A Holy Christmas
Embrace Jesus and Savor a Sacred Christmas
My first time as Jesus’s disciple made all the difference
Along with scores of fellow worshippers at the Christmas Eve service in our church in California, I sang hymns to Jesus’s birth amid the radiant candlelight.
Solid and harmonious, my voice rang out with new resonance and reverence — this was the first year I embraced Jesus as my Savior and King. I was 33.
His Presence warmed me and lifted my spirit, and He was as real and alive as my wife singing beside me and our young daughter bobbing with joy next to us.
♫…Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King.” (1) ♪
How, I wondered, had I missed worshipping Jesus for more than 30 years at the few Christmas services I’d attended reluctantly. And how had I come to genuinely sing this holy hymn with aroused energy and overwhelming gratitude (full of meaning like never before) for the first time in my life?
Of course, I knew the answer was simple — as a “son of earth” two months earlier, I had opened my heart wide to Jesus as Savior during a crisis of despair and welcomed his gift of “second birth” for me.
♫ Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace, hail the Sun of righteousness;
Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings
Mild he lays His glory by, born that man no more may die. (2)
Yes! Righteousness. Light. Life. Healing. Glory.
Now, as a believer with eternal life — no longer fearing death — I belonged among the host of Christians who followed Jesus as citizens of heaven and children of God.
Exhilarated, I was thrilled to hear the Good News for all the earth’s people with awakened ears, including myself as a new member of God’s family.
With each hymn, my feelings of rapture felt progressively more intense and genuine. Bliss coursed through me while the choir sang:
♪ Born Thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King,
Born in us to reign forever, now Thy gracious kingdom bring. (3)
A Sudden Memory
For a moment, I recalled how different the early years of my childhood were. As a toddler and kid in school, every Christmas season was jammed with jolly music, special toys, lots of candy, delicious meals, festive greeting cards, and good cheer among family, friends, and neighbors.
But no focus on Jesus.
Like many children, I delighted in writing letters to Santa at his North Pole toy shop, placing ornaments on the Christmas tree, and hanging my stocking on the fireplace mantel.
♬ Up on the housetop reindeer pause, out jumps good old Santa Claus… (4)
Hearing cheery songs like that on Christmas Eve, I would toss and turn in bed, struggling to fall asleep due to pangs of anticipation pestering my sleep because Santa’s arrival could be any minute, announced by reindeers’ hooves on the roof and his coming down the chimney to deliver brightly-wrapped gifts — and to munch on Mom’s sugar cookies.
But during that night at church, worshipping by candlelight, my voice rang out with joyous, intimate awareness and true ecstasy for the divine gift of Christmas:
♪ Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing, Come adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King! (5)
The combined attributes of Jesus — child, King, deliverer, reconciler, Son of God — and the bounty of eternal benefits to me and millions more — set free, born in us, reconciled, comforted, joyful, saved from sin — nurtured my soul and lifted my spirit right through the roof and straight to the Father’s heart.
For the blink of a moment, my memory glimpsed my schoolboy’s gleeful enjoyment of the traditions and tunes of celebrating Christmas-without-Jesus:
♪ ‘Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?’ (6)
….Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way …. (7)
….Down thru the chimney with lots of toys…. ♬ (8)
The contrast between the different purposes of the music — the heavenly proclamations and the jolly jingles — signaled the wide gap between the two worldviews, sacred and cultural.
Here and now, let me admit the latter style is fun and frolicky, with messages in the lyrics and bouncy chords that entertain and amuse. These tunes have a definite place in the Christmas celebrations of Americans. They add mirth and merriment.
However, they reflect almost none of the significant spiritual meaning of the holiday (“holy-day” = original definition). They have their place, especially for children. From my reborn perspective as a follower of Christ, though, so much was missing!
Have you experienced the same disparity?
Perhaps you grew up in a less devout family that did not worship or go to church, did not own or open the Bible, did not pray grace before meals, or pray for any reason.
Your parents and relatives may have been part of the crowd of folks who observed the “this-world customs” of Christmas. They put their energies into gift-shopping, decorating the tree, playing holiday music, serving festive meals, and opening presents on Christmas morning.
Like me, as the years passed, you sensed something was absent and felt a similar void, a vague “what’s missing?” and “Is that all there is?” Meanwhile, the swirl of activities around you carried the day and distracted from the hollow feelings.
Don’t skimp on embracing Jesus this year — Spread the Joy!
And now, as you worship Christ the Child/King/Savior/Redeemer, do so with humble gusto. Serve one and all with a willing heart — your parents and spouse, children and neighbors, co-workers, and immigrants or refugees. Reach out to folks of other races and volunteer to help the “least of these” (Matthew 25: 40, 45).
Every time you hear ♫ “Glory to the newborn King!” release your emotions to spiral upward and even soar because the Living Christ lives within you and gives you eternal life, hope, joy, mercy, and forgiveness.
Yes, two millennia later, the same Jesus that Mary’s arms cradled will revive your heart and animate every cell of your being — just as I experienced that first holy Christmas Eve singing with reborn reverence in the candlelight. Rejoice that:
Jesus Christ is the gift to mankind —
the one true Christmas gift of all gifts —
from God our Creator for everyone.
Have a Holy Christmas!
And a Merry Christmas!
___________________________
References:
1. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
2. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
3. Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus
4. Up on the Housetop
5. Angels We Have Heard on High
6. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
7. Jungle Bells
8. Up on the Housetop
