“a good way to show the gospel through the cultural Christmas experience”
“This book aims to persuade you of one thing: that all these Christmas joys only make sense – and in fact life only begins to make sense – if we understand the meaning of the first Christmas.”
Andrew does this by taking some of his family’s favourite Christmas customs then naturally linking those with aspects of the Christmas story and the gospel. This is a relatable approach for those with a cultural attachment to the trappings of Christmas who will share those customs with Andrew, and an easy gift for Christians to give to people in that category. I wondered if the specific cultural examples would make it less accessible to people from other cultures, but Andrew has worked hard to make sure this isn’t the case. For example, in the chapter on Lights he gives examples of widely diverse cultures seeing light as a thing to be treasured (Diwali, Hanukkah, the Ming Dynasty, etc). Andrew doesn’t spend a lot of time seeking to ‘prove’ the events around the birth (and life, death, and resurrection) of Jesus happened, but he makes it clear that it is important that they are true events. He also points out to his nonchristian readership that we all do in fact believe in many things that cannot be proven. I certainly plan to get hold of copies and help the congregation I serve make use of them amongst friends, family members, neighbours and colleagues.
One thing I wasn’t keen on: Andrew mentions several times that Mary was an unmarried mother when Jesus was born. He does this to lean into the messiness of the Christmas story. Mary and Joseph’s marriage was not consummated until after Jesus’ birth so the statement is from one perspective true. However, from another perspective it seems untrue and misleading since the couple were betrothed, and Joseph had taken Mary home as his wife before the birth. The provocative claim might also be unnecessarily unhelpful to, for example, Catholic and Muslim readers seeking to engage with the book’s excellent contents.
