"Merry Christmas"

It seems to me that we sometimes mindlessly repeat a thing out of habit until it completely loses its real meaning. I think of two young lovers, so enamored of the feelings they have for each other that they repeat "I love you," at every opportunity. Eventually the words can become a substitute for real, loving choices in their lives that might nurture a growing, deepening love, into which they could continue to grow for as long as they live. Long ago I was partner to a marriage such as this; eventually even I came to realize that the words weren't true anymore, so I stopped saying them. How blessed I am to have those days behind me, to have rediscovered the choices and actions that engender the lasting love in which my wife and I share.

I think that "Merry Christmas" has become that kind of phrase for some of us, even among those who insist on this greeting rather than a more "neutral" alternative because they insist on naming what they're really trying to celebrate. This Advent season, I've been blessed with consistent daily reflection on what Christmas really means. As a result, I find that I don't fully agree with Linus, who after quoting St. Luke's account, concludes, "And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

You see, I think Linus is only partly right. For recalling the historical, humble birth of Jesus two millennia ago, accompanied by the proclamations of angels and the worship of shepherds and Magi, is not so beneficial to us if this Savior's love does not transform our lives. Just as the love to which I once paid lip service became a shallow substitute for the real love my wife and I have since found together, so the commercial, traditional, and even religious and humanitarian trappings of Christmas can become superficial substitutes for truly celebrating Christ.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying we shouldn't give gifts, attend parties, trim the tree, attend church services, feed and shelter the hungry and homeless, or give to those less fortunate. Each of these, in context, can be a valid and worthwhile thing. But where is our focus amid all the resulting hubbub?

The belief that Son of God came to dwell among us 2000 years ago, to deliver all who would wish it into the Father's love for all eternity, does not bear its fullest effect in our life until we allow Him to bear us into that love, to fill us with His Spirit, to dwell in us as surely as he ever dwelt among us. It is He alone, alive in me, that does any good thing that springs from my life.

Lest you fear these ramblings may be a haughty put-down of the way you observe this season, may these final words persuade you otherwise. For even if these various outward observances form the only meaning of Christmas we may have ever known, still we should embrace them. For just as the empty words I spoke to my now-beloved spouse ultimately became filled beyond my imagining, so Christ will fill us as we respond to His presence in the ways in which we are able. We should observe this holy season as well as we know how.

The most blessed and merry Christmas to whomever enters here!