Posted by Cathy Taggart Of course, for Christians, Christmas will always mean primarily the birth of Jesus. However, I think that we may still be suffering the effects of puritanism and similar movements of the last few centuries, and perhaps an important point is being missed. Surely, to celebrate such a significant and joyful event, we should feel free to “let our hair down”, and wholeheartedly enjoy all the feasting and merrymaking! As for presents, who cares what’s in those tantalising, brightly-wrapped parcels under the tree? I get as much of a thrill opening them as I did when I was five! This is one of the things I love about Christmas – those of us who are “kids at heart” can really come into our own! After all, according to John’s Gospel, Jesus’ first miracle was not doing something sensible and necessary, but consisted of changing water into wine at a wedding feast! Judging by the steward’s comment that this wine had been left ‘til last, the guests must have already been fairly “tanked up”, so it wasn’t even as if there had been a real shortage of the beverage. Of course, the wedding banquet is a common biblical image for the reign of God. The point I am making is that, for Christians, I think the significance of Christmas festivity is that it can give us a sense of the abundance and unbridled joy of God’s Kingdom, and it gives us a chance to experience this with the pure, open-hearted delight of a child – reflecting what Jesus said about children and the Kingdom. I wish you, Kevin, and all visitors to your web-site, a Christmas filled with the abundance, happiness and peace of God’s Kingdom, and a new year in which we all continue to work towards its coming.
on December 19, 2005, 2:46 pm
Well, here we are in the hectic last week before Christmas. Of course, many Christians express concern about the commercialization of Christmas, and about the danger that we'll get so caught up in all the hurly-burly that we'll forget the true meaning of this great feast. Some even suggest that, instead of spending money on buying our nearest and dearest trinkets that they probably don't need, we support one of those charitable schemes whereby we make a donation in some-one's name in lieu of giving them a present.
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