Finding the Christ in our World's Holiday Season

It seemed a tad too early one dark evening this week when we turned toward our street and were greeted by homes and trees and front lawns decked out with coloured lights, snowmen and reindeer already. But yes, Advent—the time to prepare for the birth of the Christ child at Christmas—is upon us. Are you busy preparing the way?

There are many ways our world chooses to prepare and proclaim Jesus’ birth: lights, snowmen and reindeer among them. Like tangled strands of tinsel the sacred and the secular are uniquely interwoven in this season. Maybe that is the way our lives should be: sacred and secular aspects and activities tied together in an inseparable blend. That wouldn’t be so bad, especially if we recognized that there are indeed holy moments sprinkled through all of our waking and sleeping hours each day.

This Advent season, when you see the beauty of the coloured lights, think about the celebration they proclaim: the birth of the “Light of the world”. Look at those pines and the firs and the spruce! Despite all the efforts of those who would have us live a sterile, politically correct, faithless holiday, those trees continue to direct the gaze of our eyes and hearts heavenward, toward God. And maybe those grand inflatable snowmen can remind us all of God’s awesome creativity in nature, and the simple joys a snowfall can bring to children and families when that snow is rolled into balls, stacked one upon another, and adorned with a carrot, buttons, twigs, and an old hat. The reindeer and Santas, perched on rooftops and tied to chimneys, can remind us of the generous spirit of giving that Jesus taught and that we encounter daily in our experience of God-with-us. Many of the world’s secular signs of the season do have sacred roots, and with an imaginative heart and mind we can find the holy this Christmas, right there holding our world with all it political correctness together around its holiday trees.

This Advent – Christmas season, and all through the year—look and see…God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God! May you encounter all God’s intended blessings in the joyful days ahead.

In God’s love,
m&m