The Christmas Season: Stars to Steer By

This is the next in my series of blogs in which I am reviewing Joan Chittister's The Liturgical Year.

[Order it here and read my earlier reviews of her book here.]

Thus far we have looked at Advent; now we move to the Christmas season, which includes Christmas Day and the season of Epiphany.

Advent: The Human Experience of Waiting.

This is the next in my series of blogs in which I am reviewing Joan Chittister's The Liturgical Year
[Order it here and read my review of the first part of her book here.]

Joan Chittister's THE LITURGICAL YEAR

Over the next few months I will be blogging on "The Liturgical Year: the spiralling adventure of the spiritual life" by Joan Chittister, which is part of the Ancient Practices Series.

Midlife Appraisal

Mid-Life Appraisal

Picture Credit

At the start of 2014, roaming through my favourite bookshop in all the world, Hatchards in Piccadilly Street, London, I came across the book Celtic Daily Prayer (buy it here), which has turned out to be one of the best daily devotional books I have come across. It contains a great deal more than just two years worth of daily devotional material. One of its sections is entitled Mid-Life Appraisal and, in retrospect, I realise it was placed before me by our Lord to gently ease me toward one of the biggest decisions of Chris and my life together, namely to move from South Africa to the United Kingdom ... see my recent From the Pastor's Desk for more on that.

Stars to Steer By

This is the next in my series of blogs in which I am reviewing Joan Chittister's The Liturgical Year.
[Order it here and read my earlier reviews of her book here.]
Thus far we have looked at Advent; now we move to the Christmas season, which includes Christmas Day and the season of Epiphany.

She describes in great, but simple, detail how and why it came about that the Western Church celebrates Christmas Day on 25 December and the Eastern Church on 6 January. This invloves a discussion around the different calendars used in these parts of the world when the dates were being decided. Interesting cultural beliefs regarding when a perfect person like Jesus would die are shown to be a source in deciding the date for his birth based on the date we have for his death. This is just one example of well researched material Chittester provides that makes for useful sermon fillers.

She helpfully ties in pagan practises that were widespread in the world into which the early church exploded and how many of them were "Christianised". This does not necessarily make the Christian practises bad, but rather proves the redemptive power of the gospel to bring the Light of the World to bear on all things. Pointing out how Stonehenge is built in a way to pick up the first rays of light on the winter solstice, the longest night and 'darkest' day, and then relating this to the Christ who comes as Light even into the darkest night of the soul, shows how the gospel indeed brings light and redemption to a lost world. What a wonderful time (in the Northern Hemisphere) to celebrate the birth of the Light of the world.

There is much more in this vein, but Chittester constantly reminds us that the liturgical season of Christmas is there to remind us to celebrate life, God's greatness, and the manifestation of divinity in our midst.

"This one is both the God who reaches down to us and the human who raises us up to God"
"God is with us. The Radiant Dawn has swallowed up the darkness."

Of course, the centre point of the liturgical year is not Christmas, but Easter. Chittester reminds us:

"Christmas is not meant to leave us with nothing more than a child's perception of what it means to see a baby in a manger scene. It is meant to take us to the level of spiritual maturity where we are capable of seeing in a manger the meaning of an empty tomb. It is meant to enable us to see through the dark days of life to the stars beyond them."

Christmas is followed by Epiphany where we remember the journey of the magi, "to pay him homage." This season reminds us that "the world recognises the heavenly in this tiny Child. And the Child recognises the people of God in them. This is not a Christian child only; this child belongs to the world."

The Christmas season ends with the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan, a sign that "Jesus accepts humanity, His own and ours, in all of its struggles, all of its limitations, all of its burdens, and all its focus on the ultimate, on the divine."

"Christmas is larger than a baby in a manger. Christmas is the coming of a whole new world. More than that, it is what makes that world possible."

The Ancient Practices

This is an excellent series of books edited by Phyllis Tickle and written by some of today's best known contemporary writers, such as Brian McLaren and Scot McKnight. I strongly recommend this series for all Christians and I hope to blog on all of them, beginning with

The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister Read my review here

Other titles I have read are:
Finding Our Way Again by Brian D. McLaren This is the introduction to the series and obviously the best place to start. The rest are in the order I have read them:

In Constant Prayer by Robert Benson


Sabbath by Dan Allender

The above are the ones I have already read, while the one below is on my "next to read" shelf,

Fasting by Scot McKnight

You won't regret reading any of these and I strongly recommend they go onto your Christmas list, Birthday list or Just Spoil Me list.