Whatever your posture toward Christmas—whether you’re a Scrooge or a Cratchet—Christmas poses a profound challenge to the modern person. Traditional religion is often pushed aside in western society. When it’s allowed to be seen in public around the holiday season, it’s only used for sentimental purposes. However, the message of Christmas still stands out amidst the trimmings and trappings of the holiday. For even when Christmas is used superficially, we’re still confronted with the strange and wonderful concept of Immanuel: God with us. In Christmas we see that God is not an indifferent spiritual being who lets humans go about their lives unbothered. Rather, in Christmas, God has come as a man, to save man. This isn’t a fairytale; it’s “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10).
Christmas is the confession that God really did come into human history; to save man from the darkness of the world and the coldness of our hearts. And this confession, even in the bleakest, or overly commercialized seasons, is our hope and stay.
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!
