4. Could it be that we can learn the best way to keep Christ in Christmas by the way that God sent His message?
Not as a petition to sign. Not as a Christmas poster. But as a living, breathing human being who would walk among us, love us, heal us, befriend us. It was this Christ in Christmas who said:
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ ” Matthew 25:35-40
Could it be, dear friends, that THIS is the true meaning of Christmas? That it’s being Christ in Christmas?
Not a campaign for secular society to celebrate the way we would but instead to love people to a Savior who calls us to feed, clothe, befriend, and welcome people who do not know how to keep Christ in Christmas?
There are so many places that I look this time of year that I see the true and living Christ in Christmas–and it’s not in greetings on posters, banners, or decorations. It’s in people who are the hands and feet of Christ.
Christ is in places like this Christmas giveaway at a church in Colorado Springs. Hundreds of families received gifts.
Christ is in places like Willow Creek Church who has given a gift to every inmate in the state of Illinois.
Christ is in places like Greater St. Paul Missionary Baptist institutional Church in Lakeland, Florida, where women have made 125 blankets for people who are homeless or hospitalized.
Could it be that keeping Christ in Christmas is more than a message at this time of year?
At the risk of offending, I’d like to close with these sentiments from Scrooge’s monologue:
Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life! I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
As we keep Christ in us–Christ in Christians–the light of the world will shine brightly at Christmas and all year long.
