Friday, February 22, 2008

Episode 30: "The Meaning" (+)

On Christmas Eve Night, a group of Christians gathered in my apartment. A few of us shared words on some of our fondest Christmas memories. We sang Christmas carols. We prayed in candlelight.

During prayer, I touched on what the meaning of Christmas might be. Maybe Joseph, holding his newborn in his arms, realized that he had the new responsibility of being the very best of himself. In order to father a child--and in order father a messiah--he would have to draw on every virtue he had within him. Maybe that's what Christmas is really about; just as Joseph had to better himself in order to properly welcome Jesus into the world, we have to better ourselves to welcome Jesus into our lives.

When we were done in my apartment, we took taxis to the Old City. Near Zion Gate, we found the Dormition Abbey, where a traditional German mass would take place at midnight and a pilgrimage to Bethlehem would begin afterward.

My group waited for about two hours, singing Christmas carols together as the line to the abbey began to bulk. Jeremy and I beat-boxed to some of the Christmas songs. We had a lot of fun waiting for the abbey gates to open.

Caroling.
Aisling, Jeremy, Zuzana, Aubry.

Charis, Val, Corina and I.

By the gate to Dormition Abbey.

Once the gate was opened, we were able to get decent seats. The Abbey was absolutely beautiful. Tiled mosaics were among the ceilings and walls, and dim lights brought the right ambiance to the occasion. Although a Christmas tree was blocking the altar rituals from where I was sitting, I was still able to see the German monks whenever they spoke or sang in the pulpit. Most of the songs were in German, but there was occasional English spoken, such when one of the monks read the Nativity story from the Gospel of Luke.

Inside.



After the service concluded, there was a short break for coffee and cake. Soon after, a handful of us followed the monks out of the church and onto the main streets, starting our pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The walk was about two hours, which gave Val and I plenty of time to talk.

The road to Bethlehem.

I unloaded more to him about my problems concerning archaeology and the Bible. Through talking it out with him, I did come to acknowledge--or maybe even rediscover--that I had no problems with Jesus himself. Jesus' words still resonated with me somehow, in a way that I felt was still profound. Hearing myself say that, and having Val listen to and support me, was a brief breath of fresh air from the faithless void I had found myself in recently. But if I didn't believe the earliest events of the Bible were historically accurate, then could I really glean the divinity of Jesus from that context? Val stiffened when I brought that up, and our conversation was interrupted by a stop for prayer. I never finished talking to him about it that night.

When we arrived at Manger Square, the area just outside of the Church of the Nativity, we stopped to sing again.

The Muslim call to prayer sounded at
the same time though, which was pretty funny.

Afterward, we went into the Church of the Nativity, pausing in the underground room designated for the manger. People expressed their religious gestures there, then we moved on to another room underground. The monks led the last German Christmas songs, finally bringing our pilgrimage to a close.

After the last songs.
Aisling (left) clearly didn't make it out alive.

We got home around 8 a.m. Christmas morning. In the evening, Corina and I held Christmas dinner at our flat. It was simple, silly, good times with friends.

After I couldn't get a bottle of wine open.

Settling down to eat.

As we finished our meal.

What a great time. The entire occasion felt special and so much richer with the real meaning of the holiday than ever before. And as much as I've joked that "Santa got served" by Jewish culture here, it's really the Jesus Factor that put Santa in his place this time around.

And that, my friends, is the best kind of Christmas.

Shalom,
Eric

1 comment:

Drummergirl said...

and just when gramma was thinking you'd be over there all by your lonesome... ha!
so glad you had a great time...
bustin open the wine huh? my, my!

:-P

love... the mama.