just another day?

The pupils of Primary 7 were all along at the Halls today.

Exploring what Christmas is really all about. It was a great time and I think they enjoyed the whole thing.

We were down at the Halls ourselves from fairly early on, to get things all set up. Some folk from the SU team here in Edinburgh, and then, as well, a number of folk from here. Maybe nine of us in all.

I think they all enjoyed the time as well!

One of the things the children got to do was fill in a 'survey' form. All about Christmas.

What did they think the number one song would be this Christmas time? What did they like best about Christmas? What were they hoping to receive? What might they give? What were their hopes and dreams this Christmas?

That sort of thing.

The answers were really quite striking.

One of the boys I got kneeling beside at one point said his hopes and dreams were to sleep. Because that's all I really do anyway, he said, when I asked him why he'd put that.

He'd filled his sheet fairly quickly. And for what he'd like to receive he'd simply written Nothing. For what he might give, again it was simply Nothing. What did he like best about Christmas? Well, yes, you've guessed - Nothing.

He'd have done well as King Lear, of course! You know that famous line there is (which I think only Shakespeare could have got away with as 'poetry') where he says - Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.

Well, I chatted a bit with the boy. Trying to figure out if this was the guy being perverse, or if he'd got out of bed the wrong side, or if there was something more to his negative line.

Christmas is just another day, isn't it? was all that he would say.

Which in some ways, of course, is correct.

But it wasn't the line the angels took. Today, they declared, a Saviour has been born for all people.

And the numbers of angels who pitched up to join the choir suggested that so far as they were concerned this day represented a pretty big deal.

God turning up in person to save the world is not really the stuff of a shrug-of-the-shoulders sort of just another day.

The teachers enjoyed the time as well. At least I assume they did. They sat in another part of our halls, where the coffee's on the go, and ... well, I hope they managed to relax just a bit. They deserve it.

In the afternoon the venue was reversed. I was round at the school myself for the final time with the children of Primary 6. This time on the death of Jesus.

That year group are an amazing bunch of children. They sit so well, behave so courteously, listen so intently, contribute so eagerly, and ask questions so astutely. They're fun to be with and a joy to teach.

And at the end today they gave me a gift of a pair of Christmas socks. As a way of saying 'thankyou'.

Because we'd had this thing between us from the first time I'd been there when I'd asked them how observant had they been and had they seen what colour of socks I had on.

It turned out that the socks had writing in German on them. Which I don't understand at all. As you know.

So their task for the next time out was to find out what the German on my socks declared - since some of them were studying German this year.

The next time I'd been there I'd worn the socks again (washed in between, of course). And they'd sussed out what the German meant - something about my walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

The third time I was with them I wore a different pair of socks. I figured they'd be looking out for this, which they were. And I had on a pair of Anakin Skywalker socks which I'd found a few days back.

Today I wore my stripey Old Carthusian socks. And sure enough the first question all of them asked was what sort of socks I was wearing today and what did the colours mean.

As I say, they're fun to be with, and we always have a laugh. But they also listen well and take it all in. And I hope they catch not the truth that I'm telling alone, but the sense of the presence of Jesus himself through it all.

Just another day?

Well, hardly. No two days are the same.

But a day like today it's just like God turns up in person all over again to save the world.

And it's great just to see him at work!