Douglas Todd: In this cosmopolitan region — despite scores of different cultures, languages and religions — there are still ways to come together in community and magic.
Slowing down. Gathering with family and friends. Enjoying wide-eyed children. Savouring the lights and music. Walking a foggy beach. Going further to be kind.
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In a cosmopolitan region like Metro Vancouver — with scores of different cultures, languages and religions and almost half its three million residents born in another country — it can be a challenge to come together as a community over the Christmas season.
By comparison, 46 per cent Greater Toronto residents are Christian, as are 59 per cent of those in New York City and 65 per cent in Los Angeles. The lowest proportion of Christians in any big American city, according to Pew Research, is in culturally progressive San Francisco, which, at 48 per cent, still has a higher ratio than Metro Vancouver.
Given this urban region has gone through a seismic demographic shift in regard to religion, how does the relatively small and fragmented cohort of Christians that remain find ways to connect with those who are not?
That especially refers to the 47 per cent of Metro residents who follow no religion, many of whom considers themselves “spiritual but not religious.” Another nine per cent are Sikh, Muslim (five per cent), Hindu (four per cent), Buddhist (three per cent) or Jewish (one per cent).
Lockhart and Davale provided refreshing reminders of some of the so-called secular joys of Christmas.
“As a Prairie person, it took me years of living in Vancouver to adjust to green grass in December,” said Lockhart, dean of St. Andrew’s Hall at the Vancouver School of Theology on the UBC campus.
“But somehow the old familiar carols, Christmas movies — from Scrooge to Elf to Die Hard — twinkling Christmas lights, and the opportunity to gather with loved ones always does the trick.”
“While I joyfully celebrate Christmas from a faith perspective, I am fully aware that my approach to Christmas is different than many of my kind-hearted, affable agnostic neighbours,” Lockhart said.
In addition to Lockhart’s family going to the Capilano Suspension Bridge’s light display, the Stanley Park Christmas train and to see Santa on Grouse Mountain, they have often walked on the Stanley Park seawall and, now that they live on Bowen Island, enjoyed the island’s Christmas lights, craft fairs and beaches.
“Whether one celebrates Christmas from a religious perspective or not,” Lockhart said, “there is much to celebrate in our shared West Coast home.”
Davale, who was born in India, raised in Hong Kong and arrived in Vancouver in 2019, finds Christmas one of the most inspiring times of year.
“Whether or not one subscribes to religious beliefs, the holiday season has a way of bringing out the best in people, sparking a kind of magic that feels as if it’s woven into the air itself.”
An associate pastor at Tenth Church’s Mount Pleasant site, Davale loves cooking up a batch of chili with friends for a community food program, watching a Hallmark holiday special and indulging in spiked hot chocolate, particularly with Bailey’s Irish Cream.
“For a transplant, or immigrant, like me, it’s a season that taps into our collective creativity, fosters deep connections and encourages acts of kindness — all the while filling the air with the sounds of laughter, music and merriment.”
Since Davale is the only member of her extended family living in North America, she experiments with weaving together different cultural traditions. “It’s like playing holiday detective — mixing old memories with new moments, to create my very own Christmas magic.”
The reflections of Lockhart and Davale may inspire people to think about some of the valuable non-religious sides of Christmas.
Growing up in a rigorously atheist family in Vancouver, I nevertheless loved the lights, gifts, decorated tree, music, food and fun of Christmas. And today I delight in seeing visitors from afar, making seasonal cookies and crafts with grandchildren, decorating a tree, soaking up the light displays on homes and saying “Happy Christmas” to sundry colleagues, whether they’re expecting it or not. I appreciate how people seem to try a bit harder to be friendly, generous.
With so many people all at once getting a significant break from the demands of work at Christmas, we can also appreciate the spaciousness of time.
Lockhart believes that whatever people in Metro Vancouver and the Cascadia region might believe, most feel grateful for the gift of holiday time, including to reflect what offers meaning and purpose in our lives.
This season also comes with an elevated sense of nature and wilderness, of being enveloped in Vancouver’s dark, wet, occasionally snowy winters. It’s time to mark the Dec. 21 solstice, which signals the return of the sun, the beginning of longer daylight hours. For many, Lockhart said, there may be a sense of being bound together by concern for the wondrous natural environment.
“Perhaps that is a starting place,” Lockhart said, “as we collectively slow down at this time of year, push back against the shortest of days with the brightness of Christmas lights, breathe deeply the crisp, clean salt air of ocean breezes and each, in our own way, give thanks for the gift of living in this beautiful place.”