As I get older – past the ‘shop ‘till you drop’ age – with children and grand kids living overseas – I now spend more time thinking about the details of the Christmas story.
Sometimes – after an incident like the recent Bondi Beach shooting (and many other wars and incidents) – why God bothered to send Jesus to us at all, as we seem to be so stubbornly determined to do the wrong thing. It was a brutal world then and often appears not to have changed much for the better.
I think of all those things that are counted as ‘God’s gifts to us’ – Joy, Peace, Love etc and see that many people treat these like room sanitisers; hung up and releasing pleasant fragrances to dispel unpleasant odours. I have come to see these gifts as more like gardening tools – looking good hanging on the wall of a shed but – if you want your garden to actually be dug up, you have to put the effort into actually using the tools to achieve an end result.
As a Defence Force Chaplain (Army) of nearly 30 years I found on three deployments that Christmas fell during that time. These deployments were (1) Bougainville, (2) Solomon Islands, (3) Baghdad and (4) Defence Force personnel.
Bougainville. A very religious people. After 10 years of civil war – ‘woke up’ – to see the devastation they themselves had wrought – from having the most developed infrastructure to being back to the stone age. They saw their actions as sinful – requiring confession, forgiveness, healing, reconciliation, compensation. They saw Christianity as providing the way towards true and lasting peace. To be able to celebrate Christmas in peace (I was told) was to see God in Jesus as God giving them another chance – with the challenge to ‘do it God’s way and not their way. Did this top all wrongdoing? Of course not – after all, we are still human and we all sin. For me it was an outstanding time of learning looking through ‘different eyes’.
Solomon Islands. Also a religious people. There’s was the collapse of civil infrastructure – gross corruption. People kept asking “how could this happen here; how could our respected leader do this to us?” Sitting in church I heard comments like – “ … I hope these high representatives are actually listening to Jesus’ words” – making their confession – preparing a public apology for their betrayal of our trust – give up their corrupt ways.
Baghdad. While Saddam Hussein was in power there was allowed a freedom of religious groups to practice their faith. Of course, all were watched. With his fall the dominant group (Shia – backed by Iran) set out to wreak havoc on everyone else; Sunnis (of Saddam’s group) – revenge – Jews and Christians because of who they were (non-Muslim)seen as supporters of the Western Coalition.
Christian clergy and males were assassinated and places of worship targeted. Worship took place in ‘secure and guarded locations’ – fearful – holding onto their faith, while wondering what the future held for them. Celebrating Christmas while really looking beyond to the image of the suffering/ crucified Jesus.
Defence Force Personnel. First thoughts – a long way from home – desperately missing family – questioning “why are we here?” A mixed faith (and no faith) group – one person questioned me as to why I (the Padre) was part of the Christmas organising committee – what has religion got to do with Christmas? Produced incredulous looks from others in the group – trying to organise appropriate denominational services – going to worship in helmet, armoured vest, weapons, half expecting and attack of some sort or another.
Padre. There to remind people of what is ‘normal’ (and what is not) – preaching peace without taking it for granted. As I said in the beginning – it’s easy to see all the bad things and to wonder why God doesn’t lose patience with us. But I know that God doesn’t lose patience with us because when I look around I see all of the people who strive to be better, to love, to care and know these things are not easily accomplished – we need God’s help.
Rev. Greg Clarke
