…with, “Just another winter’s tale”?

I was reminded recently that I haven’t blogged for a while. I’m sorry for my absence – It’s been a combination of busyness and avoidance!

“Avoidance?” you ask. (Well, you might have asked!)
Basically, although my last post generated one comment here – on my Facebook page it generated a huge number of comments, thirty at the last count!
I wanted to respond to some of these comments, particularly the more aggressive ones – and so I was avoiding posting again until I had given a response to people that had taken the time and effort to post their comments. Unfortunately I’ve been so busy that I haven’t as yet had opportunity to reply – although I still intend to!

So in the meantime, I’m back!

On Tuesday (02/12/08), I was watching “The One Show” whilst eating my dinner. There was one segment of the show that caught my attention – one of the presenters interviewed David Essex about his Christmas hit “A Winters Tale”.
Here’s what David Essex said;

DE - “It wasn’t particularly thought of as a Christmas single (umm) it happened to come out around that time and ever since its been associated with (err) Christmas”

DC - “Why do you think people associate it with Christmas?”

DE - “Its quite plaintive, its quite emotive. It can be the saddest time; Christmas, even though we, you know, have this facade of happiness and Christmas trees and everything else. In reality life’s not like that, and maybe ‘Winters Tale’ taps into that kind of plaintive loneliness that sometimes Christmas can bring…
…[laughing] on that happy note – Merry Christmas everybody”

(To view the full video, click here, and select ‘The Hook’)

David Essex’s  statement really struck me – The message of many Christmas songs is that this is the season for couples to snuggle by open fires and go for long walks in the snow, but it’s a sad fact, that for a lot of people, Christmas will be a very lonely time, when they reminisce about love lost through broken relationships.

So it seems, that unless we are in a romantic relationship, we’re doomed to spend the next month muttering ‘Bah Humbug’ at every happy couple that pass us in the street, while we must endure the cruel coldness of a lonely Christmas! If the festive season means listening to “A Winters Tale” on repeat, and seeking ‘salvation’ in romance, then I’d rather hide away in my room, and emerge again in January!!

As I consumed my pasta & cheesy-bacon sauce, I began to think about the picture that David Essex painted. 
Unwittingly, he had hit the nail on the head - Christmas really is all about the sadness of broken relationships – but I’m talking about a relationship that is far more significant than the kind that Wham sing about in “Last Christmas”.

The message of Christmas is, that even though we have been rebellious, unfaithful and self-seeking in our attitude and actions towards God, He has chosen to demonstrate the depth of his love for us. Christmas is all about the ‘incarnation’ of God, that is, it’s about God in flesh – God ‘with meat on’!!

John, in his record of Jesus’ life, puts it like this;

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 ESV) 

In Jesus’ birth, and life, we witness God revealing himself as a God who, in love, pursues those who have despised him. Ultimately we see God’s self-sacrificing love in Christ’s death, where he bears the punishment our rebellion deserves, dying in our place.
His resurrection shows that He has conquered Satan, sin, death & hell, and that it is only by His completed mission that we can be reconciled with God.

The eternal Son of God didn’t ‘become flesh’ to give pop stars an excuse to write soppy, sentimental songs about kisses under the mistletoe!

He came to reveal God to a world that is running away from Him, and to make a way for God-haters to be reconciled back to God.

I’ll finish this post with the words of a song I’ve been listening to recently – as you read it, I hope you recognise that this isn’t
“…just another Winter’s Tale” but it’s the message of God revealing his glory through frail human flesh and bringing peace for all humanity.

How sweet the day when Christ was born,
when God himself took human form.
He came to wash ours sins away,
our death to die, our debt to pay.

How sweet the day when hope appeared,
the one who frees us from our fears.
He came to break the power of sin,
and give us power to follow him.

Oh, sing for joy, lift up your voice.
Let us sing for joy, the whole earth rejoice.
Let us sing for joy to the Son.
For Jesus, our saviour has come!

How sweet the day when Christ returns,
we’ll see the one for whom we yearn.
Then we’ll look full upon His face,
our hearts will burst with songs of praise.

(“How Sweet the Day” – Savior, Sovereign Grace Music)