncomfortable personal debt and also impinges on attempts to control climate change. Family and travelAs far as I've been able to find out, travelling – usually home – to be with family for Christmas gathered way as a New Zealand custom in the late 19th century and early in the 20th. Certainly when I was growing up in the 1940s it seemed well established. We had a house in Queenstown, which though it wasn't the highly polished mecca it is now, was even then a notable place to go. I remember 15 people for Christmas dinner. And I remember, soon after that, my mother refusing to go there for Christmas any more because she had to do all the cooking on an old wood-burning stove in summer temperatures close to 90F! How do women feel now? Certainly this year New Zealanders are coming home in droves from all over the world despite having to go into isolation and quarantine. And thousands more want to come but can't because those facilities are at capacity. A bit of speculationIf you listened to the opening carol you will have been reminded that people travelled from afar to be with the new family. They brought respect and gifts. And they sang the praises of the new birth just as relatives getting together for Christmas now gush over children they've not met before. Is there a carryover from the Christian story into cultural practice now? I'm inclined to think so. More thoughtsYou may have noticed that skeptic Craig said, 'most historians agree the Christian Jesus was likely a real person but whether he performed miracles and was resurrected from death is another matter.' Something like that position, and with it doubt about the God induced virgin birth, is not uncommon even within the church. Some think early Christians enhanced the real events because they were so moved by what happened and because they came out of a culture that easily accepted magic. But many of us within faith communities today do accept the miraculous. We don't think rational empiricism tells the whole story. If God is god then ipso facto what we describe as miraculous can occur. I'm in that group, so when I sing 'the virgin Mary had a baby boy' I don't have to think the words mean something else. Another carolMy wife, Marion, likes Christmas music just as I do. Her favourite carol is O Holy Night and so I'm finishing this last blog post for 2020 by inviting you, whatever your belief about Christmas, to enjoy the music and ponder the words. It's the number with which our quintet on Sunday finishes the music service. Christmas Greetings!Wherever you are in the world I hope you have the best 25th you can, whatever your belief about Christmas. I'm only too mindful that you could be living under some variety of pandemic lockdown which may not let you celebrate Christmas the way you'd most like. I also realise that you or someone in your family group may be sick. If that's the case, my sympathy and my hope for a complete recovery. □ Next Friday, Christmas Day, there will be no post, but I'll resume the following Friday, New Year's Day. John McInnes Friday 18 December 2020 References: Please click the text. ¹ Losing our religion – Stats NZ ² Skeptics join in Christmas festivities – RNZ republished in Stuff ##########
0 Comments
|
Welcome
|