I did something this holiday season I haven’t done. I was ready to set out Christmas decorations the day after Halloween. My wife couldn’t believe it. I’m usually reluctant to put them up because it means the yearly trek into the attic to bring everything down. Not this year. I was so motivated that I did a deep clean on the house, preparing for the trees and lights and everything bright, followed by an unusual eagerness to make my way to the rafters.
What changes this year? Why so intent to start Christmas, by all cultural standards, too soon? The answer is simple: 2020. This 2020 year has been difficult for us all, on every level of life. A pandemic. A presidential election. Protest and Riots. Jobs. Death. The list is long.
I thought I wanted Christmas sooner to bring this year to an end. Unfortunately, I’m not sure 2021 will be much better. The more I searched for the reason, the more I realized that I wanted to get to that time of the year when people have what we call the “Christmas spirit.”
Recently, I came across essays written by 7th graders on what they thought was the “Christmas spirit.” Here are some thoughts expressed: “Christmas spirit is how someone acts who loves Christmas and shows it by being kind to others… I think Christmas spirit is when someone is very joyful around Christmas time… The Christmas Spirit is the feeling somebody can get during the time of Christmas. It is a very nice feeling spirit to have. It feels like just wanting to be a nice human… Someone who has Christmas spirit is someone who believes in Christ and celebrates his birth.”
Our nation has been in conflict this year. People are no longer treating people with respect. Everybody is walking around angry about something. I realized that I had become weary of the division and was ready for a season of peace and goodwill. I was ready for people to catch the “Christmas spirit” and start treating each other with decency and respect. You know, love your neighbor, golden rule kind of stuff.
The Christ of Christmas embodied the Christmas spirit. The apostle Paul appealed to this spirit when he commanded the Philippian believers to “have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5). What mind is Paul referring to? In the previous verses he says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4) That’s the Christmas spirit!
We need to get back to a place in our families, communities, and nation where we are not being selfish, but are looking out for others. You know, loving your neighbor and treating people like you want them to treat you.
Christ shows this attitude with his life. Paul describes not only the Christmas story, but the Easter story as the source and standard for the Christmas spirit: “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2:6-11)
I so want to see the way we treat each other change. I pray this Christmas season will be a time to reflect on how we treat others and strive to be the best humans we can be. Of course, lasting change can only come when each person recognizes the need to bow a knee to Jesus, and confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
