CHRISTMAS: CELEBRATING AND EMBRACING

Christmas: a time for celebrating and a time for embracing.  Christmas is a celebration of our spirituality: our awe and wonder at God born as a baby!   Christmas celebrates our amazement that the Being who made us, our Creator, came as a fully human being to be with us, to communicate with us, to show us how to live life in all its fullness. This is the amazing good news of Christmas.

How do we know that the baby is God? Consider the miracle of His virgin conception, His authority over sickness and death, His teaching, His authority over nature and evil spirits, His death and resurrection. Jesus’ claims about His divinity were either those of a mad man, a bad man or a divine man who was both fully human – and God with us. Logically, He can never be considered just a “good man”.

Christmas is a celebration of life in its fullness:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, friendship, forgiveness, generosity, achievements, and more!

Christmas is a time for embracing these celebrations and embracing one another.  Christmas is a time for embracing healing; the healing of relationships and seeking forgiveness.

Christmas is a time to include those who are lonely; to include those who have suffered the loss of loved ones or the loss of employment; to include those who are struggling. Christmas is a time to care.  If we think about the street in which we live, who are the people who will not have somebody to eat their Christmas pudding with this year?  Who won’t even have a Christmas pudding?  For those of us who are celebrating, let’s invite them over to share.

Let’s celebrate the birth of Jesus and embrace one another, especially those who are struggling.

Celebrate Christmas! Embrace one another! 

See Christmas Conversation: 1 We are valued  and  2 The Just Judge Making Peace  and  3 Christmas Thoughts for Tasmania.