Thoughts on Christmas

Appropriately so, this was originally posted Decembor 30th, 2004. Well within my first semestier at Northeastern Seminary, this is my first reflection on my classes. Seminary will go on to strongly influence what I will write in the future, as well as my personality, tone, and voice.

Considering that it is now August, it may be wierd that I will be putting thoughts on Christmas up. However, the celebration of Christmas is something that Christians should hold throughout the year, as well as Easter. (Actually, even more so with Easter IMO). So here are some thoughts I had on Christmas 4 years ago, and I do still agree with them:


What is the most important event in all world history? Some Christians say that is is the death of Christ, some the resurrection of Christ. But if one were to guess by the manner of which Christians celebrate their faith, they would say that it was the birth of faith.

The Bible is clear on the subject: In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus) Christ from the dead (I Peter 1:3b) So then, why do Christians place so much importance on Christmas instead of Easter?

A while back, I remember that a person said that Christmas was just as important as Easter since Christmas had to happen in order for Easter to happen. I remember getting rather upset with him because I know that opinion is based more on the love of the holiday then the siginificance of the event. Christ had to speak his first words in order to be crucified and we dont celebrate that. We dont celebrate Christ's first steps, or Christ's baptism. Therefore the one being nessacary for the occurance of the other is not a sufficient answer to the question. What is the relevance of Christmas.?

Christmas is based upon the incarnation of the Word. The relevance is that God humbled himself enough to come down to the earth in the form of a man. It is that sacrifice that we are celebrating. It is the knowledge that God loved us so much as to get his hands dirty with all of our crud. That is the meaning of Christmas, God's love for us. Everything else is merely a hollow reflection if that isn't at the heart of it.