TIS THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!

What would you say if you had to explain Christmas to someone who knew nothing about our culture? You might begin with the birth of our Savior and shepherds in the fields by night.  You would then probably try to explain our traditions of gift giving, the Christmas tree and Santa Claus.  But to really explain Christmas you would also have to try to answer the question that seems more pressing every year: how do these connect to the frenzied commercialism of the weeks that lead up to Christmas?

What does all the retailing and wrapping paper have to do with the Love of Christ and Peace on Earth? There is no glossing over the problem — not to a puzzled stranger and not to ourselves.  Do all those presents really catch the feeling we were looking for, did they say what we hoped to say.

A  stranger might well wonder, “Don’t you always hope for Peace on Earth? Does good will really have a season?  And if you genuinely love one another, truly hold one another in your hearts,  wouldn’t simply saying it be far better than any other gift that you could give?”

These questions point to something most of us already know, that for all the push and pull of the Christmas rush, for all the sputtering of the commercial volcano that erupts at the end of every year, this is truly a holiday of modest spirit, a day of humble aspirations. What it is that we want is to love and know we are loved in return.

Wishing you the greatest gift of Love this Christmas Season...

1 Corinthians 13:  
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love