Tim Jeffery, is Partnership & Integration Manager for GC Employment, based in Sheffield – and he's one of the Co-Chairs of GC's Religion & Faith EDI Network.
As a Christian, he shares what the festive period meant to him, his family and his church – and shares his reflections and gives us an insight on the background and history of the key days and celebrations.
I think Christmas is amazing!
It’s a time for presents, seeing family, Santa and elves, overindulging on cheese – and reflecting at the end of another busy year. I love all of that.
But for billions of Christians throughout the world, it’s also the time of year where we celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe is the son of God.
People are perhaps over-familiar with the Christmas Nativity story these days, and don’t often think of it as something that may have really happened to real people. On a human level, it’s a moving story about two young parents searching for safety for their child in a time of brutal occupation by a foreign empire. Christians believe that Christmas is the time when we celebrate God descending from heaven, and joining his creation as a baby in an extraordinary demonstration of love and service to us.
Christians celebrate Christmas in many different ways in different cultures, denominations and traditions throughout the global Church. I can only speak for me, and the way that my Church and family observe Christmas. We celebrate Christmas on December 25th, but some Church traditions celebrate on later dates in January.
Advent - December
The season of Christmas began for us on the first Sunday of Advent. This is normally the last Sunday in November, or first Sunday in December and is roughly 4 weeks before Christmas Day itself. Advent is a season of waiting and preparation before the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Lots of people observe the season of Advent with Advent calendars – counting down the days to the 25th. In our house, every year, we have five advent candles. Four red candles, and one white. We light one of the red candles each Sunday of Advent as we get closer to the 25th.
Although the build up to Christmas can be a really fun and exciting time – the tone of Advent can feel a bit melancholy at times, as we remember the struggles of the people who were believing and waiting for the coming of Jesus for centuries.
On December 21st (the shortest day of the year), our Church held a service called The Longest Night. This service creates a space for all who struggle with Christmas and an acknowledgement that for some people this can be a really challenging time of year, for lots of reasons. Amongst all the parties, festivities and forced fun that comes with Christmas, Christians believe that Jesus chose to step into and serve a world of grief, pain and loss which can be felt by people even more during December.
Christmas Eve – 24th December
Like a lot of houses, the day before Christmas for us was a frantically busy one with final preparations being made for the big day. This year, as normal, I hadn't wrapped any presents yet. I needed to go to the shop to buy more Yorkshire Puddings (yes – we had them as part of our Christmas Dinner) – and I tried to also clear my Inbox. The kids were tracking Santa on Google, whilst watching Home Alone (again).
In the evening, we went to our Church to the Christingle Service.
It’s a bit of a strange tradition to be honest. Children are presented with an Orange that has a red band tied round it and a candle stuck on top. Four Sweets are stuck in the Orange on cocktail sticks and then the candles are lit. The orange represents the world, and the sweets represent God's creation. The candle is to symbolise that Jesus is the light of the world, and the red band signifies the blood of Jesus – a foreshadowing of His death and resurrection that we celebrate at Easter. Despite being a bit odd, it’s a great way of re-centring amidst all the busyness and to remember the true meaning of the holiday.
Christmas Eve is also the service where we typically remember the experience of the Shepherds in the Nativity Story. A host of Angels appear before a group of Shepherds to tell them that the Son of God and new King has been born. I’ve always liked how the first people to hear about the birth of Jesus are an ordinary group of poor working Shepherds, sitting on an obscure hillside – not the rich, powerful elite of the time.
Christmas Day – 25th December
Our Christmas Day started at 5:30am when the kids woke up. At 6am we give in and let them go downstairs to discover that Santa has been and they start opening presents.
In the morning on Christmas Day, we went to Church for a short service to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We also lit the final Advent candle to symbolise that the season of waiting is over and that God is with us.
After that, my Christmas Day was probably pretty standard... Christmas Dinner... fell asleep on the sofa... more food... sleep.
Boxing Day – 26th December
Boxing Day is probably my favourite day of the Christmas period. All the nervous tension of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning is gone. All the presents are open and everything feels a bit more relaxed. I also enjoyed the very important Christmas tradition of Boxing Day Football! This year, my team Derby County beat West Brom 2-1 (up the Rams!) 😊
But Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephens Day in some Christian traditions. In the New Testament book of Acts, Stephen was the first Christian martyr who was stoned to death for choosing to follow Jesus in the first century. It can feel a bit shocking to go from the celebrations of Christmas Day to the remembrance of people being killed for their religious beliefs the day after.
The charity Open Doors estimates that 360 million Christians worldwide are at a high risk of persecution today. I’m humbled and reminded of the fact that for many people throughout history, and people in the world today – there is a high cost of choosing to be a Christian. Millions of people from all faith backgrounds and traditions face persecution throughout the world for their belief as they don’t enjoy religious freedoms that we do here in the UK.
Epiphany Sunday – 5th January
Just as were starting to take down the Christmas decorations and move into the New Year, at our Church we celebrated the final Sunday of the Christmas period – Epiphany Sunday. This is the day when we traditionally celebrate the Three Kings or “Wise Men” visiting Jesus and offering Him gifts.
The gospel of Matthew in the New Testament gives an account that after the visit of the Three Kings – King Herod hears of the birth of the Jesus and perceives Him as a threat to his power. Herod orders that all baby boys in the area be killed – and Mary, Joseph and Jesus are forced to flee to Egypt. It’s easy to forget that as Christians – we worship a child refugee who grew up far from His home in order to be safe.
If you’d like to share how you celebrate or observe any religious festival, or celebration then we’d love to hear from you! Please get in touch if you’d like to hear more about the Religion & Faith EDI network.