In many towns and cities of Australia, memories of Christmas are often of scorching hot summer days and families gathered round the dining table tucking into a hot roast turkey followed by plum pudding and custard. It was incongruous but who would dare to break the tradition! In 1948, John Wheeler wrote that quintessentially Australian carol with the opening stanza which seemed in keeping with the heat of the Christmas season:
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The north wind is tossing the leaves
The Red dust is over the town;
The sparrows are under the eaves,
And the grass in the paddock is brown;
As we life up our voices and sing,
To the Chris-child the heavenly King.
Some celebrate Christmas Day by inviting guests beyond their immediate family. At such tables gather the lonely and homeless; visitors from other places; and a diversity of races, nationalities and religions. That practice seems to strike a cord with the spirit of the day, and many continue to do this in their own homes or other places of hospitality.
The first Middle Eastern Christmas was certainly outback; or more accurately out the back. The hotel was full; the animal stalls had to do. A child is born in a trough; a convenient resting place for one destined, in the words of the Song of Mary, to 'cast down the mighty from their thrones, lift up the lowly, fill the hungry with good things, and send the rich empty away'.
It's quite a challenge to live in the spirit of Christmas. St Nicholas, the third century bishop of Myra in the region now known as Turkey, became known for his care of the sick and the down and outs, and for protecting children. Some thin threads of this remain in the Santa Clause tradition.
The Christmas spirit of St Nick is continued today by aid agencies in places like Aleppo – symbol of all who live in fear and without hope; the dispossessed and those without a place to call home; the refugee and asylum seeker; those who grieve the loss of loved ones through tragedy, violence and old age.
There were wise people from the East that first Christmas; seekers of a wisdom for the nations. They had travelled a long way to find the bright morning star.
What we don't find at that first Christmas are the self important and lovers of wealth and power. Not surprisingly it is the shepherds, the poor and little recognised of society, who offer the clue to the spirit of Christmas. They were the first on the scene of an event which is still news today.
The spirit of Christmas is a spirit of inclusion, welcome, comfort and gratitude. Such gifts cannot be bought with a credit card. Such gifts remind us that Christmas never asks too much of us but it does ask for the whole of us.
Our guest editorial writer is the Right Reverend Professor Stephen Pickard, executive director, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Charles Sturt University
