Tower and Town, December 2021

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Clergy Letter

Dear friend,

At the time of writing, we at St George’s have finalised preparations for our Choral Evensong for Advent, and for ‘Falling Leaves & Early Snow’, a concert of seasonal but not Christmas material. Why Advent? Why not Christmas yet?

Advent, the season of ‘watching and waiting’ is a great part of the historic Christian tradition, and part of a call to prayer and renewed holiness (being better imitators of Jesus). But in our ‘clickbait’* generation, we find it hard to slow down and to enjoy the preparation for the event as well as the event itself. We seem constantly drawn to move on to whatever’s next.

Several years ago, during the breakfast radio programme on Heart FM Birmingham, listeners were invited to vote ‘Ho, ho, ho!’ or ‘No, no, no!’ to the playing of Christmas songs in early November. So, I called in and got through to Ed and Rachel, the presenters and gave my ‘No, no, no!’

When asked why, I began to explain that I was a vicar, and that much as I love Christmas (and I really do), early November was surely too early for Christmas songs and spoils the effect when we actually get to Christmas. Before I finished though, the presenters were laughing loudly and I was cheerily and rudely interrupted by Ed who compared my attitude to that of an accountant in March, which really made me laugh. (March is financial year end and typically an accountant’s busiest time).

I really wanted the opportunity to get back on their morning show for a quick ‘God-slot’ and explain my thinking, but I never did.

As I get older, I live for the summer and enjoy the winter less. I sometimes fantasise about being invited to be the Rector of Holy Trinity, San Diego if such church exists! But actually, being a north European, I realise that the summer wouldn’t be the summer without the winter, and the seasons in between. And we need the winter, in all sorts of important ecological ways. Similarly, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the preparation, the anticipation, the living in and enjoying the ‘now’ rather than the ‘not yet’ that comes before.

I fully understand that Christmas is going to be particularly important for us all this year: hopefully, Christmas activity of every kind will be happening without restrictions, and our enjoyment of family and friends and church will be especially meaningful. But if we treat November and December as one long Christmas, as our culture sometimes pressures us to do, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to live intentionally: to enjoy without rush, to know that the anticipation of a good thing is a good thing in itself - not to be sidestepped but savoured.

Don’t cheat yourself! Avoid the Christmas traditions too early. Create some new traditions with friends and family for the time of watching and waiting. And when Christmas comes, have a really terrific one and don’t forget to come to church. We look forward to welcoming you and sharing the Glory of the season with you.

[*Clickbait: a text or a thumbnail link that is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow that link and read, view, or listen to the linked piece of online content, being typically deceptive, sensationalized, or otherwise misleading (from Wikipedia.org)]

In Christ, with you in Marlborough, this Christmas and New Year,

Pete Sainsbury