Once again we enter the season of Advent. Another season of shopping and Christmas festivities. However this year we will be facing an Advent season like no other. COVID has changed everything, even Christmas. Many people will avoid traveling, so family gatherings may not happen this year. Many will avoid the malls, so shopping will be done almost entirely online this year. Most offices are closed, so there will be no office parties. Many businesses are closed, so there may not be Christmas bonuses this year. No pictures of children on Santa’s lap. Schools are shut down, so there will be no Christmas programs, and classrooms will not have Christmas parties. This will be a Christmas like no
other.
Yet it is still Christmas. The birth of our Savior has not changed. God still came to us in the manger in Bethlehem. Christ is still the Messiah, and He still forgives sins for those who truly repent and commit their lives to Him. This is why we have joy and hope, even in the midst of COVID, because all those activities mentioned above are events, but they are not Christmas. Our world changes, and our situations change. Christmas never changes.
A good reminder of this is shown in the movie Joyeux Noel. Based on actual events this movie dramatizes Christmas, 1914, and an unofficial truce between warring factions during WWI. If they could celebrate Christmas under the worst conditions, we can celebrate Christmas this Advent season. (I highly recommend this movie!)
The musical group Kutless has a Christmas album that I really like. The album has a song called This is Christmas. It is a beautiful song that brings the question “What is Christmas” to the forefront. This is a question we all should be asking
this particular Advent season. We may not participate in many of the traditional Christmas activities that we love and enjoy, but that does not mean we cannot celebrate the birth of our Savior. Take a moment to consider these lyrics:
Do you find it hard to sleep tonight
Resting by the Christmas lights?
Could there be something you forgot?
Beyond the bows, and mistletoes
The tree with presents wrapped below
There’s more to this than you had ever thought?
Have we lost the reason that we celebrate each year?
[Chorus:]
What is Christmas?
If there never was a Savior wrapped in a manger
What is Christmas without Christ?
Remember how the story goes
God’s gift was wrapped in swaddling clothes
Beneath the star, one great and holy night
The shepherds heard the angels sing
The wise men brought an offering
Peace on Earth began in Bethlehem
Have we lost the reason that we celebrate each year?
[Chorus:]
What is Christmas?
If there never was a Savior wrapped in a manger
What is Christmas?
If the angels never sang ‘Glory to the new born king?’
What is Christmas without Christ?
There’d be no
Glo-oo-oo-oo-ria In excelsis deo
Glo-oo-oo-oo-ria In excelsis deo
This is Christmas
It’s all about the Savior wrapped in a manger
This is Christmas
Because of Jesus Christ
Have a blessed Christmas – even this year!
Your Servant in Christ,
mike