Many years ago, there was a publication called Christian Digest. This magazine was similar to Readers Digest. I read the following blurb by Marcia Schwartz in the November/December issue in 1976.
LOST: A baby—known as Jesus. Perhaps in a department store in the Christmas rush. Perhaps in the tinsel of holiday decorations, or in Santa’s little red house on the courthouse lawn. The babe was last seen before the outbreak of feasting and merrymaking at parties. Search under mountains of coats in restaurants, clubs, and homes. Consider whether he was misplaced under heaps of crumpled wrapping paper and ribbons, forgotten in the flurry of practicing the pageant, or stuffing the stockings. This adorable, glowing baby, filled with Life and Peace and Truth, has been misplaced by many celebrants.
REWARD: above all monetary measure to the finder. This child is a priceless gift from a loving Father, and without him all else is lost!
It can be very easy for us to lose track of the real reason we celebrate Christmas. It is not that we don’t believe. It is also not that some of those things we do are not good things. Although Christmas for some has gotten way too commercialized, for many of us we have been able to enjoy the good things of the secular celebrations and not get carried away. Getting together with family around the table and the Christmas tree and having conversation and laughter is a great thing. Giving gifts bought out of love, can bring as much joy to the giver as the recipient. Seeing the beautiful colored light displays on homes can be a wonderful experience.
But of course, if these things become our only focus, then we indeed have lost the baby Jesus the Christ and have lost the true meaning of Christmas and it becomes just another holiday. Hopefully many of you have, as we have, created some traditions around the celebration of Jesus birth that help to ensure the Jesus doesn’t get lost under the wrappings and trappings of the season. And so, I encourage you to find ways to ensure that you are able to keep the true meaning of Christmas which is that God out of his love for us, sent the priceless gift of his son to live among us and then to die on the cross so that we would have eternal life. And as Tiny Tim said in Charles Dickens Christmas Carol…
“God bless us. Everyone!”
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