Author, Roger.
Published, December 24, 2008.

This week I was asked to give a little talk at church about “What Christmas means to me”.  Initially I was quite perplexed as to what I would say.  After all, a lot of what I see at Christmas time, a lot of what I experience is rather not like my perfect Christmas.  In many ways you might say that I have joined in the “Scrooge” rhetoric of our day.  Now don’t get me wrong, I may fail to understand the progression of the “Christmas Story” from a saviour born in a manger to Rudolph a mythical red-nosed reindeer, but underneath my rather cynical history is a great appreciation of Christmas.  I realise it actually means quite a lot to me, and I have come a long way in my thought and attitude towards Christmas in the last week.

If you have ever stayed up until quite late, you have probably experienced the feeling of tiredness that comes at four or five in the morning, and in particular a desire within for the next day to begin, a new day to begin.  I have experienced this, and I felt great joy and relief when I saw the first glimpse of light in the previously black sky.  This is Christmas to me.  Christmas is the dawn, it is when Christ decided to enter this world. As John expresses so clearly (The Gospel of John 1:9-13 [ESV]):

“The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.  He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

The first Christmas was the day that the promised Messiah Adonai, Christ the King, entered into our time domain to affect “peace, good will among men” (Luke 2:14 [ESV]).  It was at this first Christmas that Christ would begin his mission on earth, when he would begin his good work of the cross; this dawn of Christmas would lead to the glorious sunrise on Easter morning.  Now I really appreciate this image.  The dawn is something to be truly excited about; but the dawn is a bridge between the night and the day.  It exists to welcome, even proclaim, the new day.  This is elemental for me, and a huge part of Christmas. For most of us Christmas is a time of celebration, a holiday, a time to kick back and relax.  But for all of us, “Scrooges“, we need to appreciate the gravity of Christ’s decision to affect our situation.  To those of Jesus’ time willing to see the coming of the Messiah there was great joy, but also a sense of great relief (cf. Luke 2:29-32).  Christmas is as much about heralding the coming of Christ as it is about rejoicing in it.  Truth be told, the proclaimation of Christ is the one message left out of nearly all modern Christmas “traditions”.

Christmas is the dawn, not the day.  Christmas is a time for rejoicing, and a time for proclaimation; it is a time to enjoy and appreciate the full weight of Christ’s decision to enter our world, and to look forward to the gift Christ came to be for us.

(For the true “Christmas Story” please read in John 1:1-16, Luke 2:1-39, Matthew 1:18-2:23.)