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Christmas = Christ Mass or Christ Festival (the Free Dictionary online)

Christmas for Christians, if one should give in to emotions, can actually be a fairly isolated place.   It’s like swimming against a strong current.  The easiest way would be to hop onto a raft and go with the flow of the world.  If you say something like… Christmas is about Jesus Christ…. you may meet with blank stares, anger or being accused of forcing your religion.  You also might come across those that will say an Amen! or Praise the Lord!  How wonderful it is when it happens!

What about it, folks? What is Christmas all about?

Okay, you might be thinking right now. Here we go again. Another yada yada lecture about Christmas. Pl…EASE! Turn of the record! It’s stuck and keeps repeating itself!

Well, yes. It does. The message is repeating because very few are getting it.

Winter holidays are fine – get together, have parties, give and get presents, laugh and have good cheer, decorated trees. But please, don’t call it Christmas.

Singing winter songs – Jingle Bells, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Sleigh Ride – Great! But please, don’t call it Christmas.

Santa Claus and telling him what you want, little elves making presents, flying through the sky… don’t call it Christmas, but we are getting closer to the truth.

The Santa Claus we know to day is based upon a real person by the name of Nicholas. He was a very devout and caring Christian man. He is known as having been a very caring man, and for that he was elected to be Bishop of Myra. Although very little is known about his daily life, there are many stories (legends) of his good deeds.

One of those stories is about three sisters who lived with their father, a poor man. Back then—the 4th Century, that is, when a lady married she was expected to bring a dowry that included many things, one of them being money. Because the father was poor there wasn’t a dowry for the sisters, not even one. Nicholas, hearing of their plight, was supposed to have secretly delivered three bags of coins to their home by throwing the bags through an open window.

Here is where the secret comes …. Do you see it?

Why did Nicholas do it this way? Because …. That is what the Bible says to do!

When then you give money to the poor, do not make a noise about it, as the false-hearted men do in the Synagogues and in the streets, so that they may have glory from men. Truly, I say to you, They have their reward. But when you give money, let not your left hand see what your right hand does: So that your giving may be in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will give you your reward.
Matthew 6:2-4 (Bible in Basic English)

Now, the idea of giving in secret is biblical, and in a way St. Nicholas/Santa Claus/St. Nick is too.  The manner in which Bishop Nicholas of Myra lived his life shows us not only an example of good living—we have an example of how Jesus Christ works through us and we see His glory. I venture to say with a fair amount of confidence that Nicholas didn’t want to be known for his good deeds, rather, he wanted others to given thanks to God for everything.

Let your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 CEV

Drawing closer to Christmas, let us reflect now upon who God gave us, a child who would be king. Not just any king though, this king would go on to give all of us the most wonderful present—that is, to be free of the burden of all that is sorry in this world—the sorry within ourselves, the sorry of mean and spiteful deeds, and the sorry of all injustice.  He gave and still gives us the opportunity to say that we are sorry once-and-for-all of our mistakes, our sins, and offers us a brand new life as a brand new person with a fresh start.   

The gift of Jesus … This is the greatest and bestest gift of all.

Giving from the heart with no expectation of return – how can we do that this Christmas? By doing the same. 

• Give to those who will not be able to return the gift, send a card to an elderly person or shut-in who can’t send one back.
• Be cheerful to the cashiers and store help and say a warm thank you even if they are crabby.
• Take a plate of cookies to a group home or office.
• Call up someone who is lonely and not really that much fun to talk to and be pleasant. Give a secret gift and never tell.
• There are more ideas, and you have them in your heart.
• Give a gift because it is needed, even if it means that you will be giving part of yourself.

This is Christ-like giving.
It’s not how much money or how elaborate, or what you receive in return.
This is Christmas giving with Christ right at the very front of the word.

When you say Merry Christmas, do it with a joyful heart. Say a prayer from your for the person. Send cards with a Christmas message. Promise yourself that everything done with the word Christmas attached will be Christ-like and have Christ in the middle.

There is a church that I worked for as a musician quite awhile ago. Behind the altar on the wall is a large brass cross, and surrounding the cross is a manger. The manger leads to the cross, and the empty cross began in the manger.  It’s a package deal, and you don’t have a Christmas holiday without the cross.  As Jesus said, we are to be His lights in this world—and most of us will never have to give our lives as proof of what we believe.  Be a light this Christmas.  Be the light with how you live your life.

May your light shine before others as Christ lights your soul.
May the joyful celebration of Jesus birth be in your heart now and always.

        …. babamarusia