Merry Christmas! For many people, this is their favorite time of year: the lights, the trees, the gifts, the family-time. Part of that might be a desire for a simpler way of life, a momentary break from the rat-race, a holiday to forget about the divisions in our country and instead focus on tidings of cheer and peace and the universal brotherhood of all mankind. Maybe it's rekindling warm memories we have from our childhood. Maybe it's just that in the midst of a dark winter, around the shortest days of the year, we need some sort of glimmer of hope.
The message of Christmas, though, is more powerful than mere sentiment or warm memories. It is in Jesus Christ that we can look into a world so broken and divided and see the Hope that Christ came to bring. It is through Emmanuel, God-with-us, that we can bring whatever griefs, sorrows, hurts, tragedies, this pandemic, those economic woes, those family struggles, that challenging job, the health scares - and see that God is with us in them, that He embraced the fullness of our human condition - sorrow and woe included. It is through the Birth of the Savior - which led to His Cross and Resurrection - that we have the peace of a good conscience, the joy of a life redeemed, the hope of everlasting life, the incarnate Love of God for us.
You may have picked up that I am a big fan of the Christian British writer CS Lewis, one of the great intellectuals of the 20th Century, who could be as witty and incisive as anyone. In his book, "Mere Christianity", he gives a reflection on Christmas which is quite different than our usual Hallmark cards like to portray. Here are his words:
Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is.
Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed,
you might say landed in disguise,
and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.
God has landed on this enemy-occupied world in human form.
And now, what was the purpose of it all?
What did He come to do?
Well, to teach, of course;
but as soon as you look into the New Testament
or any other Christian writing
you will find they are constantly talking about something different—
about His death and His coming to life again.
It is obvious that Christians think the chief point of the story lies here.
They think the main thing He came to earth to do was to suffer and be killed.
The central Christian belief is that Christ’s death
has somehow put us right with God and given us a fresh start.
We are told that Christ was killed for us,
that His death has washed out our sins, and,
that by dying He disabled death itself.
That is the formula.
That is Christianity.
That is what has to be believed.
Now what was the sort of “hole” man had got himself into?
He had tried to set up on his own,
to behave as if he belonged to himself.
In other words, fallen man is
not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement:
he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.
This process of surrender—
this movement full speed astern—
is what Christians call repentance.
And here comes the catch.
Only a bad person needs to repent:
only a good person can repent perfectly.
But the same badness which makes us need it,
makes us unable to do it.
But supposing God became a man—
suppose our human nature which can suffer and die
was amalgamated with God’s nature in one person—
then that person could help us.
- CS Lewis, "Mere Christianity"
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth, and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled
Mild he lays his glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise them from the earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King!
