Christmas has gone for another year and sadly in much of Western Europe it has become so much part of the social and cultural life that Christians may have to stand back to keep it in proper focus from the secular holiday it has become and the commercialism that surrounds it. Christmas therefore runs the danger of just becoming a time of festivity. What has happened is that Christmas, in the west has become part of social religion. People think that they are celebrating Christmas, but in fact they are taking part in something, which has been transformed to fit the needs of society. There is nothing wrong with this, a hiatus or comma, strategically placed in our year, does no harm, unless of course you want to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Social religion in much of Western Europe celebrates the things associated with Christmas; Santa, presents and parties, but takes lightly the birth of Christ, whilst Christianity celebrates the nativity of God’s human face, the Incarnation. God has gone much further than just created us and in order to teach us how to become fully alive and live this life in the best possible way, God took our human nature in Jesus.
St John’s gospel gets us straight to the point; Jesus came into the world as the Word, God’s creative power, God’s will, the Incarnate Love, the source of all light showing us where to walk in safety, dispelling dark forces. And Jesus is not just a light, He is THE LIGHT an unquenchable light in our lives, which cannot be overcome by the evils of our world. We can all fall into the trap of social religion, Christmas becomes commercial and Easter is about eggs and not the resurrection. St Paul reminds us that the incarnation and resurrection are part of God’s plan for each of us and he asks us to remain focused on their true meaning.
Today not all Christians agree on the number of sacraments. Some speak of seven, others of two, but in any case baptism is among them. Even the ancient Nicene Creed, states: “one baptism for the remission of sins,” and this has been the starting point in a quest for unity of Christianity, further more we are all children of God, since God is the author of all life. In baptism the sign of the cross is traced on the forehead to claim us for Christ, united with Him, to belong to Him. And to be baptised, is to lay claim to the redeeming death of Christ. Accordingly, when someone is being baptised we should, not only claim him for Christ, but also incorporate him into the community of ‘faith,’ which is a mystical ‘Body of Christ.’ This is a constant reminder of the call to unity among all Christians, as each time we celebrate this sacrament we are pledging ourselves to work for that unity among Christians for which Christ prayed.
It is His will that we don’t baptise people “Catholic,” “Orthodox,” “Reformed” or “Protestant,” but only a simple “Christian”. To be born again, from the water of baptism, means that God forgives our sins, it unites us with Christ and it frees us even from that sin which gladly accepts and acquiesces in the disunity of God’s people on earth. Therefore, we all have a duty to our baptismal calling to stand together as fellow Christians from whatever tradition or denomination we find ourselves and proclaim with one voice the Gospel of Christ.
Fr Alexander Zerajic
Serbian Orthodox Priest
and Fr Jeff Williams
Anglican Priest and Chair of the Malta Ecumenical Council