That’s What Christmas Means to Me

I love celebrating the season of Christmas. Most years, I am not one of those who begins listening to Christmas music when the handful of radio stations begin playing holiday music before Thanksgiving, but this year I started listening to a song here and there since the beginning of October. I tend to think quite a bit during this season and often when I think, I write. I suppose that implies there are a plethora of minutes when I am not thinking.

On the Saturday before Christmas, I had to scurry to the paper to meet a customer early on that morning. From then on, I stayed warm inside, listening to Christmas music the rest of the day, with the exception of a two-hour reprieve to listen to a basketball game about noon.

The music came from a semi-random presentation from Spotify. The playlist is semi-random because the AI inside Spotify knows the music I like and listen to. The first song that popped on was by Amy Grant. Her smooth voice encouraged me that this would be a “Christmas to Remember.” Amy’s Christmas music occupies a huge part of my playlist, so it was not unusual for an Amy Grant song to pop up. There are more changes this Christmas than there have been in many years, and a part of my personality does not like change. But even in the midst of change, the song reminded me that God continues to be at work and I need to pay attention to the things worth noticing and remembering.

A Stevie Wonder Song

The next song caught me by surprise. I listen to Stevie Wonder on occasion. I think his double album Songs in the Key of Life is a remarkable piece of work and it would occupy a spot on my Top Ten Favorite albums of all time. But I don’t purposely listen to his Christmas music very often. The song that played was actually written by Allen Story, Anna Gordy Gaye, and George Gordy.  “What Christmas Means to Me” has been covered by such accomplished artists as Wonder, En Vogue, Cher, Joss Stone, John Legend, and Pentatonix, as well as the unlikely crooners of Nick Lachey, Jessica Simpson, Karel King (no, not the famous one), and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

The words made me pause this year. The first verse begins by saying:

Candles burning low

Lots of mistletoe

Lots of ice and snow

Everywhere we go

Choirs singing carols

Right outside my door

All these things and more

That’s what Christmas means to me.

I guess Christmas means something different every year to every one. There have been years when we barely had enough money to buy presents for everyone. Still other years, we had been so blessed, it seemed we couldn’t stop buying gifts. Every year a part of Christmas etches its marks upon our hearts. And every year, it seems God wants to teach us important truths about His love and His grace.

What does Christmas mean to you? Have you ever paused to think about it? Has its meaning changed for you over the years?

So here is what it appears God is trying to teach me this year. It is certainly what Christmas has come to mean to me this particular season.

Christmas Means Courage

Most years, I am caught up in the merry and joyful parts of the season. I love the music, the bright lights, the sparkling atmosphere. But this year a more thoughtful thread inside me looked for something more attached than tinsel and garland. Then it struck me that throughout the passages of the Christmas story there is a theme of courage.

There are some interesting phrases in the Gospels that we often skim past. In Matthew’s version, we read

that Joseph did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately.

Joseph had a right to take Mary to court publicly. Things were not kept “hush hush” – Joseph could put on display Mary’s indiscretion. But Joseph did not want to disgrace Mary in that way. Joseph knew things were going to be tough for Mary as it was.

Women did not hold income-producing jobs in the first century. The chances of Mary ever marrying were slim. She would be branded with the stigma of unfaithfulness. No man would want to take her for a wife. She was going to raise a child on her own. We know nothing of Mary’s parents, but she journeyed to visit a cousin while she was pregnant. Perhaps Mary’s parents disowned her because of the disgrace of having a child before her marriage.

The journey Mary agreed to take required an incredible amount of personal courage. At every step, she would open herself to criticism and hardship. But Joseph also showed courage in the steps that he was about to take.

Two significant phrases in the conversation between Joseph and the angel swayed Joseph’s mind. First, the angel told Joseph to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife. Why would Joseph have been afraid? Perhaps it was because of the criticism and ridicule of the people. Maybe it was daunting to be the earthly father for the Messiah. Overcoming fears takes courage.

But did you notice that the angel also told Joseph to name the child “Jesus” because he would save his people from their sins. I think somewhere in this conversation, Joseph had a moment that changed his heart.

What do you think about when you are told that Jesus came to save you from your sins? Most of the time “sins” are abstract to us. We understand that we sin – but somehow my sins don’t seem as bad as those of some people. Jesus died for the hardened criminals of the world. My sins just got tacked on the coattails of someone else’s sins.

But there are times when we have that “moment.” For just an instance, we see the depth of our own sin. We realize the pain the sins have caused. We understand what we have lost because of the sin. We realize there is no earthly force that can remove the stain and stink of the sin. In that moment we come to grips with how bad our sin is and how we must depend on someone else to be saved from the consequence of our sin.

Maybe Joseph was thinking about what Mary would be accused of, even though she didn’t deserve it. Perhaps he came to grips with some of the wrongs that he had done. He realized he needed Mary’s child for salvation. It was up to him to stand beside Mary and give her assistance.

Looking at our sins face-to-face takes courage. Depending upon forgiveness from others is scary. Counting on God to remove something that we cannot get rid of and that others cannot ignore is frightening.

For us, it takes courage to recognize the grace that God is showing through the earthly birth of His Son. It takes even more courage to be that gracious to others.

Christmas Means Community

It is really difficult to celebrate Christmas alone. The image of gifts at Christmas emphasizes that point. Whether you are giving or receiving, more than one person must be involved. The gifts of the maji remind us of the importance of people. They set out traveling that they might give to the Messiah.

Think about the gift from God to people. The most well-known verse in the Bible affirms “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” The verse at once emphasizes the community experienced within the God-head bringing love to the world.

Community is everywhere on the eve of the first Christmas. A host of angels are rejoicing and praising God for His incredible actions. They announce the gift to shepherds who are compelled to be present with the family on the miraculous night. Wise men immediately are moved to travel to the site.

The angels announce the scope of this community. The Messiah is to bring great joy to all people. His name itself shouts community – Emmanuel, God with us!

Christmas Means Conceding

Finally, Christmas means a very deep theological concept that involves an exchange between man and God in Jesus. Let me try to explain.

CS Lewis explained that “God’s Son became a man so that men could become sons of God.” The substitution or exchange takes place on multiple levels throughout the Scripture.

Jesus exchanged the glory He enjoyed in heaven for one of the lowliest of births that mankind can know. The Spiritual being born again through a physical birth allows us – the Physical – to be born again into a Spiritual existence.

Jesus who knew no sin became sin on our behalf so that we who know sin as a close companion might no life with no sin.

The sinless Jesus who deserved the blessings of the Law took upon Himself the curse of breaking the Law so that we who break the Law regularly might enjoy the covenant and blessings the Law intended.

Paul explained it to the Romans like this: Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the world. Now everyone has sinned, and so everyone must die. ¹³ Sin was in the world before the Law came. But no record of sin was kept, because there was no Law. ¹⁴ Yet death still had power over all who lived from the time of Adam to the time of Moses. This happened, though not everyone disobeyed a direct command from God, as Adam did.

In some ways Adam is like Christ who came later. ¹⁵ But the gift of God’s undeserved grace was very different from Adam’s sin. That one sin brought death to many others. Yet in an even greater way, Jesus Christ alone brought God’s gift of undeserved grace to many people (Romans 5:12-15 CEV).

Indeed, to a world that was groaning under the weight and curse of sin, Jesus brought the world joy.