A Happy Christmas?

Christmas is such a wonderful time of year! The presents, lights, parties, plenty of food and some great television. It’s a lovely time for families, catching up and enjoying time with those you love. It’s a romantic time of year, especially if it snows, with carols and church bells chiming. Perhaps it’s your chance to go to midnight mass?

Then before you know it, January’s arrived and you’re back at work. You tell your friends what a great break you had, but that’s not exactly how you remember it. Certainly you had a great Christmas Eve, the celebrations were in full swing. On Christmas morning the kids were up at six with their presents, full of excitement, but by 7am it was all just debris on the floor. The rest of the day went a bit too slowly with food and drink, pestering from the kids, silence or bickering from the in-laws, the television just on and on. In between you have those uncomfortable silences broken with polite but trivial conversation. The next few days are the same, different faces but same experience.

To be honest I’m glad to be back at work and no one else is any different, despite the pretence. The whole event is fairly over rated, so yes of course I had a happy Christmas!

But Christmas isn’t about parties or time at home falling out with the family. Christmas celebrates the earthly phase of a plan which climaxed 30 years later with a man’s death on a cross. An innocent man, hated so much by those He loved they killed Him. But this death was not simply a historic event without significance today. His life was sacrificed that you and I might live. His resurrection from the dead proved His power to save others. This man was Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

It’s His birth we celebrate at Christmas but this is a small part of the story. To hang angels on the tree and sing carols but to ignore the rest of His life really misses the point. But then, perhaps that’s the idea. It’s easy to enjoy the fun of Christmas but how do you like being told that you are wicked and will be judged? If you and I had been good there would have been no Christmas, Jesus would have had no need to become a man and die. He died in our place, punished for our sin so that we could be accepted by God. “But I’m good", you shout, "I’m OK, He will accept me for who I am! My own goodness will be enough to get me into heaven.” Please don’t deceive yourself anymore. Test yourself this Christmas and see how ‘good’ you really are. Will you squabble with your friends or family? Will you have too much food or drink because you just couldn’t resist? Will your thoughts always be ‘good’ at the Christmas party? Will you feel emptiness at the routine of Midnight Mass? God requires perfection, not just ‘goodness’ and you can’t meet this standard. Your only hope is too trust solely in Jesus and the punishment He suffered for our sins. True peace, love and happiness can be found in Him. Respond to His call and you really could have a very happy Christmas!