How do we get to the spiritual meaning of Christmas?
How do you celebrate Christmas? There are so many different customs and traditions from one family to another, from one generation to another, from one culture to another, from one country to another, from one time period in history to another.
But in spite of all these differences, one thing remains constant: the fact that Jesus was born, grew to manhood, and fulfilled his purpose as the Son of God, the Messiah.
But at times throughout the centuries, and certainly today as well, parts of society have turned the observance of Christmas, one of the most spiritual events in history, into a celebration of materialism, which is really the exact opposite of what Christmas is all about.
Gratitude and the spiritual meaning of Christmas
So, think about how you acknowledge Jesus’s birth and celebrate it. Ultimately that’s between you and God.
For me, the best place to start is a heart full of gratitude for Jesus, all he said and did, and the example he left us to follow.
You could say one of the best ways to celebrate Christmas is to follow Jesus in your daily life all year long and not be influenced by the materialistic ways of the world.
Now, as I said, the worldly minded approach to celebrating Christmas has turned this special day into one of excess materialism.
There’s nothing wrong with being generous in giving gifts to friends, family, and those in need, or with having a Christmas party to celebrate the season. But when the focus is on an abundance and display of material things and events, it really does become the antithesis of what Christmas is all about.
Jesus’s humble birth in a stable is a powerful rebuke to the pride and materialism which is all too obvious in the way some people celebrate Christmas.
What is the spiritual meaning of Christmas for you?
So let’s come back to my original question. How do you like to celebrate Christmas?
There’s actually nothing in the Bible about celebrating Jesus’s birth in the early Christian church, as we do to today.
Does that mean it’s wrong to have a Christmas tree, give gifts, or have a Christmas party? Well, it really all depends on your motives. If you’re absorbed in and insist on doing the same activities the same way you always have, and don’t think it can be any other way, then you may be missing part of what Christmas is all about.
When you attach too much importance to things, whether it’s the gift giving, the parties, or whatever, without the primary focus on your love for Christ and sharing that love with others, those activities tend to take on the role of what Christmas is all about instead of Christ being front and center.
I remember the first time I was away from home for Christmas. I was a junior in college studying in France for the year. Instead of flying back to the United States for the holidays, I traveled with some friends to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
We had a wonderful time and ended up in Munich, Germany on Christmas Eve. We had planned to buy some food for a picnic feast in our youth hostel for the big day. Unbeknownst to us, all the shops closed early on Christmas Eve and we had almost nothing to eat for Christmas day.
One of my friends found a tiny discarded branch from a Christmas tree lying in the street. Another friend bought a couple of pastries.
Finding the spiritual meaning of Christmas in Germany
So Christmas morning, we had a meager little breakfast, one candle, and an evergreen branch that made the Charlie Brown Christmas tree look fabulous in comparison.
I thought it was going to be so depressing. We were all away from our families and the traditions we had grown up with, but actually we all felt the love and the spirit of Christmas in a way we never had before.
In the years since, as the way I’ve celebrated Christmas has evolved, I am more and more convinced that it’s not about the way you decorate the tree, how many gifts you give or receive, whether you have the same meal you always do, and whether you make that special recipe of Christmas cookies just the way you always have.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with any of those things, as long as we’re really focusing on the coming of Christ.
What if you took away everything but Christ?
So I ask myself: What if you took away all those outward celebrations and focused completely on Christ? What would Christmas look like then?
I can’t say I’m at that point by any means. There will be a few gifts this year and we’ll have a nice meal. On Christmas Eve, we’ll be with my sister and her family. But on Christmas Day, it will just be my wife, our youngest daughter, and me.
Years ago that would have been a sad way to celebrate Christmas. We sometimes had 30-35 people over for Christmas dinner, with lots of presents and festivities. Everybody had such a great time. But now, a quieter approach is very appealing and I’m really looking forward to some time to just sit and ponder the deeper spiritual meaning of what Christmas is all about.
Jesus never asked us to celebrate his birth. He asked us to follow him. So how can we do that during the Christmas season and on Christmas Day especially?
Celebrating Christmas in Spirit
Jesus gives us a big hint in the way he says we should worship God.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:23, 24 KJV
We can take the spirit of what Jesus says here and apply it to the way we celebrate Christmas. The best way to observe Christmas, to celebrate Christ’s coming into the world, is spiritual. It takes place in the heart.
So how do we celebrate Christmas spiritually? How do we find the spiritual meaning of Christmas?
As I said earlier, I think it begins with gratitude for Jesus, for Mary and Joseph, and all the others who were part of the Christmas story. And you obviously don’t have to wait until Christmas day to feel and express this gratitude.
One of the best ways to express this gratitude is to share your love for Jesus with others: your family and friends, the people you meet while doing errands, the stranger on the street. You might even volunteer to help at a homeless shelter, and not just on Christmas Day, but throughout the year.
Finding quietude at Christmas
Something else that can be crucial in having a more spiritual approach to Christmas is finding a sense of quietude. We need to stop the racing around from one activity to the next and be quiet.
When you find this stillness and quietude in your life, you are much more likely to be able to hear God’s voice. Listening to God is another way to celebrate Christmas spiritually. It’s really a form of prayer.
Make a point this Christmas season to carve out little pockets of quietness, where you can be still and talk to God and listen to God.
I love this passage from Isaiah. Think of this quietness in the context of celebrating the spiritual meaning of Christmas.
And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; Isaiah 32:17, 18 KJV
That sounds like a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas, doesn’t it?
Reading the Christmas story out loud
Another way that always helps me remember what Christmas is really all about, is the most obvious one of all. It’s to read the Christmas story in the Bible. You can find it in Matthew, Chapters 1 and 2 and Luke, Chapters 1 and 2.
You can read it quietly to yourself. Sometimes I read it out loud to myself. You can read it to your family or have your family all read parts of it.
You can read it in Church and Sunday School.
In last week’s episode, Episode 270, Who Do You Relate to Most in the Christmas Story?, I talked about imagining yourself as each of the Bible characters in the Christmas story. This can be a great way to engage with the original Christmas and make it come alive in a fresh way.
Take some time to ponder and pray about how the Christmas story applies to you today.
These are just a few ideas of how to get into the spiritual meaning of Christmas.
Being more spiritually minded helps!
And I’m just going to say this. It’s pretty obvious, but if you want to have a more spiritual approach to observing Christmas, probably the most important thing is for you to be more spiritually minded yourself.
Paul can’t make it any clearer when he says,
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 KJV
And
… to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6 KJV
Over the years, as I have made an effort to be more spiritually minded—and it takes a lot of work sometimes—I’ve noticed an interesting connection with the way I celebrate Christmas. Some of the family traditions that used to be so important to me, to the degree it just wouldn’t seem like Christmas if those things didn’t happen, they just don’t have the same importance they used to and aren’t really part of my Christmas celebration.
You can’t force the spiritual meaning of Christmas on someone else
Now, I’ve realized you can’t force your perspective on someone else. I’m delighted to have everyone celebrate Christmas in the way that’s meaningful to them.
This actually reminds me of a poem John Greenleaf Whittier, a nineteenth century American poet, wrote about an elderly monk who was not joining the other monks in the way they celebrated Christmas.
When they asked why, he admitted he used to join in all the festivities, but now he celebrated spiritually in his heart. The last few stanzas of this poem have been turned into a Christmas hymn, but I’m going to read the whole poem to you, because I’m pretty sure you’ve never seen it in its entirety.
It’s called
The Mystic’s Christmas
by John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 – 1892
“All hail!” the bells of Christmas rang,
“All hail!” the monks at Christmas sang,
The merry monks who kept with cheer
The gladdest day of all their year.
But still apart, unmoved thereat,
A pious elder brother sat
Silent, in his accustomed place,
With God’s sweet peace upon his face.
“Why sitt’st thou thus?” his brethren cried,
“It is the blessed Christmas-tide;
The Christmas lights are all aglow,
The sacred lilies bud and blow.
“Above our heads the joy-bells ring,
Without the happy children sing,
And all God’s creatures hail the morn
On which the holy Christ was born.
“Rejoice with us; no more rebuke
Our gladness with thy quiet look.”
The gray monk answered, “Keep, I pray,
Even as ye list, the Lord’s birthday.
“Let heathen Yule fires flicker red
Where thronged refectory feasts are spread;
With mystery-play and masque and mime
And wait-songs speed the holy time!
“The blindest faith may haply save;
The Lord accepts the things we have;
And reverence, howsoe’er it strays,
May find at last the shining ways.
“They needs must grope who cannot see,
The blade before the ear must be;
As ye are feeling I have felt,
And where ye dwell I too have dwelt.
“But now, beyond the things of sense,
Beyond occasions and events,
I know, through God’s exceeding grace,
Release from form and time and space.
“I listen, from no mortal tongue,
To hear the song the angels sung;
And wait within myself to know
The Christmas lilies bud and blow.
“The outward symbols disappear
From him whose inward sight is clear;
And small must be the choice of days
To him who fills them all with praise!
“Keep while you need it, brothers mine,
With honest zeal your Christmas sign,
But judge not him who every morn
Feels in his heart the Lord Christ born!”
I wish you a very Merry Christmas season and I hope you discover this year, a whole new and deeper spiritual sense of what Christmas is all about.
Is there any way you can de-materialize, even in some small way, how you celebrate Christmas? The world is desperately crying out for this spiritual sense of Christmas you have to offer.
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life. Contact him here.
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Bible References
John 4:23, 24 KJV
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Isaiah 32:17, 18 KJV
17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
Galatians 5:25 KJV
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Romans 8:6 KJV
6 … to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
