Christmas Means

Christmas Means Christ with us. All year we seek to model our Messiah to the world, but at Christmas there is a charity on our hearts that beams bright like the star on Christmas Night. During this season we saints feel the call of our Savior to love a little stronger, hope a little longer, and extend the Joy of the Lord to the down caste. There are so many people we come in contact with, many who we don’t even utter a word to, people who are hurting and yearning for a drop of compassion and an ounce of kindness. Just to acknowledge someone and greet them with a smile can be enough to spread some holiday cheer in their life. 

All around us are lonely people, even the ones who bellow laughs and crack jokes. Inside many ache, and as we pass them by, might we remember they are made in the image of the Most High? (Genesis 1:26-27). Or perhaps angels in disguise?, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2). All around us are people who need some cheer, whose bottles are filled with tears (Psalms 57:8). Let us make this holiday season a means and reason to extend kindness to strangers and people in our midst. All it could take is s compliment, an acknowledgment, or kind gesture. 

Let us spread some Christmas cheer. To love our neighbor and enemy alike. Many a Scrooge has a past full of ghosts and shadow that shaped them. Extend mercy to those who may be breaking inside and need a kind voice to calm their fears. We can be like Christ towards others, welcoming publicans and tax collectors to our tables. Why don’t we take a page  from the Good Samaritan who helped a stranger, “Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.[a] “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii,[b] gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25-37, NRSV). Let us not become indifferent like the priest and Levite, stepping around the needy. No instead let us show people what Christmas is truly about, charitas, charity, love in action! Amen.