What is the Meaning of Christmas?
Despite its widespread fame and ancient origin, the meaning of Christmas varies.
For some people, Christmas’ meaning requires an annual visit from that popular fellow named Santa Claus, who I still believe in to this day. If you don’t believe me, just ask my sons. They’ll tell you, “Yeah. I can’t believe it. Dad won’t let it go. He still believes in Santa.” For years, when our sons asked, “Is Santa Claus real,” I always responded, “Santa is the spirit of Christmas, and that spirit remains alive and well to this day.” By the time they entered Junior high school, they caught on.
Other accounts explaining the meaning of Christmas run the gamut from being historical and scientific (“Roman emperors were honored on December 25th, which explains why ancient Christians believed that Mary gave birth to Christ the King on that day”) to being completely materialistic and consumer-dedicated (“This Christmas, show your loved one just how much you care: Buy her our two carat ring on sale now at all our stores”). Still others might say that before the Industrial Revolution, Christians celebrated Christmas quite modestly and meaningfully, often not exchanging gifts, but usually sharing a meal together with family and friends. Who’s to say which meaning of Christmas merits complete credibility?
Frankly, since our sons left home to start families of their own, the meaning of Christmas for us two empty-nesters underwent a major overhaul. As shocking as it may sound, we quit putting up a Christmas tree. Why go to all that effort, when no young children will awaken us at “zero-dark-thirty” on Christmas morning, shouting, “Come and look! Santa Claus came!”? In fact, last Christmas we even decided not to buy each other presents. Instead, we contributed a portion of our modest Christmas nest-egg to our church mission project for the homeless. And just before we moved to Cortez, we fully intended to discard as much Christmas memorabilia as possible. We rummaged through box upon box of Christmas tree ornaments and countless decorative embellishments for the fireplace, the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the front door and the two Yorkshire terriers (who owned very cute elf outfits). We successfully tossed out most of our accumulation, except for one item that I could not conceive of abandoning — my battery-operated singing snowmen, who light up and wiggle their hips from side to side, singing “Joy to the Word” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Who in their right mind could possibly dump such a marvelous Christmas accoutrement? And this Christmas, we rejected the notion of hanging and stuffing our Christmas stockings. Instead, we decided to “stuff” our decorative bowls with candy canes and peanut M&M’s.
These days, with only the two of us celebrating the holidays, the Christmas holiday now spawns images of a new age engineered by an openhanded God, not only giving us a beautiful, new Son, but, also, offering us an opportunity to restore our broken world by means of extending the Lord’s unequaled peace and warm, soothing love to a prickly human species incessantly fraught with war and fear. For the two of us, that’s the meaning of Christmas.
Christmas means remembering how God used the black night sky as the background for a brilliant star shining over Bethlehem to highlight the unusual and special nature of a coming new age. Dec. 25th serves as an appointed time to recall how three astrologers from the East, traveling from the region of ancient Mesopotamia, recognized the unique significance of that star; and, they traveled afar to see the beginning of a glorious event never witnessed since the times of Elijah and Moses — times when two extraordinary people engaged in close encounters of the spiritual kind, intimately talking with and listening to this remarkable God. On Christmas, those three astrologers understood that the star signified the coming of a new era, when people might pass over from a world of woe and Roman occupation into fresh encounters with their Creator — a Deity busily hatching and incubating fresh notions about humanity’s authentic identity, which is an order of creatures formed with special capabilities for peaceful cohabitation with different races, nations, and creeds and a class of beings able to help one another through lives of toil with their capacity for love. Our new style of Christmas prompts the two of us to ask, “If those three Magi comprehended how that luminous star over Bethlehem stood for the coming of a new age of spiritual enlightenment, why shouldn’t we?”
With the loss of our sons, we gained new meaning and appreciation for Christmas, surpassing jolly, old Santa, the Roman Empire, and every jewelry store in existence. We acquired new insight into the workings of the most mysterious being of all time — the Lord, our God. And so, for the next 21 days or so, we intend to step outside into each chilly night to look up at the dark sky, hoping possibly to bear witness once again to that wonderful age of humanity, when peace and love became more than just a pipe dream; it became a time when those in need of healing received it, and those sorely in search of forgiveness obtained it. Then we’ll walk back inside our home to receive a night’s rest, all the while anticipating that glorious day, when God sent a special child to lead humanity into a rare time. For us, Christmas means a time when:
God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4 English Standard Version)
Have a meaningful Christmas.
Pastor Tom recently came from Christ United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City, Utah to Cortez, where he pastors First United Methodist Church. He’s a graduate of Eden Theological Seminary and Johns Hopkins University.