Christmas Joy!

25 Dec

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone. ~ Is 9:1

We call Jesus the Light of the World and for good reason.  Because of Jesus, the darkness of sin and death has been vanquished forever.  We no longer need to worry about being overwhelmed by the darkness of sin.

The choice is still ours, however, on whether or not we are going to accept the Light and allow it to lead us through our years here on earth.

When we were baptized, our godparents received a lit candle along with the admonition, “Receive the light of Christ.”  The celebrant then instructed the godparents to keep that light of faith stoked in the child being baptized so that the child would never be overwhelmed.

We live in an overwhelming world, that much is certain.  We live in a world where “dog eats dog”.  The rule of thumb is to do all that we can to get ahead and not to worry about the people we leave in our wake, no matter how wounded we may have made them.

That is not the message of Christmas, however.  The message of Christmas is that the Light of the World, the Prince of Peace, has been born and is giving us a new way to live.  We can choose to live according to the rules of the world or we can be set free from the rules of the world and embrace the law of Christ.  That law is both simple and complex:  love.

God loved us so much that He made us in His own image.  He promised to send His Son to deliver us from sin and death.  Today, we celebrate the fact that God delivered upon that promise.

However, today is not the end.  It is merely the beginning.  That Christ-Child would grow and give His life for us on the cross.  Three days later, He would rise from the dead, destroying death and restoring life.

Celebrate the promise today; but, look forward to the complete fulfillment of that promise at Easter.  Merry Christmas!

FAITH ACTION:  In all of your celebration today — and the next few days — remember to take time to pray and to thank God for the gift of His Son.