Holiday Cheer

by Joseph Stoutzenberger

I grew up Christian and specifically Catholic, so my experience of Christmas is filtered through that lens. For me, the Christmas season always brings back memories of the Christmases of my childhood. Overall, those memories are warm and cozy, and now they exist in a timelessness that belies the reality of any unpleasantness that was also part of the holiday experience over the years. Holidays of all religions and cultures are an important break from the dailiness of our lives, and that is certainly true of Christmas if entered into as it is carved out in the Christian calendar. Even God took a break from the work of creation to rest on the Sabbath. If we give ourselves over to them, holidays can serve as a time of meditation, a breaking free from the weight of working, analytical thinking, and doing. Granted, distractions are everywhere, even more so at this time of year. Would that even shopping, decorating, baking, and meal preparation could be done in a spirit of festive joy. Christmastime works best if it is entered into with a meditative mindset. Of course, there is the hustle and bustle in holiday preparations and gatherings; but if it works its magic, there is also that spirit of connection to the infinite underlying holiday traditions and greetings. So much is lost if we don’t set aside some time to enter into this spirit of Christmas with the joy and reverence it deserves. It is appropriate, perhaps even necessary, to connect Christmastime with the sense of openness, wonder, and joyful expectation we associate with childhood.

During my youth, Christmas was viewed as such a solemn occasion that wars stopped. The idea of one nation killing people of another nation on this holiest of days was unthinkable in light of the meaning of Christmas, even if it lasted only a day. A Christmas ceasefire symbolized peace on earth, in aspiration if not in reality. The great powers of the earth had the sense to bow down before the seemingly powerless babe in the manger. Perhaps they realized that their power would end, no matter how righteous they considered their cause; but the love embodied at Christmas transcends time. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, last Christmas sermon before his untimely death was all about nonviolence. He knew that a central tenet of Jesus’ message was a rejection of violence and a call for peace. Up to the very end of his life, King held onto his dream of a peaceful world community expressed in his famous 1963 speech; and he lived out his message in countless nonviolent campaigns.

Although it is in danger of getting lost, the central image for Christmas, the reason for the season, is the birth of Jesus. You can watch endless so-called Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel, and Jesus is never mentioned, although love always is. (I leave it to someone else to watch these movies to verify whether or not that statement is valid.) I find the manger scene richer, more compelling, than Elf on the Shelf, outlandish Christmas sweaters, and syrupy sweet movies. There is the Christ child, exposed to the elements in the humblest of settings. His parents, of peasant stock, hover over him, with shepherds peering in to attest to the wonder of the event. Animals aren’t mentioned in the two gospel stories about Christ’s birth; but, thanks to St. Francis of Assisi, they are a welcome addition to the earthiness of the scene. This child is Emmanuel, God-with-us! Quite a cause for celebration. Hopefully, that realization underlies every greeting, every gathering, every carol sung, every tree trimmed, and every tradition observed. When we sing “we need a little Christmas,” we mean that we need a reminder that the loving God has broken into our finitude, shares our home, and invites us to spread that message. Even a child can appreciate and wonder at that gift, and what better image of God-with-us than a newborn wrapped in swaddling clothes?