We have now entered the Christian season of Advent celebrated in Christian communities right throughout the world. The word Advent comes from the Latin word adventus meaning “coming”. It is a season observed in many Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.
For Christians, the season of Advent, serves as a reminder both of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews for the birth of their Messiah, as well as the waiting of Christians for Christ’s return to earth.
In the latter years of my employment, I held an executive position overseeing the running of twelve large sections of a Commonwealth Government Office. There would have been over 2,000 people working in these sections. To provide leadership to these people, I believed it was necessary to be amongst them whenever possible, both in the work environment as well as on social occasions. And so, I found myself attending various functions throughout the year to celebrate people retiring, special launches of new programs and, of course, Christmas.
The last working day before Christmas was always very hectic for me. All of the sections would have a special morning tea, and in a fairly short time, I would endeavour to visit each section within our main office building and then walk to another building where the remainder of my staff were located, to wish them a merry Christmas.
On top of this, most of my sections had a Christmas party during the evenings before Christmas and I felt obliged to attend as many of these parties as was humanly possible.
As a result of these experiences, I learnt that Christmas for many people is an excuse to have a party, get drunk, receive a gift, give a little, leave work, get out of school, spend money, overeat and indulge in all kinds of other excesses.
On the other side of the picture, for some people Christmas can be a depressing time. An article written by a director of the California Department of Health Care Services warned: “The Christmas season is marked by greater emotional stress and more acts of violence than any other time of the year.” From past experiences here in Australia, I would have to say these warnings ring true for our society as well.
For the Christian church, Christmas is also an excuse, no, an obligation for us to exalt and celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ into this world. Sure, we can commemorate Christ’s birth in the normal way we are used to celebrating, with dinners and parties. But there are also more meaningful ways we can rejoice over this miracle birth—ways in which only Christians know best.
There are many symbols relating to the Christmas story we can use to focus our attention on the Christ child to assist us in our celebrations. I can think of the star, a symbol of leading and guiding us in the direction of the Christ. There is the manger scene, representing the experience of family and bringing with it a feeling of peace and serenity. The visit of the wise men is another important image conveying the message of giving and receiving gifts. The choir of angels proclaiming Jesus’ birth and the shepherds coming to worship him bearing gifts are further indicators on which we can focus our celebrations.
There are many more images we can draw upon to help with our celebrations, such as our carol singing, the lighting of Advent and Christ candles, the story of Saint Nicholas, decorating a Christmas tree and the sending of Christmas greetings to our friends. What a wonderful array of openings there are before us to help us focus on this special time of the year!
Our Christmas celebrations can also include attending church for worship, reading scripture, listening to the messages coming to us from many sources and inviting friends to our homes for a meal. It is truly amazing the number of opportunities we have to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour.
We read in the Bible of the joyous song the angels sang to announce the birth of Jesus, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). What a wonderful expression of praise, rejoicing, and challenge the angels brought to the world through their song!
Among our collection of Christmas songs is one called “Bring Back the Spirit of Christmas”. In this song, Bert Newton tells of his experiences as a boy with his family making preparations in their home to celebrate Christmas and then attending church and singing carols and listening again to the telling of the story of the birth of Jesus. Following each vignette spoken by Bert, a choir sings this theme song. This is a moving and challenging rendition of what Christmas should really mean to mankind. With all the outside issues around us that I have described that can distract us from celebrating the joyous birth of our Savior, we surely need to Bring Back the Spirit of Christmas.
May each of us experience the feeling of joy, hope, love and peace this Christmas. May we grasp the true spirit of Christmas and take advantage of the opportunities that are around us to make this Christmas period a time for celebration!
Wishing you a joyful and peaceful Christmas.
Bill Gillard