Why Would You Spend Christmas at a Monastery?

Because of our recent move, I've condensed all the normal Christmas Preparations into one week.  We deliberately avoided Christmas preparations (except to order some photo cards) ahead of the move as it made no sense, and I didn't want things to get lost amid the sea of boxes.  I've had one box that was well labeled with Christmas stuff that showed up ahead of the packers and I guarded it like a treasure.  It was quite a rush this past weekend to get some shopping in, find all the essential items from the moving boxes and get up here.

Notice the words above... Christmas stuff.  In our culture today, that's what it's all about, isn't it?  I mean, anything having to do with Christmas - even the Creche I gave Vicky for her first Christmas in our new home - qualifies as "stuff" in some sense.  You just can't get away from it.  You want to send greetings to distant family members... you need Christmas cards - more stuff.  I gave away our old Christmas tree after last year (because I knew my days with the 12' ceiling were limited) so now I had to get a little 5' tree - you guessed it, more stuff.  Sure the stuff can have symbolism.  It can help us focus on Christ.  It can aid our worship.  But frequently, the stuff aspects of it triumph any redeeming qualities.  How long did I spend selecting the right Creche, the perfect tree, the... well you get the idea.

I've wrestled with this for decades.  Raising a family and trying to balance the gift giving with some aspect of worship that day (do you know how hard it is in some areas to find a church open on Christmas day), you frequently loose the focus on Christ's birth and the incredible gift God gave us.  Amid the trains, new flashlights, cookies, dinner, travel, etc., you're lucky if you can carve out an hour or two for God... some years you can't. 

Combining a retreat - that's what any visit to the monastery is - with Christmas gives you the opportunity to break some of these patterns (even if it's only for a few days).  Holy Cross is a "thin place".  You can feel the separation between man and God is less here.  From the moment you walk in the door, you feel two things - a sense of welcome and a holy presence.  They're around you constantly.  (I used to think it was a happy accident... I've since learned that the brothers work incredibly hard to achieve that.)  For the couple of days you're here, the focus IS God and the gift he gave us in Jesus.  Yes, you get to play with wonderful stuff - trim a huge tree, help set up a unique room-size creche, hang garland, etc.  But you don't "own" any of it which greatly helps in putting the stuff in the context of God.

I learned all this last year when what should have been a sucky Christmas (my first after the divorce with my son away at his mother's, etc.) turned out to be one of the best for me.  Everyone who is here for Christmas is seeking something and we're all each other's family for the few days.  Yes, afterward I went to visit family and take part in the typical American Christmas, but those few days at Holy Cross were an essential time for me.

This year, I expect that sharing it with someone special will increase it's meaning to me. Vicky is still exploring this thing we call faith.  That has been an incredible privilege to watch this these past few months.  I look forward to seeing how it all plays out this year.