December is an incredibly busy month for many of us. Families get together; workplaces hold parties; schools have concerts and other special events. For lots of us, as soon as Christmas celebrations are over, we've moved on to New Year's plans, and for others those celebrations overlap. Christians have a lot to celebrate at Christmas. We remember that the Son of God became human and was born as one of us. He took up all of our weaknesses and lived among us. Christmas shows that God cares about us and is present with us and understands us. But it's difficult to find time to fully reflect on these important theological truths in the midst of all the other (good) things that are going on. It's easy to not think much about Jesus' birth, especially after Christmas Day has come and gone.
So what can we do? We could take more time to discuss and reflect on what Christmas means throughout the month of December. That could work, but I don't want to cut into the Advent season that the church observes before Christmas. It's good for us to remember how God's people waited for the Messiah to be born. It's maybe even better for us to look forward to Christ's return.
The church calendar has some wisdom for us here. Traditionally the church has thought of Christmas as a season rather than a single day. Christmastide is often celebrated for twelve days (yes, there's a reason for the that ridiculous "Twelve Days of Christmas" song), beginning December 25 and ending January 5. I think we as a church need to emphasize the season of Christmas more. Let's think about and preach about Christmas for a couple or even a few weeks, not just one week or just a special midweek Christmas Eve or Christmas Day service. (Maybe it would even be good to have more Christmas services on some of the days between December 26 and January 5, though that's probably not very realistic unless we take drastic steps to cut back on our busyness during that time.) Let's sing Christmas carols for a while after Christmas Day (and maybe not quite so long before then). Let's take time to carefully read and ponder the stories of Jesus' birth in the beginning of Matthew and Luke as well as other Christmas passages found in places such Isaiah 9 and John 1 and Galatians 4 and Hebrews 2. Let's not let our gatherings and celebrations prevent us from appreciating what God has done that made us start gathering and celebrating in the first place.
And while we take time to focus on Christmas, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Certainly Christmas doesn't exist in a vacuum; we can't totally separate it from Good Friday and Easter. But we have time to remember and celebrate those events later in the church year. During Christmastide let's simply reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation, the wonder of God becoming human. Surely there's enough for us to think about there.
Grace and peace,
BMH
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