“Merry Christmas!”

It is that time of year. When the scents of pine, holly, and eggnog fill the air. People rushing to get presents from departments stores or e-shopping on Amazon. Yes Christmastime has always been that most wonderful time of year when we all become full of cheer and enjoy the decorations, food, and lights. Indeed, Christmas is a festival of lights, with colored, white, blinking mini lights giving off a riot of color, or those old school C9 lights with the orange, red, green, blue, yellow and white bulbs. I think about how Christmas really is a festival of light and how our Lord Jesus was at the Festival of Lights himself, “It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, The Festival of Lights, the Festival of Dedication. He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” (John 10:22-30). 

The Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah was also called the Festival of Lights, and it commemorated a miracle during the Maccabean wars (period before Jesus’ Birth) that the temple lamp-stand (menorah) was running out of oil and there was no oil to be had, but miraculously the lamp continued to burn for nine days until more oil was delivered.  It is amazing that at this festival of lights that the Light of the World (John 8:12) reveals himself to be God (John 10:30) and assures us Christians we cannot be caste out (John 10:28). 

Now we have a new festival of lights where we celebrate the Light of Mankind, Jesus Christ. We call this festival, Christmas. I love this time of year, when houses are lit with colored filled lights, snowflakes, red ornament balls and the like. The colors, Lights, signs and sounds of the holiday help loft our spirits in this wintry season. When anything seems possible, and we all delight in the gift giving and getting. The rest of the year has its charms, but Christmas carries a presence of Christ that is unique; it reminds us to hope, dream, and enjoy life again, even when tines are hard. Faith, Family, and Festivities overcome our fears, feelings of forlorn, and fiscal problems. For twenty five days or more we become like those children we once were, bright eyed, merry, and filled with anticipation, something Christ commends, “He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-4). And that os exactly what we so at Christmas, we all become whimsical and filled with wonder over tree lights and the things to come; banished from us is that cynicism that often pervades over the rest of the year, and in its place a child, fitting since we are celebrating Christ coming as a child. Amen.