Keeping Christ in Chrismas All the Time

How does one keep Christ in Christmas?

Two truths expressed in the Bible form the key that keeps Christ in Christmas for me and my family. The first truth: The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, sings Psalm 24. The second truth: all things work to the good of those who love the Lord (Romans 8:28).

With these thoughts in mind, it's impossible to see anything as anything less than sacred and therefore as means of mediating the sacred.

The story of Jesus' birth is the story of grace found in the least likely of places under the least likely of circumstances. It's not for me, then, to create the categories Sacred and Secular (Accepted and Rejected) and then pass judgment on every person, place, and thing I encounter. Rather, it's for me to remember that, bidden or unbidden, God is present and to see God in the moment. It's my job to walk in the light.

Rudolph, Frosty, and Santa aren't threats to the Christmas story but metaphors for it. For young, concrete thinkers, these characters tell the story of love and grace in a way they can understand. Eventually, these characters fade into the memory of childhood as the story of Christmas takes over. Luke's own story is a concrete rendering of a great mystery, after all.

Similarly, the lights, tinsel, trees, and other displays remind me it's a special time of year. I can't walk into a shop and forget Christmas is coming. The merchants decorate my world and focus my attention; they sell me very little. Are they greedy for doing this? Are they encouraging some kind of vice? Are they transforming the gift of love into the gift certificate? I can't say. I heard enough people in the week before Christmas remark about how little they have shopped that I can't believe this can be true.

I see the gifts that come our way and the gifts we give as tokens of the greatest gift of love imaginable. I am not one for wish lists; far better it is to accept love in whatever form it comes and let it be a genuine embrace rather than limit it within the confines of my imagination.

The love of God is greater than Sears, J.C. Penney, Macy's....Anyway, God's love is available there, too. Bidden or unbidden, God is with us. We have only to see, to hear, to love.

On the Horizon