The Christmas Spirit
Good Morning Friends,
Over the years, Christmas has inspired many authors and movie makers to create stories about its spirit and significance. In them is typically a spirit that embodies charity, forgiveness, friendship, unselfish love and generosity. At the heart of them is what we explore today….in stories of Spirit of Giving Back where we begin connecting the cradle, the cross and the crown in The Christmas Spirit.
Scripture: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8 (NRSV)
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 (NLT)
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”
Luke 1:35 (NIV)
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Matthew 1:23 (KJV)
And let all kings bow down before him, all nations serve him.
Psalm 72:11 (NASB)
Message: Recent studies suggest that only one in ten people think that society is more giving during Christmas than it was a generation ago. Maybe they are right but maybe the tide is turning. Getting in the Christmas Spirit is oddly both easier and so much more difficult…watching classic Christmas movies like Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol by Dickens or even one of its remakes, The Polar Express, White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life help for a time. But somehow this experience and the seeing of The Nutcracker or reading the Night Before Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, listening to Nat King Cole, decorating…sending out Christmas Cards…making a list and checking it twice, singing Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer seem all too familiar while all the while what I am really searching for is the crown on the cross in the cradle. Friends, with all the Christmas stories a better way to share about Christmas is telling a story of the true meaning of Christmas in Jesus’ incarnation in our lives. Still in preparation for Christmas I think we still must search. So here is a list of stories that also show what makes the Christmas Spirit so unique and special…stories you may have forgotten about that might get you prepared for the Holidays. They are skillfully told…contemplate them and then go back to the one that made them possible. They are: The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry; The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen; A Letter From Santa Claus by Mark Twain; Papa Panov’s Special Christmas by Leo Tolstoy; Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck; The Elves and the Shoemaker by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, and The Holy Night by Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf. Maybe you will find something new in these stories. I hope you do and I hope they help to prepare you for Christmas in the knowledge that really the Christmas Spirit is simply the Spirit of Christ.
Pray we find the Spirit of Christmas in the Spirit of Christ. Pray we realize that Christmas in not a time or season so much as a state of mind. Pray we realize that to be bountiful in mercy and generous in our peace and goodwill is to find the Spirit of Christ in Christmas. Pray we proclaim the greatness of the Son! Pray we call Him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace…. Our Lord and savior! Pray we realize that a child was born for the redemption of our sins. Pray we live in joy and gladness. Pray we rejoice at Christ’s birth. Pray we share the blessings we have been given in our lives. Pray we remember the great love that came down from the heavens. Pray we spread the true meaning of Christmas each day with joy! Pray that our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship prompting us to kind deeds of service. Pray we lose our life to gain it.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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