Keeping the Spirit of Christmas

Merry Christmas! We will not hear it said or hear the Christmas carols playing after this week, as some radio stations have already switched back to the regularly schedule everyday music. The Christmas ornaments will be wrapped carefully and placed into the storage boxes. Decorations will be taken down off the house and the lawn. In other words we are approaching the last of Christmas for this year. Perhaps you have already done this at your house. Perhaps you have already put Christmas away. Perhaps you have placed the remaining Christmas cookies conspicuously on a plate, hoping someone will eat them. Perhaps you have made a list of what stores you need to go to, to return your Christmas presents for a better fitting sweater or maybe some toys have already been broken.

Surely Christmas will be at the end for this year by next weekend as we will go back to our old routines. Children go back to school, parents go back to work after their couple days off. And anytime that happens, you know the holiday is over. Life will return to normal as if nothing really happened. Christmas 2013, will be boxed up and put in storage for one more year.

In spite of the quick disappearance; in spite of the fact Christmas is an enormous amount of work, I am always glad to see Christmas come. Why? I am glad because people are often happier at this time of year. Many people come home for Christmas, family and friends often visit one another. We receive Christmas cards and letters and we get “caught up” on their lives and what has happened in the past year. I also like Christmas come because it is during this time of year that we see the human race more like God intended us to be. That is, at Christmas time, most of us are a little kinder to family, friends and even strangers. Most of us are a little more thoughtful, a little more generous, a little more considerate to others. The world is a happier place because most everyone is a bit kinder. That is the way that God intended us to be… peaceful. Not perfect, but peaceful. But at Christmas time, kindness rules us and we put ourselves aside, our hearts are open wide. That at Christmas time we are almost what God meant us to be.

But where does it go? Where does it always go? For some people, the spirit of Christmas peace, generosity is boxed and put into the attic or storage area for another year. The Spirit of Christmas peace and generosity is confined to one or the most twelve days a year, intended only for the season, just like Christmas cards and carols. Where did the shepherds of Bethlehem go after Christmas was over? The Bible says, “They returned to their fields, glorifying and praise God for all they had heard and seen.” Where did they return? To their simple everyday tasks of taking care of their sheep. They had been filled with the Spirit of Christ which could last all year. But meanwhile back at the ranch, there were sheep to be tended and pastures to be cultivated and fences to be mended and little lambs to be guarded and wool to be sheared. There was a lot of routine work to be done.

Life is like that for most of us. We return to our old steady routines, our appointed tasks. We too go back to our everyday living. Now, the Bible could have said, “they returned to their jobs.” But the Bible adds that “they returned to old routines glorifying and praising God.” What an attitude. What gratitude. But what does that mean for you and me as we return to the same old kitchen, school, office building, and problems that we all faced on December 24th? It means to return being more thankful to God for his goodness to us, for his generosity, for his gifts and grace to us. It is a feeling, a profound awareness in our hearts, that Jesus Christ was a pure gift to us, and Christ is full of grace and peace. It is to be aware that the great Christmas message that God is with us in our ordinary tasks, jobs of our daily lives. Yes, God is found in the ordinary jobs of life. Where did the shepherds go? Back to their ordinary tasks… praising and glorifying God. Where did Jesus go after Christmas day? Into your heart, your life and mine. His Spirit of God’s grace and peace are now in you, as you return to your fields, glorifying and praising God. Where did Christmas go? Too often, Christmas goes into storage for one more year, boxed up and put away for another twelve months. Where will Christmas go this year for you? He has come to live in your heart and mine. Christmas has ended but the melody lingers in our hearts.