Harvest Sacrifices

Here's my article for the October magazines:

Harvest time often brings back fond memories, including memories of the hymns and songs sung at this time, many of which are well-loved favourites. Although not strictly a harvest hymn, I have fond memories of being in the school choir singing John Rutter's setting of “For the beauty of the earth”, and it's always a sadness when it's sung to a different tune!

The words were written by Folliott S. Pierpoint (great name!) in the spring of 1863 as he sat on a hilltop outside his native city of Bath mesmerized by the beauty of the countryside that surrounded him. As we now sing Pierpoint's words, in response to the wonderful things around us; in nature, in human relationships, and other blessings from God, we raise a joyful or grateful hymn of praise, or in Pierpoint's original lyrics, a sacrifice of praise.

The idea of a sacrifice brings us around again to the harvest theme. Although the Harvest Festival as we know it only developed in the mid nineteenth century, many cultures have rituals around the agricultural year stretching back to the beginnings of human history. A lot of these rituals involved making sacrifices to the deities they thought responsible for the weather and the growth of crops. Sacrifices of food, drink, animals and even humans were made to curry favour with these deities or to appease them when their displeasure was shown through things like adverse weather or crop failure.

The harvest rituals in the Jewish tradition, however, were of a different kind. There was an acknowledgement that “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1) and therefore “Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chronicles 29:14). We cannot give sacrifices to God because he owns them all already! Instead, the harvest sacrifices were demonstrations of faith and trust in God – they were to give the firstfruits of the crops (Exodus 23:16) trusting God that he would provide the rest of the crop. They weren't to give the surplus or the left-overs but what, at the time it was given, was the only crops they had.

Our Harvest Festivals give us a chance to raise a sacrifice of praise to the God who continues to provide for us through the labours of others and the wonders of creation – not in order to appease or pacify God but in response to his generosity to us. This generosity is seen most of all in Jesus who on the cross offered for all time one sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:12) so our sins could be forgiven. The proper response to that generosity is praise, repentance and faith in Jesus.

Ding dong merrily on high (and on earth too!)

 It's going to be a very different Christmas this year, and as I write this (mid-November) we're not sure how different it's going to be, but we do know that it is going to be unlike any Christmas we've had before.  But despite whatever restrictions will be in place, there is a general desire to make Christmas a happy and special time.  One of the ideas is to ring bells outside at 6.00pm on Christmas Eve, which seems very appropriate as bells, especially of the jingle variety, are almost synonymous with Christmas.  If you're in any doubt about that, try listening to the most summer-like song whilst shaking bells and you will think about Christmas!!

But why are bells associated with Christmas?  The association probably goes back to the ringing of church bells to celebrate one of the great feasts of the church year and their sound of joy contrasting with the dark and miserable winter weather.  This link has been solidified in the popular imagination by the use of bells as a warning on coaches and sleighs in the poor winter visibility, and of course no Christmas chart song is complete without bells!!

Surprisingly, there is no mention of bells in the Biblical accounts of Jesus' birth, although often they are mentioned in re-tellings of the story as the bells of heaven ringing in celebration or of the angels' songs sounding like bells.  Indeed there is almost no mention of bells at all in the Bible, but cymbals are often included in lists of instruments used to worship God.  However, one place where bells are mentioned are in the clothes that God instructs the High Priest to wear.  In Exodus 28 God tells Moses to anoint his brother Aaron as the first High Priest and that at the bottom hem of a blue robe he should make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn with gold bells between them. There are many different explanations of the purpose and symbolism of these bells, so we may never know for sure, but there are a couple that seem plausible to me.

Verse 34 says “The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the Lord and when he comes out, so that he will not die” and verse 43 repeats the warning.  The bells then are possibly an audible reminder to the High Priest that he is entering into the special presence of God and therefore should put aside the 'worldly' clothes of sinfulness and put on the 'heavenly' clothes of holiness.  Repentance is a pre-requisite for a relationship with God.  But the bells are also a reminder that as the High Priest leaves that special presence of God, he doesn't leave that holiness behind but brings it out into the world – the soft sound of the precious gold being the wonderful message of God spoken into a cacophonous world.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is our Great High Priest (Hebrews 4), not just coming as a messenger from God but, as we celebrate at Christmas, 'God-with-us'; God himself in human form.  And the wonderful message that he brings is that he has made it possible for all of us to enter into God's special presence because Jesus is not just the great High Priest but also because “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).  So grab your bells or anything else to celebrate the good news that makes Christmas worth keeping whatever our circumstances!!

Christmas Songs: "All I want for Christmas is you"

A couple of years ago during Advent we had a series on the four songs of the first Christmas.  This year we're going to look at four popular Christmas songs.  This week it's “All I want for Christmas is you” by Mariah Carey.

“All I want for Christmas is you” picks up on a very common theme as a lot of Christmas songs are about being with loved ones or like this one missing them. Whether they're 'driving home for Christmas', or asking someone to 'please come home for Christmas'; counting 'five more nights' or are having a 'blue Christmas' people can't help singing about loved ones at Christmas. And the heartache of a broken relationship 'last Christmas' or of the 'fairytale of New York' gone wrong seems much worse at Christmas.

This is because there is something about Christmas that makes us focus on what truly matters. Unlike the superficial singer of “Santa Baby”, the singer of “All I want for Christmas is you” won't be made happy by presents, toys or even snow. Her only wish is the presence of her loved one for Christmas. And when we reflect on what truly matters in life the answer is often loving and being loved.

It's no surprise that this is a major theme of Christmas given that the reason for the season is, as Christina Rossetti wrote, that 'love came down at Christmas'. News of the birth of any baby is usually a cause for celebration and feelings of love, but that can't explain the enduring appeal of Christmas which can't even be completely obscured by all the glitz and commercialism. The birth of Jesus is on a completely different scale to any other birth because it is a sign of God's love for us: “This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).

But Jesus isn't like a Christmas present that is just a token of love that is greatly appreciated when it is given, but soon becomes ordinary. The gift of Jesus is not just God-with-us but God-for-us: Jesus came not just to be a wise teacher and an example of how to live, but so that he could be “an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10) by his death on the cross. Through his teaching and his example we see how far short of God's standard we fall short, and that our failures mean that we deserve eternal punishment and eternal separation from God: but that's not much of a present! “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17). So after showing us the depths of our sin, he showed us the heights of his love: “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!” (2 Corinthians 5:21 TLB).

Christmas songs and films often describe of the lengths that people will go to and the sacrifices they will make to be with their loved ones at Christmas. This is a small reflection of the lengths that God went to so we can be with him for eternity. All God wants for Christmas is you. So, if you want to be truly loved this Christmas come to God, confess your sins and receive his forgiveness through Jesus' atoning sacrifice. It's a Christmas present that will last for eternity!