Do we know what Christmas is all about?

This is my fourth Christmas here in St Christopher’s, (the time’s gone quickly), …but I remember my first year here, at the Children’s Carol service, talking about the true meaning of Christmas.

What do you think is the true meaning of Christmas?

People often talk as if we all have a common understanding of the ‘true meaning of Christmas’, …but the more I listen to other people, the more I’ve become aware that people have many different opinions of what Christmas is all about.

I remember as a child overhearing two adults talking about Christmas. One said to the other “I don’t particularly like Christmas, …but I do like New Year. New Year is for the adults, and Christmas is for the children.”

That’s a phrase I’ve heard many, many times, …“Christmas is for the children”, …and it always makes me a little sad.

Most of you know that I’ve got three children, and when they were little people would say to me “Make the most of Christmas while they are still young, because once they've grown up it wont be the same, ...Christmas will have lost it's magic.”

So is that what Christmas is all about?

Is Christmas just for the children?

Another phrase I’ve heard people say is this: “Christmas is for families”.

Have you heard people say that?

Part of my job is involves me taking Holy Communion in residential homes. I remember talking to the residents of one home about their plans for Christmas. Some of them told me that they were really looking forward to spending Christmas with their family.

I remember as a child that our house became the traditional focus for our extended family. Dozens of aunts, uncles, cousins, would suddenly appear at about 4.00 pm. And for some of them, Christmas was the only time I would see them. And there would be a lot of food, and fun, and party games.

But since then I’ve met many people who have lost loved ones, …and for whom Christmas is a very difficult and painful time.

So is that what Christmas is all about?

Is Christmas just for families?

Another phrase I’ve heard people say is this:

“Christmas is all about giving”

We can take inspiration from the wise men that brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

We know that for much of the year many people spend their lives being concerned about what they can get. We live in a very materialistic society, where many people try to get as much money, and as many possessions, as they can get their hands on. So Christmas is a time when we are reminded that it is better to give than to receive.

So is that what Christmas is all about?

Is Christmas just about giving?

Well, as I said, those are three comments that I hear from time to time, ...and I'm sure that you must have heard them too. But are they really what Christmas is all about?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against Christmas being a time for children, or for families, or for giving, ...they're all good things. But all three comments are missing something of great importance.

The true meaning of 'Christmas' is hidden in the word itself, …first and foremost it's about Christ.

Unfortunately we live in a society that has effectively dropped the 'Christ' out of Christmas.

Someone once wrote a letter to The Times describing his experience of trying to buy a Bible in a bookshop. After looking in all the obvious places he finally asked the shop assistant for help, and was told, “Ah, we’ve moved the Bibles and prayer books right to the back of the shop, on the bottom shelf. We have had to move them out of the way because it’s Christmas”.

Our society wants Christmas, but without 'Christ'.

...and as a Church, one of the things that we do at all our services at this time of year, is to encourage people to put the 'Christ' back into Christmas.

But for those of us who already know that Christmas is about Christ, I briefly want to mention two reasons why Christmas it is so important.

First, it's because God (point) became human.

People often have some funny ideas about God. And one of the more common ones is the idea that God created the universe but now he is simply sitting back and watching to see what happens. It's as if God is

like a great clock-maker. At the beginning of time he wound the universe up, and since then he has had no further involvement.

Well Christmas reminds us that God is not like that. God is actively involved in the universe he made, and 2000 years ago he actually became part of it.

He became human just like us. He didn't come like Superman, with super strength and special powers. He was born as an ordinary baby.

One of the carols that I least like is 'Away in a Manger'.

I know that it's a favourite of many carol services, but I

totally disagree with the way in which it describes Jesus.

"The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,

But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes."

How many babies do you know like that?

But at Christmas God became human, just like us. And he did cry when he was hungry, just like all babies do. And because God became one of us we can be confident that he fully understands us.

"As an engineer I used to spend some of my time in the design office in Coutaulds Engineering, and some of my time getting my hands dirty at various construction sites throughout the country.

When on site I would sometimes here criticism of other engineers who had designed things from their 'ivory towers', but had never come to site to see how things worked out in practice.

Well God's not like that. He knows what it's like to be human, not from heaven looking down, ...but from first hand experience.

At the first Christmas God became human, and as it says in another carol:

"He was little, weak and helpless;

Tears and smiles like us he knew;

And he feeleth for our sadness;

And he shareth in our gladness.

And that brings me to my second and point as to why Christmas is so important. It reminds us that God is involved in the suffering of our world.

As I talk to people about God, the objection to the Christian faith which I most frequently face is this:

"How can you believe in a loving God when there is so much suffering in the world?"

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn't give a definitive answer to the problem of suffering, but it does give some important insights. And perhaps the greatest of these insights is all tied up with Christmas.

You see, Christmas reminds us that God is a God who suffers alongside us. When he was came as a baby, he was not born immune from suffering. God became one of us, and suffered in all the ways that we suffer. He does not just know about suffering, ...God has suffered. And so he knows how we are feeling when we are suffering.

How are you feeling this Christmas.

For some of you here this morning, this Christmas will be a really joyful occasion, one of the high points of the year.

For others, Christmas may be a time which you dread.

But however you feel this Christmas, you can be confident that God understands what you are going through.

The real meaning of Christmas is that God became human, just like us:

"He was little, weak and helpless;

Tears and smiles like us he knew;

And he feeleth for our sadness;

And he shareth in our gladness.

Amen.