On Christmas Cheer

A Word of Christmas Cheer

to Emily Boskovich, by Emily Peterson

            “Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudel/door-bells and sleigh-bells and schnitzel with noodles/wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings/these are a few of my favorite things!” What with the special, cheery feelings that come with the Christmas season, it’s no wonder that the song from “The Sound of Music” has become a popular holiday song. Its message is simple: the world is full of frightening, depressing, bad things; therefore, we must cling to that which is happy, sweet, romantic, and dear. That is the message of “My Favorite Things,” and it is the message of a world that knows no hope of redemption. They must choose something to cling to, because they cannot cling to God.

            Unbelievers cannot cling to God because they hate Him. They may not realize it, but they do. People disbelieve in Christ, for He is the perfect revelation of God; they refuse to acknowledge the Bible, for it is the revealed law and message of God; they deny the importance and substance of history, for it is the work of God. God Himself said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Sinners find all manner of things to worship rather than Jesus. Sometimes their choice is blatantly rebellious and satanic; more often, however, because the law of God is written on the hearts of all men, good things—gifts from God—become idols. So it is with the worldly spirit of Christmas. Family, friendship, togetherness, generosity, love, and kindness embody what Christmas means to the world today. The holiday season is about joy, but the angels brought tidings of “a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” The world will grant us a message of “peace, goodwill toward men,” but first comes “glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:10-14).

            The feelings and attitudes that typify Christmas spirit in the world today are not at all bad or wicked. Neither do such things belong primarily to the world, by any means! The blessings associated with Christmas have their source in the God of Christianity, not in the hearts of men. Generosity is a good thing, and it reflects the grace of God in sending “His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). The institution of family is from God, and harmony among men is glorifying to Him. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1). The idolatry comes in the distraction. The world worships Christmas cheer at the expense of Christ—and often so do Christians, although we rarely notice when we do.

            Christians get caught up in combating commercialism during the Christmas season. We are right to decry it, and the world decries it with us. If we hear a celebrity express a Christmas spirit that is centered on family instead of on money, we are pleased with the fact, and perhaps that celebrity goes up ever so slightly in the estimation of the public. And yet, we are still missing the point. The events and feelings that make holiday celebrations special—and more specifically, that make Christmastide “the most wonderful time of the year”—are important, but they are not the most important things that make up Christmas.

            Christmas is about Jesus. It seems so obvious, it should go without saying; but we need to truly take this truth to heart, if we are going to get any benefit from the holiday celebrations. The wonder of the season is that God would take humanity to Himself for the sake of our salvation. We can do no better than to ponder and delight in the story of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. Its implications are innumerable, and our whole lives are before us that we may learn and rejoice in them. Because Jesus “was incarnate of the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man,” in the words of the Nicene Creed, we have joy and comfort in this life and hope and love in the next. Because Jesus lived and died—and lived again—to bring us to peace with God, we have His perfect love, now and for ever.

            “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).

Life, death, spirits, happenings, and creatures are all impotent to take away the blessings we have in Jesus. And I would add, neither cream-colored ponies nor crisp apple strudel shall remove us from His love. His affection for us is endless, His love beyond telling.

Merry Christmas!