Cherished Christmas Memories

 

However we celebrate Christmas, whether secular or spiritual, (child)ren are (always)often at the heart of it. Here are five childhood memories that spontaneously come to my mind. 

1960s KARACHI 

When I was a little child

 

The Muslim leaders of Karachi allowed an enormous Christian pageant to take place every Christmas. Stretching across parkland, "Joseph" and "Mary" on a real donkey made their way to Bethlehem. A "star" - presumably running along an invisible wire - went before "Wisemen" on real camels. Captivated we watched from an arena where loudspeakers told the familiar Bible story. 

 

What is rooted in my memory most of all are the hauntingly beautiful music and lyrics of a carol that floated over the Tannoy:

O holy night! the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope- the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Whenever I hear the next three lines, five decades later, it evokes those childhood memories and stirs my heart to worship:

Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

1970s ST PAUL, MINNESOTA

My first Christmas in the West, aged 10 

Moving to the eleventh year of my life, our family of eight arrived in St. Paul in 1970. We thought it would be a six month furlough in Southampton followed by six months in St Paul, before returning to hot dusty Karachi. (That was not how providence led us, and you can read the whole wonderful story in Lives Less Ordinary available from fishermanspress.com).

The singular memory from these two years was the astounding kindness of strangers. My father had been sent out as a missionary by Simpson Memorial Church in St Paul, but it had been over 12 years since he'd been back there. Older people had moved on, new people had arrived, would they remember those strange missionaries?

Not only did they remember, they were extravagantly generous to us. They fixed up a large house, provided a new large car and on our very first Christmas in the West as a family, lavished many gifts on we children.

The kindness of strangers: Simpson Memorial supported their missionaries so well that they provided home and board for a large family of eight for two years.

1980s WOLVERHAMPTON

Living in a church-planting home

 

In 1972 my parents were called to Wolverhampton as missionaries among the Asian population who had arrived in the West Midlands to work in factories. As the Lord blessed the work and it grew, the focus of my parents' attention turned towards their calling as evangelists. I recall nothing memorable from these busy gospel years.

Except that on one Christmas eve (we opened our presents on Christmas Eve - a custom derived from my father's German heritage) the six kids must have misbehaved at the Asian Christian Fellowship's annual Christmas Eve evangelistic meeting. So present-opening was postponed until the next morning. We were gutted.

1990s NORTH YORKSHIRE

When my children were little 

 

Jumping forward in time to when my boys were little and I was a newbie church pastor up North. 

 

Of all the memories of those days I vividly recall the wonder of my four children on Christmas morning. Yvonne would place a sack filled with little individual presents on each bed in the middle of the night. We would hear the boys early in the morning opening each gift with delight in their voices, telling one another of the gift they received. "Look what I've got!" "Wow!" "Just what I wanted!"

WORCESTER
Now my kids are grown up

Now that my children have grown up, Christmas wonder no longer revolves around children or presents but around the all-too-familiar stories of the incarnation. 

This year I have been struck by the radical faith, obedience and courage of Joseph and Mary.

Mary willingly takes on the role of mother of the Messiah, though it puts her reputation and her engagement to Joseph in jeopardy.

Joseph agrees to continue the engagement with Mary though it means taking on a child that is biologically not his own and potentially sharing in Mary's shame.

Their faith in God is revealed in their obedience to God's call on their lives which was communicated through his messenger-angels.

There are two main ways that faith in God is revealed. First, through prayer. If we believe the promises God has made we'll take them to him in prayer and ask him to fulfil those promises.

And second, if we really believe his Word we will obey it.

Trust and Obey, for there is no other way, to be Happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Ai Image:

Draw Christmas Memories