Nordic wisdom for Christmas and Epiphany

Over the Christmas season, I was interested in references, on The Lutheran Neoplatonist, the substack of a priest in the Church of Norway, to seasonal Norwegian customs. The first was in a homily for what the Book of Common Prayer terms The Sunday after Christmas Day, or what contemporary Anglican liturgies tend to describe as The First Sunday of Christmas. The Lutheran Neoplatonist, however, pointed to the Norwegian term:

what we call “Romjulssøndag” ... in the Church of Norway. Romjul (lit. “space Christmas”) refers to the days of Christmas between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. 

Something of this is probably reflected in the experience of many Anglican churches in these Islands and North America on The Sunday after Christmas Day. A smaller congregation after the large congregations for carol services and Christmas Day; perhaps simple congregational carols and less choral music; and the main liturgy of the day rather more modest than Midnight Mass. We might, then, regard The Sunday after Christmas Day as something of a 'Low Sunday in December'. 

Rather than bemoan this, we might instead welcome an opportunity for a quieter, more contemplative approach to the Lord's Nativity, a time to dwell in the light of the Incarnate Word with a quiet joy. There is a domesticity to simple carols, a modest liturgy, and a quieter presence before the Crib that speaks of the grace and truth of the Incarnation in a manner no less significant than the glorious riches of Nine Lessons and Carols or Midnight Mass.

It was also interesting to discover on The Lutheran Platonist that the Church of Norway offers an example of how New Year's Eve should be observed liturgically, provided for in the lectionary, and approached in preaching. This is a refreshing contrast from the sniffy clericalism found in some Anglican circles, dismissing New Year's Eve as 'secular', as if our experience of the passage of time and the years is somehow disconnected from the truth that "the word of Lord endures for ever", or that we pray in the words of the Psalmist, "So teach us to number our days : that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom". 

The Year 1 lectionary provision for New Year's Eve in the Church of Norway - Ecclesiastes 3:1-2.4-7.11, 1 Peter 1:22-25, and Luke 13:6-9 - offers very fine material for observing and preaching which addresses the passage of another year. Past Church of Ireland custom, still thankfully retained in a few places, was for a Watchnight Service on New Year's Eve, ensuring that the old year passed and the new year arrived in the context of prayer, Scripture, and worship. 

Not only is pastoral and evangelistic wisdom in such liturgical recognition of New Year's Eve, just as there is in ensuring that other significant moments in civic, national, and communal life are similarly recognised - coronations, Rogationtide, Harvest Thanksgiving, Remembrancetide. Such observances also reflect a profound theological vision, of all flowing from and caught up in the life of the Holy Trinity. This should include New Year's Eve, drawing us to hold the passage of another year before the One of whom the Psalmist says, "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday : seeing that is past as a watch in the night".

Finally, there is The Epiphany. The Lutheran Neoplatonist informs us of Norwegian terms for the feast:

Today we celebrate Epiphany, in Norway also simply called Kristi openberringsdag (“The Revelation of Christ Day”), since “Epiphany” means “revelation” (from Gk. epipháneia), or Heilage tre kongars dag (“Holy Three Kings Day”).

Both terms should lead us to reflect on Anglican observance of The Epiphany. The Prayer Book, after all, also gives to the feast the title 'The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles'. While contemporary Anglican liturgies have foolishly avoided this title - part of liturgists' dislike of and embarrassment at popular piety's focus on the Magi and the Star - it remains the case that contemporary versions of the classical Epiphany collect continue to include the phrase "manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth". The Norwegian title Kristi openberringsdag invites us to a renewed confidence and joy in the older Prayer Book title. 

Likewise, Heilage tre kongars dag reflects the Anglican popular piety found in the hymns of the feast: 'As with gladness men of old did the guiding star behold', 'The entered in those wise men three', 'We three kings of Orient are'. This popular piety, celebrating the three kings adoring the Christ Child, is also found in Nativity scenes and stained glass depictions of the Nativity. It ensures that the manifestation of Christ is not understood to be a fleshless abstraction. It is precisely because The Epiphany is the celebration of the Magi adoring the Christ Child that we are then brought with them to the Incarnate Word: "And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him".

As seen from the above examples, Christmas and Epiphany customs in the Church of Norway can be understood to encourage Anglicans in these Islands and North America to renew similar practices, experiences, and customs within our own tradition. They are also suggestive of how a common life in the Porvoo Communion can be nurtured, through a focus on shared and similar liturgical practices, popular piety, and customs. And, last but certainly not least, this should lead both traditions to a deepened appreciation for their cultural presence in and through practices and customs which shape the cultural imagination, means of drawing people to and sustaining them in the life of faith, prayer, and sacrament.

(The first photograph of Ringebu stave church was shared by Den norske kirke on Facebook on Christmas Day. The second is of Holmenkollen Chapel, where the King of Norway and the Royal Family attend the liturgy on Christmas Day.)