Nine fragments with suggestions for music

Robin Ford, 2012

Music 0  moody, to set the scene eg Tracker, track 17  The Drowning

Fragment 1  

In the beginning…

The abyss.

The void.

Nothingness.

Perceived reality floats tentatively upon an infinite sea of mystery.

How did the world begin? What is the life-force? Is there meaning? 

Perhaps we glimpse shadows of answers within our dreams?

We tell stories.

“There was nothing. Then an unimaginable explosion impelled the universe into being. Continuous expansion. Humankind appeared on earth.”

or

“God prised apart the void and, in that space, created the world and all that is in it.  God is still present.”

Each summer solstice we remember an ancient story of God taking human form that has been part of our community’s common ground for centuries, and has shaped and coloured the culture for all of us.  

The story of Christmas.

It is that time once again. Time to tell the story of the birth of Jesus, the Christ-child, and, in the telling, to celebrate Christmas as we know it today. 

So.

Once upon a time…

Music 1   Portentous, eg Yothu Yindi  7 Sisters

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Fragment 2   Heralding Jesus.

We have gone back two thousand and twelve, and a bit, years. A blink of an eye for the Eora people. It is after Tutankhamun, after the Terracotta Warriors, after Alexander the Great. 

Roman times.

We are in the Middle East.

A man, we’ll call him John, is telling everyone:

“The Life-Light is coming! No, it’s not me. But I’ll point him out when I see him. He will show us the way; show us how to be our true selves. I will help you get ready.  We must cleanse ourselves.”

Now, where would the Life-Light come from? Not from too far away. Jerusalem maybe?  Somewhere smaller, Nazareth perhaps?

Or Bethlehem?

Music 2  A voice crying in the wilderness

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Fragment 3   Luke Ch 2 v1-7 eg from The Message (delete mentions of God etc)

The ancient scriptures tell of the humble birth of Jesus.

Music 3   Bethlehem census

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Fragment 4   Luke Ch 2 v8-18 eg from The Message (delete mentions of God etc)

More from the ancient scriptures: agricultural workers receive a special invitation.

Music 4    The three drovers

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Fragment 5   Matthew Ch2 v1-2, 9-11 eg from The Message delete mentions of God etc

Our final selection from the ancient scriptures: wise men – or were they kings – also see the light.

Music 5  Three kings from Persian lands afar

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Fragment 6

At Christmas we celebrate by giving presents. Presents! What about Santa?

In the Christmas story, wise men bring gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus. 

In an 1853 Christmas carol, King Wenceslas battles bitter weather to take flesh and wine and pine logs to a poor man.

By long-held Christmas tradition, Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas and Father Christmas mysteriously distribute presents to children. 

Which brings us to Santa Claus, market leader in clandestine toy delivery.

We’ll pick up his story in 1832, in America.  The poem Old Santeclaus has just been published.  It’s about an old man with a reindeer sleigh who delivers presents to good children on Christmas eve.  A few years later, another poem, A visit from Saint Nicholas (or The Night Before Christmas), fills in more of the familiar details of the Santa story, such as his red nose, twinkling eyes and rosy cheeks, but in this case the sleigh driver is a miniature Saint Nicholas.  How this character came to merge with Santa is unclear.

What does Santa Claus look like?  In the 1860s, political cartoonist Thomas Nast began depicting Santa but he did not quite describe the cheery old man we know today.  By the early 1900s various other artists were drawing the red-suited giver of presents, but it was when Haddon Sundblom produced his 1930s images for Coca Cola advertisements that everyone knew that this was it.

So, in shopping centres from wintry New York to tropical Darwin, the Ho! Ho! Ho!-ing Santa is always dressed in a costume of red and white that, tantalisingly, hides everything but his shiny nose, sparkling eyes and ruddy cheeks.  And of course he has a sack of toys – for good children.

Music 6  Beach Boys  Real Santa

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Fragment 7   Extract 1 from We of the Never Never (edited to avoid disrespect to non-anglo participants)

There is no Santa at Elsie cattle station in 1902, but there will be a celebratory Christmas lunch, prepared by Cheon the cook.

 

Music 7  We wish you a merry Christmas

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Fragment 8   Extract 2 from We of the Never Never (edited to avoid disrespect to non-anglo participants)

Christmas pudding is the culinary highlight at Elsie Station.

Music 8   Gilbert O’Sullivan I’m not dreaming of a white Christmas

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Fragment 9

At Elsie station in 1902 it was soon back to work, but not today.

Christmas heralds the start of summer holidays. For our whole community. It is a time for expansive thinking. Everyone is on the same page.

Put aside for the moment cares for tomorrow, what you might eat or what you might wear. She’ll be right for while. Go to the beach. Swim. Bushwalk. Re-invigorate your body. Refresh your mind. Breath in the air. Drink in the infinite horizon. 

The Christmas story speaks of beginnings and hope; kindness and grace. It liberates us. We are ready to be refreshed by our holidays. We are primed to recognize new openings.

Anything is possible. 

Music 9   reflection, eg Arthur Lyman    Sea breeze (Taboo)

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