Seasonal Considerations:
Everything has gone to shit. Does it feel like that sometimes lately? Wait. Why would I need to ask that? Of course you have felt that, at least occasionally. Ready for another piece of news that will simply remind you that something else we have taken for granted is no longer certain?
There is shortage of Santa Clauses in Canada this year. A recent CBC article put it this way:
In some parts of the country there are not enough Santas to go around for live visits, in part because some jolly old elves don’t feel safe visiting in person yet. In other areas, Santas are sitting idle with few jobs because of high COVID-19 case counts.
I spoke with a Santa just this week. He has been a close family friend for many years and he is a well loved Santa in the neighbourhood. He is not taking on any photo/visit work this year because he (accepting all public health regulations) can’t picture wearing a mask for all of the visits. The CBC news story quotes Jeff Gilroy, manager of “Just Be Claus” (for real) in Ontario who says that he has turned down over 200 events already because he can’t find enough willing Santas.
Will it be the COVID pandemic that forever alters the rather strange custom of visiting Santa? We’ll wait and see.
Historical Considerations:
58 years ago yesterday marked the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy. Due to the fact that I had not yet been born, I do not have memories of that day, but November 22, 1963 is a day seared into the memory of many people. It is interesting to consider a history that you yourself have not lived. In some ways the events of such history become hyper-real. Actually living at the time of historic events carries much more full memories. We remember what we were feeling, how old we were, what our familial situation was like and so on. This week I have been listening to a book that includes the recounting of events that took place just over a year ago. The days and events in question are around the COVID-19 pandemic, and the American Presidential campaign and election of 2020. The writing and narration (audiobook) is thoughtful and compelling. However, I have noticed something of interest in how I am listening. I am hearing the events from a year ago as if they were from another time. They have a “once in a lifetime” nature to them. We have lived too much history lately.
The view of history is an important topic in hopeful Christian theology. In general, we tend to view history in linear terms. This happened and then that and then this other thing. Our emotional remembering shows us that it is not always that simple. Some events are bigger than others and can feel closer to the present even if they are further distant in time. Hopeful Christian theology sees the death and resurrection of Jesus as such an event, one that is much closer spiritually than it is in linear time. In Jesus’ death, the fulness of the incarnation, all darkness, sorrow and sin and evil have been taken up. In the resurrection, life has defeated such death. So, while it makes sense to see history as linear, hopeful Christian faith sees history in light of the crucifixion and the resurrection. The demonstration of the love of Christ on the cross is closer than historical events that happened more recently.
As I consider the events of these past couple of years, as I pray for friends facing sickness and terminal diagnosis, as I, along with most of the world, long for a time of greater joy than we have seen recently, I lift these prayers in light of the crucifixion and the resurrection. There is faith in this. Nothing in this practice of prayer means that other people have to believe as I believe. I feel no haste or fear in this praying. I feel instead a hope that we would see God’s love as news of great joy for all people.
I remember vividly the day that John Kennedy was shot. My mother and I watched the news coverage on TV, in black and white. There were no words for us to express our grief.
The image of his wife, trying to protect him, her pink suit covered in blood, was too unbearable.
No one should have to see what she saw. The world changed that day for me.
The thing that could never possibly happen, did happen.
That was the day that the unimaginable happened. Of course, the unimaginable had already happened long before that.
Jesus Christ was hanged on a cross. But that was planned….or, that is what the Bible told me.
Christ promised me redemption…and hope…somehow there was/is a Purpose…and Grace.
Maybe God knows the purpose for the assassination of John Kennedy. I don’t.
As for Santa Claus, is it time to send him back to the “North Pole” or should we hang onto the myth, the magic, the silliness?
As a wise poet once said…”The world is too much with us”.
As of recent we have literally been drowning in sorrow.
Some years ago The Rankin Family produced a wonderful song “We’ll Rise Again”.
If Christ is our Promise then all will be renewed and, yes, we will rise again.