16,000 people were getting into the Messiah, and as I watched the video I took of the moment, it taught me something I want to remember this Christmas.
On Sunday night I was reminded of something.
We were in Hobart catching up with family after spending the week in Orford at my brother in law’s holiday house.
After catching up with the family on Saturday we decided to go with some of them to the Hobart Carols by Candelight, which was put on just down the hill from my brother-in-law’s house.
It quickly became apparent that lots of other people had the same idea, in fact a record crowd of about 16,000 people packed into the Sandy Bay beach park.
Marina Prior was the headline act and she was spectacular. There is something about her “realness” that seems to connect with audiences no matter where she goes.
I filmed her performances on my iphone, and I also captured a rock version of the Messiah that almost the whole audience got in to, as you can see from the video I put above.
As I watch the video of the performance and see my daughter and niece dancing it occurred to me that I was so busy filming the experience that I actually missed being part of it.
One of the biggest challenges for me personally is being present in the moment.
This blog is about the wrestle of living faith in the real world, however sometimes I can be so busy wrestling that I miss the real world.
Too often I am preoccupied. Thinking about things that are not resolved, replaying the past or anticipating the future. I get the sense that Jesus simply calls us to be in the now.
Too often I can be thinking about my grand plans, but missing what God is doing right in front of me.
My nephew Nicholas is beautiful. He has big brown eyes and he wants to connect. Often the adults, including me, will be deep in conversation while Nicholas is trying to get our attention.
Nicholas sees everything that goes on. He sees the world with wonder and excitement. He doesn’t worry about what he can’t do, in fact I’m not sure he knows anything he can’t do. He attacks life and loves people.
There was a time when the disciples were getting full of their grand plans and Jesus cut them down to size, reminding them that in God’s way of doing things, it is actually living like a little kid that makes you really successful.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. (Matthew 18:1-5)
As I watched the video of the Messiah, I realised I had missed a moment. I was standing on the outside of life, looking in rather than being present.
As I reflected on the times Nicholas came up to me on the weekend and wanted to talk, I realised I missed some moments.
As I look back on Christmas’s past, I realised I have missed moments.
I think Jesus knew how we worked. We start out as little children attacking life and loving people, but gradually we retreat into the safety of our heads and our defense mechanisms. We hide behind masks that keep us safe from the pain of life. The problem is that those same techniques we use to keep us from the pain can also keep us from the joy.
I aspire to be the kind of person Jesus describes, who approaches life like a little child, free of the worries and preoccupations that hold me back.
I know the real challenge for me this Christmas is truly to be “home for Christmas”.
I also know that is the very think Jesus is asking of me, and of all of us, to be here, now.
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2 Comments
Jim van Ommen
Hi Matt,
I just read about your Lower sandy Bay Christmas Carol experience, one that I could easily have gone to as we live only just around a few bends here in Taroona.
However I purposely did not and have avoided similar performances ever since my Launceston days because of it’s commercialized nature and total conformity to the things of this world.
In my opinion it is almost devoid of any real Christmas message and the presentation and ambience with its ear piercing loudness is about as far removed from Peace on Earth or a worshipful atmosphere as one can get. Admittedly I do not have a young family to drag me out there and I’m more of your grandparents vintage. But they, and I knew them fairly well, I would imagine would most likely have a similar opinion about all this and that no doubt you would have great respect for. That leads me to a rather interesting question, but also somewhat disconcerting in as much that it creates a certain amount of division between us, stuffy old fashioned and traditional oldies, and the younger modern generation.
I agree with you that there certainly is a challenge for us to live in the present, rather than day dreaming about the glorious past or fantasizing what we might do in the future.
But how do we reconcile that with not conforming to the things of this world if these things are vastly different from what we know is right. I’m not suggesting that we adopt the Mennonite approach, but even that was born out of genuine convictions. It would appear that unless we go with the times we have become old fuddie- duddies, but then again the same will apply to the next generations, so we are all in the same boat. I like to think that some of us will still have the courage to be different for Christ’s sake. Sometimes we can be condemning of people who unthinkingly use God’s name in vain when they say in utter frustration; “ For Christ’s sake………….”, but if we never use these words in total sincerity we could fall in the category of “ not having acknowledged Christ before men.
By the way Matt, if your Grandma Agnes is still alive please give her my love.
Regards,
Jim van Ommen
Matt Garvin
G’day Jim,
I mentioned you to my Grandmother and she remembered you fondly.
It’s a useful question you raise… the question of what it means to be in the world but not of the world…
I think for me it comes back to the book of Galatians where Paul talks about what freedom really means.. I absolutely agree that we need to be different, but I think that difference needs to reflect what Paul was talking about in Galatians 5:
I know I can get stuck in my head, and when I do I tend not to be exhibiting what Paul talks about as the fruits of the spirit.
For me the Carols by Candelight is a time to be with the extended family and broader community. Yep I don’t always agree with how it gets managed and what gets said. I think Jesus is often sidelined by the glitz of Christmas (which I wrote a reflection on a couple of weeks ago), but I don’t think that is a justification for me not to engage.
I agree its not right to get to a point where we are so comfortable in the world that noone can see a difference, but I like what St.Francis said: “preach the gospel always, and only if necessary use words”. I think how we do life is possibly more important than what we actually do…
I think it’s sad that for many people they would experience the church as judgmental rather than loving.. I wonder what that tells us about how we are going with the fruits of the spirit….
Anyway thats just a few thoughts off the top of my head… not sure whether they make sense?
regards
Matt