I don't know if you've noticed, but we have a tendency to
give names to days at this time of the year.
Some of them are traditional: Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, News
Eve, New Years Day.
Some are fairly modern: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Panic
Saturday.
And some are frankly ridiculous: at the beginning of December the
singer Taylor Swift sought to trademark the term 'Swiftmas', which is a word her fans use to describe the random acts of kindness she
makes, such as giving them unexpected presents.
But there is one day nobody has suggested we rename (yet):
Christmas Day.
Until now that is.
The term Christmas originates from a mash up of two Old
English words. Once a year, medieval churches would hold a special service - a
Mass - to celebrate the birth of Jesus. They called this 'Christ's Mass'. Over time this turned into 'Christmas'.
However, the original meaning of 'Christmas Day' isn't clocked by most people today. And as an
evangelical Christian, I have more than a few issues with the Mass. So how about a new nickname for Christmas?
This year Christmas Day is on a Friday. If you had to add
an adjective to 'Friday' to sum up the message of Christmas what word would you
use?
HAPPY Friday? CELEBRATION Friday? JOYFUL Friday? NATIVITY
Friday?
Here's my suggestion: BRIGHT
Friday.
Describing the birth of Jesus, the Apostle John wrote:
'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.' (John 1:5)
The sad fact is we are all in the dark when it comes to God. We refuse to
listen to his Word and shut out his light. But when Jesus - the Word made flesh
- was born, our world was flooded with light.
And he has the power to do that
in our lives as well, if we put our faith in him.
This Christmas - let in the light.
May today be BRIGHT Friday for you.
O Christ, our Morning Star,Splendour of Light Eternal,shining with the glory of the rainbow,come and waken us from the greyness of our apathy,and renew in us your gift of hope.Amen (The Venerable Bede 672-735)
