As London becomes aglow with lights, alive with merriment and frantic with various gift buying and giving, it can feel easy to almost unconsciously slip into our regular festive rhythms, rarely stopping to consider why we maintain these rhythms and traditions.
Tradition is a word that can often become misunderstood; seen as a desperate clinging to what was or a justification to constrain rather than release. But perhaps a better way to understand tradition is, preserving that which matters. As we as a community at St Martin-in-the-Fields begin to gently move into Advent much of what we do as tradition is because this season matters. This is a time to look back at the humility, frailty and glory of Jesus, of divinity entering our world as a baby in the Holy Land. A moment when the lines between heaven and earth became their blurriest – a time to recognise Emmanuel, God with us. But it is also a time to look ahead to Jesus’ return, to remember that all will be made wonderfully new, every tear will be wiped away and every crushed spirit, revived.
As author Elif Shafak said, we as people have long histories but short memories. We each carry within us long histories, or traditions, of Advent and Christmas but perhaps can have short memories about the why. The hope, with the services offered here at St Martin’s, is to allow each person to remember, to rediscover God and to reconnect with that which truly matters.
Maddie Naisbitt
