The Meaning of Christmas
Christmas during COVID is so very different. Too quiet, perhaps. Like so many other marked holidays in the last two years, Christmas will slip by quickly for most of us, soon forgotten in the greyness of this pandemic.
But as the carol goes, “Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”
The meaning of Christmas remains true and precious for all of us, whether Christians, lapsed Christians, Muslims, agnostics, Jews, Buddhists– it doesn’t matter, because its uplifting lesson holds the power to make each of us, and all of us, better.
Whether you see the story of Christmas as an historical fact, or as a quaint myth, or perhaps as an embellishment of what actually happened, is not for me to judge. What really matters is the lesson and its application.
The Christmas story teaches us about redemption, about grace, about mercy, about God putting aside his majesty to rescue us through humility. Take it as a fact, or take it as a parable, but don’t miss its lesson that the greatest gift is the giving, not of things, but of yourself. All of yourself.
Around the helpless child in the dark stable there’s no room for dogmatism, prejudice, or selfishness. That’s why it was humble shepherds who first got to welcome the babe, men who could afford no gifts to bring, men who were not there to offer opinions or advice, only quiet awe.
The gift of Christmas is that there is always light, always hope, and always redemption born out of humility and self-giving.
Merry Christmas!