Perspective: How to Truly Keep Christ in Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Wayside!

How to Truly Keep Christ in Christmas

Scripture:

I was hungry and you gave Me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed Me. I was naked and you gave Me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of Me. I was in prison and you visited Me.

I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you have done it for Me.

Matthew 25:35-36,40 (CEB)

You are the body of Christ and parts of each other.

1 Corinthians 12:27 (CEB)

Where are you Christmas?
Why can't I find you?
Why have you gone away?
Where is the laughter
You used to bring me?
Why can't I hear music play?

From "Where Are You Christmas?" by Faith Hill

Christmas means many things to many people. For many, it means celebrating the birth of their Savior in a manger under very adverse circumstances. For many, it means sitting down at the dinner table to share a feast with their loved ones. For many, it means gathering around the Christmas tree to give and to receive gifts. For many, it means decorating the house, setting up nativity scenes, and hanging up stockings. For many, particularly children, it means writing letters to Santa. For many, it means crowded malls and traffic jams. For many, it means that their radio stations of choice will play nothing but Christmas music for nearly six weeks.

In the last few years, Christmas has become a time of "righteous" anger for a lot of Christians. Many are outraged that people who work at retailers and restaurants are ceasing to say "Merry Christmas!" and are instead offering a more generic "Happy Holidays!" Many are angered by the fact that some people choose to write the holiday "Xmas."¹ In both ways, they feel as though Christ, whom they consider to be "the Reason for the Season," is being left out of Christmas.

Though I am a Christian, I do not think it is a big deal if someone wishes me "Happy Holidays" or if someone gives me an "Xmas" card. What bothers me more is the fact that so many professing Christians are getting so wrapped up in arguments over such matters. I feel that by focusing on such things at Christmas, we miss out on something a lot more important. I believe that there is much more to "keeping Christ in Christmas" than simply making sure that the word Christ is somewhere in everyone's greetings.

Christmas is first and foremost a celebration of the Incarnation, the belief that nearly two thousand years ago, the Son of God left the glory of Heaven behind to take on frail human flesh and bone here on Earth. In Jesus Christ, God reached out to a fallen humanity right where it was. Christ lived, died, and was resurrected so that we might be reconciled to God and to each other.

I believe that experiencing the Incarnate Christ here and now is infinitely more important than what anyone chooses to call Christmas. I believe that one of the best ways to experience the Incarnate Christ at Christmas or at any time of the year is through acts of kindness and love.

Jesus, in one of His last teachings before He was crucified, said that, when He returns, He will say to the kind and the loving, "I was hungry and you gave Me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed Me. I was naked and you gave Me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of Me. I was in prison and you visited Me." When they wonder when they ever did those things for Christ, He will say, "I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you have done it for Me."²

Jesus is saying that, whenever we do something to help someone in need, we are essentially doing it for Him. Mother Teresa devoted her life to serving the poor, the sick, and the dying in Calcutta, India. In an interview with Time, she said, "The dying, the crippled, the mentally ill, the unwanted, the unloved - they are Jesus in disguise."³

St. Paul, in his first letter to the Christians in Corinth, said that the Church is the Body of Christ and that each follower of Jesus Christ is an individual part of the Body.⁴ This means that collectively, the followers of Christ are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work of Christ here on earth. Each of us has been called by Christ to carry on the ministry He began so long ago.

Though Christ physically ascended to Heaven nearly two thousand years ago, the teachings of Christ and the teachings of Paul remind us that the Incarnate Christ is still among us in the people all around us. Someone who does an act of kindness for another person experiences the Incarnate Christ in that person, as Christ said that whatever someone does for "the least of these" is done for Him. A recipient of an act of kindness experiences the Incarnate Christ because the person who does the act of kindness is acting as the hands and feet of Christ.

If you truly want to keep Christ in Christmas, don't argue with people about how they choose to greet each other this season or about how they choose to write Christmas. Instead, remember the teachings of Christ and seek to embody them in your own life. Take your place in the Body of Christ, and do your part to carry on Christ's ministry. This Christmas I challenge you to reach out and show the Incarnate Christ to somebody who needs to see Him, and I also challenge you to see the Incarnate Christ in that very same person.


Notes:
1 - The letter X is similar in form to the Greek letter chi. Chi is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ. It has been used as a symbol for Christ for centuries.
2 - Matthew 25:31-46
3 - Edward Desmond. "Interview with Mother Teresa: A Pencil In the Hand Of God." Time, December 4, 1989.
4 - 1 Corinthians 12:12-31


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