Fr and Christmas

Christmas

So here we are Christmas 2015 very nearly upon us, my first as a Rev, my first living in a church house, my first December in all my working life not working in a shop trying to provide a service to those before me. How things have changed since I took up full time employment at the tender age of just 15 years old.

I have fond memories of Christmas as a child, lovely family occasions surrounded by 1970’s decorations that out lived a generation and fairy lights that were older than I was. I recall some of the Christmas gifts, with great affection and I remember a man in Rumbelow’s uniform delivering a state of the art Sony Betamax video recorder on Christmas Eve including a wired remote control. After many failed attempts at working the thing I recall recording and then watching the classic movie Rollerball some longtime after.  I recall a bike with ten gears that several months later I rode into a wall. I recall a Tottenham Hotspur away kit that I slept in and a Nookie Bear replica doll that may still frequent the loft at my parents home in Lancashire. Church was nowhere on the radar the closest I got to it was playing one of the three wise men in the school nativity, something I did with little conviction and with no theological understanding whatsoever. The Andy Williams Christmas album was my favorite record along with other classics like The Barron Knights and Johnny Mathis offering a ray of hope!

My brother and I would have to share a room for a night or two as my Granny moved in for the festivities, she would rock up in her Fiat 127 mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve fully armed with gifts and huge joint of beef from her favorite Butcher and quickly would set about preparing the vegetables within moments of arrival. 

I wanted those childhood Christmases to last forever they were probably the most wonderful times of my young life, and when the reality of adulthood took over, the perennial sadness and sense of loss was sometimes overwhelming, why couldn’t Christmas last as long as the Radio Times suggested it should? The retail Christmas slowly but surely became a way of life, and I never really enjoyed the season or the work but needs were a must and so I plodded on regardless doing as I was told trying my best to get into the season of good will by listening to Jonah Lewie and Shakin Stevens to the point of even annoying myself. Independent retailing was ok but when I joined the big boys it frankly became a real battle to get through it and that was even before I was a Christian. It wasn’t about the baby Jesus it was just a resentment about working when everybody else seemed to be having a wonderful time. When I was Baptised on the first Sunday of Advent 2007 I was  running a big shop, in a kind of ‘Christian’ runs big shop kind of way, I was unaware at that point how life would change and how Christmas and my appreciation of it would as well.  

As a child I would love the excitement of waking very early, usually before my brother and having a peep to see if ‘he’ had been and the moment when I realized he had it became, my que to wake up the Frost household to officially begin Christmas.  A quick nip to the lounge to see how big Santa’s delivery had been, usually filled me with great satisfaction simply hoping that a fair majority would have my name on the label. On went the electric fire with an extra bar, on went the fairy lights and on went the kettle as I made drinks for the grown-ups to reduce the waiting time before the opening present ceremony could commence. No matter how hard I tried proceedings were always delayed before the entire congregation would gather around the tree in various sleeping attire waiting for my Father to eventually join us.

They say you shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you don’t they?  I have to say I was very well fed by the hand of my employer and I would never publically criticize why or how they do business, but in recent years I was in a unique position doing a job that was fundamentally about making money, I think that is fair to say, Shops are there to make money aren't they? They are not there to remember the baby Jesus and not there to ensure families have some quality time over the 12 days of Christmas. At the same time I was learning and understanding and developing as a Christian. I recall a ‘heavy’ Christmas briefing when a colleague gently whispered in my ear, ‘It’s not about the f***ing baby Jesus this year is it Frostie’?

He wasn’t wrong but when had it ever been? In my working life it had never been!

But I so wanted it to be about the baby Jesus and as the years went by the more difficult did it become. Somehow I got through it, mostly through laughing and working very, very hard. Being a trainee clergyman in a retail setting was extremely difficult and something I struggled with but my self- respect and determination somehow got me through it. And now nearly seven months after leaving the hand that fed me the main thing I miss is the many wonderful people who are still there and who continue to work very, very hard.

And so to the first Christmas where I am expected and want to fully participate in the most amazing season of Christmas, the Christian season of Christmas where I, my training incumbent and hundreds of people will come to St Matthews, Burnley to celebrate the birth of Christ.  I don’t need to worry about budgets and rotas, and deliveries for the time being. My job specification at present is to simply ‘serve’. 

Over the last few months and weeks ‘serving’ has given me so many incredible experiences I perhaps never thought would happen. Among the experiences I have Baptised children, I have been with families in time of deep sadness, I have conducted funeral services,  I have met people on the fringes of society, I have been offered drugs, I have met lots of priests, I have dished up food, I have met lots and lots of Christians, I have been close to tears, I have made new friends, I have felt euphoric and I felt lost. I have transformed from being Alex to Fr Alex, from Mr Frost to Rev Frost, but I hope I haven’t changed too much from that little boy who many years ago rejoiced in the simple things in life.

Christmas this year will be different it already has been as I see the activities and experiences of Christmas 2015 come to life and whilst it is indeed a full and hectic time for a clergyman that feels just fine.  This year I look forward to embracing the joy of Christmas day and being a Dad in the provided church house with my young family and dear wife free from the strains and stresses of a previous occupation.

Ironically I will be working on Christmas morning firstly to welcome the new day and to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and then to preach at our mid-morning service, but I must tell you that serving God and celebrating the birth of Christ this year will give me more pleasure than I could possibly imagine.

 In this broken world, in this time of exhaustion and expense for so many people, my desire remains now and always that even if it for just one moment, you find a time for a prayer of thanksgiving for the arrival of our Lord and Savior. And that in the Christmas story you find hope and that you find time for yourselves and your families.

Till next time,

Happy Christmas everybody,

Alextheanglican.