Australian Thoughts at the Weekend 3rd and 4th January, 2009.

Australian Thoughts at the Weekend 3rd and 4th January, 2009.

RE-RUNS

If you are a Television viewer, at this time of the year you are probably used to re-runs. At least here in Australia, it is a non-rating period when the number of viewers is not counted and so the television channels tend to choose not to use product which will attract a bumper number of viewers.

Those new programs are saved for the rating period because good ratings attract more paying advertisers. Therefore some of the more popular shows from the past year are shown again. Some of the shows are from years well past.

I have noticed that although the programs are marked with an “(R )” for repeat, the television channels are tending to call them “encore programs”. It is as if the viewers are demanding to see them again and they well maybe, going by the number of sets of TV programs which are being sold on DVD.

Newspapers and radio as well as television are also taking the opportunity of quiet news time when Australia is on summer holidays to review the year past. We are reminded of political, tragic and celebration moments as well as the quirky events of the past year as old tapes, pictures and stories are re-visited.

On New Year’s Eve at the end of the regular television news program, there was a collage of vision from events over the past twelve months. It was amazing what we had forgotten. Many of these forgotten events were ones that had seemed important at the time.

We just coming towards the end of the Christmas Season and of course, it is a whole season of re-runs. We probably don’t call them “re-runs” but rather call them “traditions”. You are probably like us and have some family traditions. After our various Christmas Day services as many of us as possible gather to enjoy a traditional hot lunch. My mum makes the Christmas pudding. My sister makes a delicious cherry cheesecake and my wife makes a trifle.

Of course that is not all. Our traditional menu says we will have turkey, ham and roast pork and all the vegetables so that too is allocated as to who will bring what. Some will be allocated the task of bringing salads and fruit for the evening meal. Snacks for throughout the day and drinks are also contributed by those attending as well as being supplemented by the host household.

Tradition dictates our gift opening happens before lunch when everyone is present. Anyone extra who joins us for the evening meal will receive and distribute their gifts again when everyone is present. One of the bachelor uncles gives everyone a bag of lollies/sweets/candies. Another bachelor uncle has for many years given everyone a bottle of his homemade tomato chutney. This year he broke tradition and some jokingly asked him where were their bottles of tomato chutney?

Another traditions which seemed to disappear for us this year was the after lunch cricket. The air conditioner in the house was much more comfortable than the over 30c /86f temperatures outside. Also it seemed the younger ones were already occupied with electronic games. I don’t think it has anything to do with the state of Australian cricket at the moment.

Christmas itself has many traditions and we enjoy the re-runs and repeats of the best from past years. We love reading and hearing the same Scripture portions from the prophecies of the Old Testament to the good news of the birth story in the New Testament. While new Christmas songs have their place, there is something special about singing the best known of the ones from previous Christmases. The traditional carols for most people are a part of the welcome ritual of the season.

Sometimes there are good reasons for traditions. I was part of an internet discussion where some church ministers were saying that we must separate the seasons of Advent and Christmas. There argument was that it is Advent until the Sunday before Christmas and that Christmas does not start until Christmas Eve. What they were saying is that we should not sing Christmas carols until Christmas Eve and sing them through the Twelve Days of Christmas until Epiphany. Epiphany (January 6th) is the day, by tradition, on which the Wise Men brought gifts of myrrh, gold, and frankincense to Christ at His birth. This is the day after "Twelfth Night". I guess they found the reason why we sing Christmas carols through Advent when they said that after Christmas Day everyone disappears on holidays. They were in Canada so you can imagine it would be a bigger problem here in Australia where Christmas coincides with summer holidays.

I am sure as individuals, families and even communities as well as church congregations, we have our annual repeats of favourite seasonal events. Even those events have their special and traditional inclusions. I wonder just how many communities act our a nativity scene with Mary Joseph, and the baby Jesus in a manger in a stable being worshipped by angels, shepherds and wise men?

In 1937 a radio announcer in Melbourne got an idea for a “Carols by Candlelight” and in 1938 the first one was held in a city park with an attendance of 10,000. Carols by Candlelight are held in various communities , the biggest being in Sydney where about 100,000 people attend. The beneficiary of that one is the Salvation Army Oasis Youth Service. (See: http://www.santaswarehouse.com.au/favorite/carols_by_candlelight/ ).

The Carols by Candlelight has become an Australian tradition and as it is summer it is possible for thousands in cities or hundreds in small villages to gather in a park on a hot summer night to sing carols and in other ways carry out the rituals of the Christmas season.

Many Australians have family roots in other lands and some still carry traditional rituals and foods into their Australian Christmas. Most Australians, I think, love to hear how Christmas is celebrated in other lands and some of us can only imagine Christmas when the outside temperature is always ‘minus degrees’ and the landscape is covered in snow and ice.

Christmas, of course, is followed very closely by New Year and that is another time of traditions. A tradition which has grown in recent years is the New Years Eve fireworks displays. Like the gathering for carol singing even bigger crowds seem to gather to watch the city fireworks. In Sydney the huge fireworks display is centred around the Harbour and the Harbour Bridge. Here on the Gold Coast, the focal point is Surfers Paradise Beach where this year from barges on the ocean and in the river, thousands of dollars of noisy and spectacular fireworks were sent skyward.

As I think of traditions of Christmas and New Year, I think how there are gradual changes that take place. One example is that in addition to the traditional carols sung at Christmas new Christmas songs are introduced. This means that maybe one or two traditional carols are deleted from the program.

Another example is that this year the fireworks at Surfers were from on a barge on the ocean rather than on the beach. This meant that people could gather on the beach and not be kept off part of the beach for safety reasons.

I think we need to be aware that sometimes even with traditions there needs to be changes. While for 70 years the Carols By Candlelight in Melbourne has drawn huge crowds, the event has changed. Originally the focus was the live event and it was broadcast on radio. Now, while the live audience is essential to the event, it is now also very much a television event and watched by millions in the comfort of their homes. It is probably healthy to debate whether the changes have made it better but the fact is it is enjoyed by the gathered crowd and viewers each year.
I can't think of the word "tradition" without thinking of one of my favourite movies "Fiddler on the Roof." In the opening song Tevye tells us: "A fiddler on the roof, sounds crazy, heh?
"But in our little village of Anatevka, you might say everyone is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant simple tune without breaking his neck.
"It isn't easy . . . you may ask, 'Why do we stay up there if it is so dangerous?' We stay because it is our home.
"How do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word--tradition!
"Because of our tradition we have kept our balance for many, many years.
"Because of our tradition everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do.
"For without tradition our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof!"
I am also reminded that another person commented we can have 10 years’ experience or one year’s experience 10 times. I remember this was a problem with an organisation I worked for where in the local branches, the volunteer President would have a good year and then repeat the events of that year every year until the group became bored and found themselves another President.

I remember, too, what is written in the Letter to the Hebrews. The writer talked about places and rituals set up and observed by the people of the Old Testament and the annual rituals of the High Priests and then told us Christ did it one time and that once for all time.:

For Christ didn't enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn't do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin. (Hebrews 9.The Message)
[ You can read the whole chapter here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%209&version=65 ]

[Listen: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/songs/songs_063.mp3 ]

Yet once again, by God's abundant mercy,
We join our song of thankfulness and praise;
Ever the light of our redeemer's victory
Shineth before us in the world's dark ways.

Chorus
Jesus shall conquer, lift up the strain!
Evil shall perish and righteousness shall reign.

0 for the time of Christ's completed mission!
Throbs of its rapture reach us as we pray;
Gleams of its glory bursting on our vision
Speed us to labor, urge us on our way.

Stretch out thy hand, O God, and let the nations
Feel through thine host the thrill of life divine;
Grant us, we pray, still greater revelations,
Make of these days an everlasting sign.
Author: Albert Orsborn (1886-1967)
The Salvation Army: Song Number: 173

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