Keeping Christmas

It's all over. The children are basking, under the warm glow of the Christmas tree, in the glory of their gifts and toys. The belly is still full from the ham and turkey and stuffing and a wondrous variety of pies and desserts. The wrapping paper is in the recycling bin or, for the more meticulous among us, folded and ready for use next year. And everywhere there is a sort of satisfied happiness.

But what about Christmas? Is it, too, being placed back in a bin, with the artificial tree and ornaments and seasonal decorations? Are Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus, and that whole manger crew being buried once more beneath mountains of packing peanuts, like the figurines that represent them?

We have spent the weeks coming up to this point in remembrance, not only of a small child born in a stable 2000 years and thousands of miles away, but of who that Child really was, and what He did? Can the enormity of God stepping from the Heavens to walk and die as a man, to suffer for our sins and bridge a gap that separated man from Himself for hundreds of generations, really be packed away, tucked into a box until the end of next year?

Or is this message -- that God Himself came to us, born to a woman in a lowly stable, that He walked the earth as a prophet despised by His own people, that He was brutalized and murdered, that He rose again to conquer once and for all the death we brought on our own heads -- perhaps worth remembering all year long? Is it worth taking these touchy-feely "holiday" sentiments like generosity and peace and grace, and spreading them throughout the year?

Or do we really believe as we occasionally act: that God sent His Son so we could have a nice holiday once a year?

Remember Christmas this year. Remember it in your actions toward your fellow man. Remember it in your own generosity of finances and spirit toward others. Remember it in the grocery line, when everybody around you is grumbling about the wait, and snarling at the cashier. Remember who you are, and whose you are. Remember that, because Christ came down as a tiny baby, and because He lived and died and rose again, you are the child of a loving King, and His representative to everyone else who, like you, needs a little grace.