The imagery connected with the celebration of Christmas is so vast and diverse that everyone is confused. We have the colors: red and green which first appear in the stores just before or after Thanksgiving; there’s the image of Santa and toys and Christmas trees; then there’s the shopping in over-crowded stores to find “just the right gift” for “just the right person”; and there is the weather – let it snow, let it snow, let it snow – I’m dreaming of a white Christmas – Chestnuts roasting………. And candy canes, and parades, and snowmen. And for those who are more “religious” there are Stars and Manger scenes (which some of us call “crèches”) and wise men (incorrectly, of course, because WE know they don’t come until the Epiphany). A child came home from school the other day proclaiming that Quanza celebration is “just like Christmas”. Looking for a greeting card is especially confusing, too. Hallmark and most others say things like: “May the spirit of the season bring you happiness”. Or: “Seasons Greetings”. Let’s get back to basics and remove all this stuff to second and third place and beyond. In first place, we must again declare the more appropriate greeting: “May the spirit of Christ bring you happiness”, or “I greet you in the Name of the Newborn King”.

C. S. Lewis talks about the real meaning of Christmas; a Christmas that isn’t confined to December, or snow, or Chestnuts or any of these other things. He writes:

“God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them. God is a “host” who deliberately creates His own parasites; causes us to be, that we may exploit and “take advantage of” Him. Herein is love. This is a diagram of Love Himself, the inventor of all loves.”

Now this is to say; God created everything that IS, except Himself. He always was. And, according to C. S. Lewis, God made us “parasites”…. And so we are………. A parasite holds on to something (or someone) in order to live; he “clings” to survive! WE were created to “cling” to God so as to have life. Until the Birth of Jesus / the Incarnation, the world didn’t understand this. Humankind just “didn’t get it”.

They thought they could do everything on their own…create their own universe…their own ethic…their own moral code. But then, God became man, in order to tell us that we don’t have to work at it so hard; that He WAS, and IS and always HAS been with us, ready to help us, ready and eager to be our Saviour!

The sad thing about all this, is that it wasn’t understood even when He showed Himself in the person of Jesus!….. And we humans still go around trying to control everything ourselves. The fact of the matter is that it simply won't work. We need to go to the source of things. This is the “reason for the season”. God has loved us into existence, so that we would be “parasites” (in the good sense); recognizing that to live is to live in Him, and especially as He revealed Himself in human ways – by the Incarnation.

Madeleine L’Engle wrote:

“When we take ourselves too seriously, as the chief or only object of God’s interest, then we fail to understand the magnitude of His love and concern for us. Artist and saint alike grope in awe to comprehend the incomprehensible disproportion of the glory of God and the humility of the Incarnation: the Master of the Universe, become of the earth, earthy, in order to be one with His creatures, so that we may be one with Him.”

So it doesn’t matter who was the emperor, or who was governor of Syria, or who was engaged to whom, or how many angels or sheep were around when it happened. 

What does matter is that it did happen – in the flesh. God loved us so much that He gave His only Son for us… born in our likeness but by a miraculous conception. And why not? For He was and is who He is; the King we were expecting… the One who turned the world around to discover the true meaning of love and relationship.

Come to His Altar at Christmas and take in the fragrance of Him who loves you. Then take with you the sweet taste of Salvation and restore Him to first place in your hearts and of your homes.

Merry Christmas!

+Daren K. Williams, Bishop Ordinary