Christingle Service: A Mathematical Translation

Watering Can, a non-Christian guest writer, has written a mathematical analysis of a Christingle service that she attended earlier in the week.

A: [O+LW+S(1+2+3+4)]/JB
or
B: O(3S x 4) + LWJB
or
C: (O + 4S + DC)JB

O = orange (6)
LW = light of the world aka DC = dripping candle to most of us (3)
JB = Jesus’ blood (5)
S = season (4)

It’s no good trying to translate these things into algebra. Arguably, the letters, numbers and signs are extraordinary unfeeling. Also because if you give them a value (yes, the number in brackets at the end) you get different results for each equation.

A: [6+3+4(1+2+3+4)]/5
= (13 x 10)/5
= 130/5
= 26

B: 6({3x4} x 4) + (3 x 5)
= 6(12 x 4) + 15
= (6 x 48) + 15
= 288 + 15
= 303

C: (6 + {4 x 4} + 3) x 5
= (6 + 16 + 3) x 5
= 25 x 5
= 125

But don’t Christingle services produce different results for different people? Some people in the room may be moved to tears, others listening and caught somewhere in thought and some may be completely indifferent. You could also make your own equation whether you had actually been to a service or not. On a more practical note, which values should be assigned to the letters?! I don’t know. I had a reason for some of mine, others I didn’t. Did that affect the result? Absolutely! But then, are those numbers ever going to actually mean anything? Probably not. Does it matter that the result of C is JB cubed? Does it matter that the answer for B has LW on both sides of the zero? Does it matter that A might as well have been JBS + O? Of course not! It’s hard enough trying to translate such occasions into words and using language to describe things, as pebles has already explored.

Though take a look at a Christingle object. Only a handful of numbers there. 1 candle. 1 flame. 4 cocktail sticks. 4 something-or-others on top. 1 orange. So orange is the earth. Hmm. Only one earth. All the more reason for us to look after it. So candle is Jesus. Hmm. Only one ‘Lamb of God.’ All that suffering on one being. So flame is the light of the world. Probably Jesus again. But there are many flames. Who is the light of the world? Who could be, if they tried?

Looking for God Beyond Language

Words, spoken and written are used to communicate; we use them to connect to one another. With out them it can be difficult to learn about another person, to get to know them, to relate to them. We use them to help us learn about the world around us, the collective observations of the human race recorded, remembered and spread in words. Sometimes it seems that although they open up so much information to us words can also stunt our ability to learn, relate and understand in other ways. We are so reliant on them.

I often find in a lot of churches that learning about God is very restricted to words. The pastor gets up and teaches people about God. It’s a useful thing and a good thing to learn about God in this way, another person’s knowledge is sheared with you to add on to what you already know. My parents both find this way very good. I never have. Often I sit and do my best to focus on the words, but my understanding is next to nothing, the preacher might as well have been speaking a foreign language because I understand little.

I have learnt a lot about God though words. The Bible, prayer and discussions with people who explain things in ways that I understand have taught me much. But words are not the only way. A lot of people learn about God thought music or symbols. For them maybe the music time in church is the way they learn more about God, for others maybe it's the symbols that we sometimes find around churches that teach them the most. For others maybe looking at the world around them teaches them the most. Maybe it’s all of these ways and more.

No matter what way a person learns about God, words are used the most. Perhaps that is what has created the idea of some people that without the words, the Bible, and the teachings of our churches and parents there would not be Christianity. A troublesome idea I have come across put forward by some people is that we only believe in God because of what we are told and taught. But God never has and never will be restricted by words. He created them, but he is not dependent on them, he does not need them to communicate with us. They are simply one of many tools.

God transcends words. A child not yet able to use or understand words is not unreachable by God. God can communicate just fine with them if he wants to. A person who finds language hard to understand and express with does not need words to understand God. Perhaps a person will not be able to read the Bible, perhaps they cannot understand the words of a pastor, perhaps the music in church can overwhelm them and cause a person to shut down, and perhaps they still know God. Before I could talk and before I could organise understanding form those around me I understood that God was real, I understood he was present. It was a very simple concept to me.

All of the patterns that fill up the world, so perfect and beautiful and all tell me about God. It is like the grass and the sky and everything is covered in words about God, but not words like you hear or read. God is everywhere, he fills up the world. For me the patterns in the world, the symbols in a church, the way rain looks as it falls, my niece, and these things teach me the most about God.

I wrote most of this last night. My brain was very clear. The less stressed my head feels the better I can write. My brain is not clear now. It feels muddled and stressed and tiered. One of my favourite saints is St Bernadette she had trouble with talking also. Sometimes my brain scrambles, and sometimes my words go. Talking and words are difficult for me and for her. But God is the same forever.

Advent: Hunting for God and Company

[This entry was written by our first guest (and non-Christian) blogger, who would like to be known as Watering Can.]

Advent means waiting for something to come. Now there’s a thought. What can we possibly be waiting for? God, perhaps?

Is God...
a) Already here and will always be here
b) About to come...we’re still waiting for Him
c) Here but we’re remembering how we waited for Him...re-waiting
d) Up there, down here, everywhere, watching our every move and we are waiting for Him to somehow intervene for us?
e) Waiting for Him to come again i.e. at the end of the world
f) Inside us, so we’re waiting to discover Him (but then is He hiding from us?)
g) Not here at all.

Am I waiting for your answer? Are you even paying attention? I might not be, if I were reading this. I know just what I’d be waiting for...Christmas presents, pocket money, maybe a new and inspirational idea, some event I’d be looking forward to or for all of the homework to end so I could take a breather. No, I’m not waiting for your answer because it may or may not have been a rhetorical question. Your business, so you can do what you like with your answer. Though it might be an idea to think about the meaning behind what it was. Maybe it’s linked to your religion, or maybe you have a completely different answer.

But I’m straying from the point. Advent. What do you think of when you hear that word? I always think of advent calendars. Arguably, that answer is justified because they’re everywhere, with their chocolate or traditional goodness, rearing their animated, colourful, rectangular heads a good month before they should really be there. If you believe in Jesus, then you’ll probably agree that He/he did not come down in September, October or early November. I’m guessing here when I say Advent is a month where you’re supposed to think about stuff before Christmas (no, not making your Christmas lists, though you’ll be doing that too unless you want to be dashing around as soon as the 20th December comes around) but about a lot of other things.

So, Jesus is coming! You’ve got a month. What are you going to do?! Perhaps for some it will be like an inspection. So then you’ll be cleaning yourself up, tidying your room, being especially nice to everyone, maybe getting your gold necklace ready to give up, thinking about how it is more blessed to give than receive and anything else that makes you look like someone who should definitely go on the good list. Maybe we’re not doing that, but we’re thinking. First of all, it will be a reminder: “Hello there! Jesus came down this time years and years ago. He’s there, watching you.” How does that make you feel? Afraid? Composed? If you’re a sinner then you know no one’s going to throw stones at you. But a few gentle words in your ear might make you feel just as bad.

So we’re waiting for Jesus. We’ve got bright, flashing lights on our Christmas trees, we might have some Santa ideas floating around (who is Father Christmas anyway? How come he didn’t have a Gospel?!), we’ve got nativity scenes up, we might have a couple of angels flexing their wings around the house, not to mention a few paper chains or snow globes. Everything certainly looks very pretty. We’d get top marks for the state of our houses. But what about ourselves? Indeed, how have we been behaving all year long? Have we been naughty or nice? Both. It’s not as if we’re going to have a tutorial with Jesus (unless we are great at prayer) but it makes us wonder about ourselves at least. This was the day that Jesus came down supposedly to bear all of our sins for us – as a little, innocent baby born in a stable who had an appointment with three intelligent kings bearing gifts they’ve lugged all the way from wherever they came from in pursuit of a star that showed us the light of the world. Did He/he know then that he was going to be bleeding on a cross wearing a thorn crown in front of a crowd of people? Was He/he lingering in an agonising wait for his fate or to return to His/his Father?

Of course we should celebrate His/his birthday! He’s the big saviour, after all. Now there’s another thought. How do you find a present appropriate for Jesus Christ? What do I think? Give Him/him your time. It’s the best thing you’ve got. What is Jesus going to do with a pair of socks or a bunch of chocolate coins? So is that it? Is He/he waiting for you as much as you are waiting for Him/him? What did the beginning of His/his life on Earth actually mean? As far as I can see, time for Him/him to grow up, get to know us, start teacher-preacher training and having the opportunity to talk to us as a man. As far as prophecies are concerned, we were all waiting for the Messiah. And some of us reckon we got Him.

Yet, is waiting really something we should celebrate?! Those torturing moments where something good is in front of us and we can’t get it yet. It’s not in the league of want-it-can’t-have-it but it’s still at least annoying. But it is something to celebrate. It’s knowing that the thing is there that counts. Just knowing that there is something very good ahead of us gives us the motivation to carry on. It makes a certain, amazing, formula of excitement. It makes us happy. Waiting can be the best time ever, and the best thing is that it builds. Every second is one second closer to the incentive. So Christmas Eve and morning are going to be the most exhilarating. The bad news is that it crashes out after whatever-it-is has happened. We should make the most of it. So – guess what – we’ve got Advent where we can wait to our heart’s content.

There are two things that might go wrong though. After it’s all over and Jesus has arrived in all His/his glory...the words ‘now what?’ hang in the air unspoken, like deflated balloons or the empty packet of sweets. What we forget is that Jesus is not a toy and He/he is not going to run out of batteries. Nor, if you believe in Him/him, will he get any less fun. So let’s think about Who/who exactly we’re waiting for and what you can do with Him/him.

So it’s about getting ready to be a Christian. This is the guy you’ll be following for the rest of your life. Taking up your cross and following Him/him. (Aren’t you thinking by now that this is a bit miserable for an Advent blog? I know it is. I eased you in with the festive stuff and the Christmas euphoria but now we’re getting spiritual now.) You know there’s all this stuff about searching so hard for God that you forget to knock at His door. Is this the best approach to take? Is sincere prayer the way to go? Probably. You could do little things like lighting a candle or saying your own prayer (I don’t know what you believe about Jesus but considering that you washed up here then you’re interested – I know some religions accept Jesus and some don’t but whatever) or you could just look at various Advent traditions. I’m not here to talk about them because I don’t know any but you could make up your own or just spend five minutes thinking about what this season actually means.

Or we could take a personal look at it. What are you waiting for? Yes, you. Anything non-materialistic will do, because it’s just about thinking for the minute. What is it about it that makes it attractive? Have you been waiting a long time? Is it difficult to find? Is it an element you don’t feel you’ve really explored or given enough time to think about? Is it something you want that someone else has already found the secret to? Or do you have no idea what you’re waiting for? Peace? Love? Spiritual fulfilment? A sense of belonging? Some idea of worth? A place to escape? Comfort? A new idea or ambition?What does this season mean to you, if anything? What are you waiting for? Get up and go.