Christmas is More Than a Day

Christmas is More Than a Day

By John W. Vander Velden

 

Each approach Christmas in their own way.  Our memories are among the many things that shape how we view Christmas.  Happy and sad times seem to come to the forefront this time of the year.  We tie events to the unavoidable date and doing so place December 25^th in unrealistic sunshine or bury it beneath dark ominous skies.

But Christmas is more than a day…present…future…or past. 

I had the wonderful good fortune to know Richard.  He was more than my pastor, he became a dear friend.  Richard hammered that Christmas was more than a day.  Beginning on December 25^th, Christmas was twelve days.  You heard the song.  But it meant more to Richard than drummers drumming, and all the symbolism that song contains.  The incredible events that sparked Christmas cannot be confined to twenty-four hours.  Celebrating God’s gift, Jesus Christ’s birth, is a big deal, but that event seems to lie buried beneath a pile of all the things we are told the season means.

But Christmas is more than a day…more than gifts…more than food…more than football…it is just plain more!!!

Some might overlook that Christmas is a Christian holiday.  As Christians we are pleased to share it.  But we cannot share what we do not possess.  We need to grab hold of Christmas…to feel it in our hands…to roll it over and look more closely…to understand what Christmas is.  How can we minimize that God so loved the world…us…that he sent Jesus to go through all the things you and I must face, to be born in the humblest surroundings.  Christmas…God poured His love into the world.  Shouldn’t that change us?  Shouldn’t we stand breathless at the thought…of God, Master of the Universe, reaching down to touch us?

But Christmas is more than a day…more than 12 days…more than a month…it is forever!!!

December 25^th is arbitrary, for the number on the calendar is irrelevant, no one knows precisely the day of Jesus’s birth.  But the world changed that day.  No, it is not perfect, but in a world filled with imperfect people, without Christ, it would be far less perfect.  For in the darkness there came a light…Christ!  There is plenty of darkness, sometimes we feel surrounded, but darkness cannot make the light less light, but even the smallest of candles makes the darkness less dark.

But Christmas is more than a day…it is a state of mind…

How can we, that believe, not be changed?  How can those that know the story not allow it to shape their lives?  Too easy we just move on, Christmas is in December and next month…well, it’s next month.  If December 25^th is the day between the 24^th and the 26^th, then no matter how special those twenty-four hours might be, our mind quickly moves to more common thoughts.  Any effect Christmas has on us will diminish…until next year.  You’ve heard, “people are nicer around Christmas…”  Why?  What about the season fuels compassion, caring, understanding, patience?  Can’t we carry a bit of those qualities every day?  Imagine the world where every day was Christmas.  A place where people care about not just friends and family…but “others”, those on the fringe, those hurting, those hungry, those lost, those lonely, those we walk passed on the sidewalks.  Christmas…Christ…expects us to care…to really care. 

Because Christmas is more than a day…it is about love…about the ultimate love God gives you…about the love we can share…today, tomorrow, and every day. 

For Christmas is more than a day…

(603 Words)                       12-24-2015