Christmas is for You

GOT CHRISTMAS?

(It's a concept!)

Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store.  -- Dr. Seuss 

And, just maybe, Jesus wasn't this white.  This art has all the earmarks of the late 1800s, early 1900s, maybe the art deco period.  A baby that white in the desert would have been a melanoma waiting to happen.  I love this piece of art not as much for the subject matter as for the obvious love the artist felt for the subject matter. I am one of those people that art really must speak to for my attention.  What does it take to get our attention anymore?  What does it take to get your attention onto the real meaning of Christmas?  Not the "true" meaning, the "real" meaning.

We can tie up a discussion on the true meaning of Christmas for an eternity and not agree, or we can discuss the real meaning of Christmas as it is defined by most religious scholars around the world.  But, discussing Christmas is just that, a discussion.  Will it imbue your heart with Christmas spirit?  No, probably not.  Christmas is like faith.  Christmas is the belief in something larger than us.  It is not something that can be taught, it is something that must be experienced, an "ah ha" moment.

If you want to know the meaning of Christmas you must do your own due diligence, your own research.  If you don't do it yourself it would be like going to church and allowing the priest can guide you to God instead of doing the work yourself.  Which do you think is more acceptable, building the temple yourself or paying someone else to do it?

Celebrating the real meaning of Christmas does not detract from the gifts, the decorations, or the partying.  It simply refocuses our attention where it is supposed to be; the meaning behind all of it.  Remember the meaning of the star as you top the tree.  Remember the meaning of the manger scene as you set it up on the table.  Remember the gifts brought to the Christ in celebration of His birth as you wrap that scarf for Aunt Judy.  Think about the words of faith and adoration in the songs and music of praise for the holiday season.

What does Christmas mean?  I recently read an article that brought this home for me in an historical perspective:

On December 25, 1941, Julius Streicher, one of the most vicious of Hitler’s assistants, celebrated Christmas by penning the following editorial in his rabidly Antisemitic newspaper, Der Stuermer:

"If one really wants to put an end to the continued prospering of this curse from heaven that is the Jewish blood, there is only one way to do it: to eradicate this people, this Satan’s son, root and branch."

It was an appropriate thought for the day.  This Christmas, how will we celebrate?

-- Lawrence Kelemen 

I not sure how "appropriate" this thought is for any day, but it does make one think, and bodes the question:  This Christmas, how will you celebrate?

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas of faith, love, and peace, regardless of you spiritual beliefs.  Remember this holiday season, we are all children of the same universe; let's try to play nice.