Christmas Carols traditional ... Or something more gritty, more real

By Ken Russell in Articles

Ken considers the Youth Groups Christmas production and other matters

I arrived at Mornington Church on Sunday more than a little ruffled by the closing lines of Maureen Garing in the 8am Radio NZ hymn session. Not known for her innovative choice of hymnody to greet our waking hours, Ms Garing excelled herself by announcing she was planning to play the hymn without which, in her words, the Advent/Christmas season would not be complete. The hymn? Ding Dong Merrily on High!!

As I headed for the shower, I wondered, troubled, what possible relevance such a song might have for bereft families in the mining communities of the West Coast, or the farming communities of Northland facing the arid realities of drought. Not that the rest of the programme had been much better. There had been but one solitary indigenous carol, one in ten maybe. The rest was meringue stuff - light and fluffy, beautifully articulated and modulated by some of the best cathedral choirs in England, but engaging at what point in the cares and struggles of listeners dealing with the sharp and wounding realities of today's New Zealand?

Too harsh a criticism? Perhaps. But many of the hymns we sing are candidates for the same dismissal, the imagined music of angels, the rapture of the saved in glory, but we go on singing them as though we had no others to sing.

But all of the above is but prelude to better news from my local church.
From Ding Dong Merrily it was a welcome transition to Jingle Pals, a youth play written for worship by Ginny Kitchingman and a cast of seventeen. With a title like that we might have expected flim flam, a kiwi equivalent of the same seasonal irrelevance that bedevils so much of what we see and hear masquerading as good news for modern man.

But it wasn't. An ingenious plot presents the Jingle Pals Advertising Agency receiving its clients, Miss Granola and Miss Glossy, and others, looking to improve the appeal of their respective products to their customers.

The agency processes their requirements with the customary commercial efficiency and courtesy, (complete with the offer of coffee, herbal tea or mineral water) but is forced to embrace new and more innovative strategies to meet the startling, and totally unexpected request from Angela Godd from the Almighty Corporation for a new and more effective marketing campaign to present the real meaning of Christmas.

The winged Angela is clearly a client with a difference, and the Agency assigns their senior business consultant, Miss Lucre, to handle the enquiry.

The philosophy of the agency sounds somewhat familiar, and the sales team have it all in a jingle

"Jingle Pals, Jingle Pals, Jingle all the way,
We write songs to advertise the things you sell each day, hey!
Jingle Pals, Jingle Pals, Jingle all the way,
Come to us, we'll work for you, as long as you can pay, hey!"

It's catchy stuff and the staff at Jingle Pals are full of ardour and good intent. And one by one the strategies put forward by the Agency, of a nostalgic return to the past with tea towelled shepherds (traditional); of a Christmas hip hop with texted hpy xms (contemporary); or of a hard sell infomercial, are successively rolled out.

PRESENTER: "But wait - there's more! Phone in the next 30 minutes and you'll not only receive the real meaning of Christmas, we'll send you the real meaning of Easter as well! That's right! Pay nothing! Just pick up the phone, and you too could be feeling the love that comes with...the real meaning of Christmas."

Needless to say, none of these strategies, all of which could have come straight from the Saachi & Saachi handbook, impress the bemused Angela Godd. Will she give the Jingle Pals one more chance, or take her business elsewhere? The Agency pleads for one more chance. They sit down and for the first time Miss Lucre actually listens. They need to move beyond trivialities and address the "really big question."

Says Angela: "Because he showed us the answer to the really big question - and that is not which is the softest toilet paper, or where can you get the crunchiest cereal, or what sort of conditioner should you use. The big question is: How should you live your life?"

Lucre has what amounts to an Ahaa moment, and full of new insight and resolve, she sends Angela away for another week while the team get to work to address her client's Big Question. To cut a long story short, they do a pretty good job. Not the whole answer, but..... Angela is given a sneak preview...

"Here we are at Christmas, another year has been.
The stocking's full of presents and the Christmas tree is green.
The turkey's in the oven, but what does it really mean?
That's the question - what does Christmas mean?

What does Christmas really show us?
How did Jesus get to know us?
Questions - sharper than a knife.
That's the question - how to live your life.

Be like the sparrows and forget about your wealth.
Go the extra mile, don't just sit there on the shelf.
Reach out to each other - love your neighbour as yourself.
Jesus said that's how to live your life."

That about wraps it up. There was a heap of laughter, and the rapport between the author/producer, Ginny, and the kids in the cast was inescapable. It was a parody of the commercialisation and superficiality that take over the Christian festival and drive it for profit. But to the credit of all concerned, the fun and spontaneity of this youth production declares the good news for all to hear, and even the mercenary Miss Lucre conceded the Agency had discovered something special, and could not in all conscience charge for its services. Truly, their reward was "out of this world."

It's good to be a member of a church that works hard to transcend the Ding Dong Merrily culture of the populist Christmas. We succeeded again later in the day with the ecumenical carol service, including grounded New Zealand carols, and readings that brought home the true nature of the Good News, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, God-with-us equally in the pit of sorrow and on the mount of aspiration. The words of the affirmation bear repetition as we head toward what will be for many a sad and painful Christmas.

God was in Christ, and in that frame,
A human child, God truly came.
In us is held all that God is:
The will to good, the well of peace.

The spark to fire the shape of stars,
The shout of joy, the passion's scars.

That child is born time after time:
In each of us God dreams a dream.

God is in us, by love conceived,
In struggle born, in faith believed. (Shirley Murray)

--By Ken Russell

First printed as a Connections article in the Parish Weekly Bulletin, December 19, 2010.

More photos from the Christmas production, Jingle Pals, can be viewed under Photos: Youth matters. Thank you to Ken Russell, the photographer.