CHRISTMAS

Earlier this month I published what I thought would be my Christmas message for 2020.  I amend my thought, but not my earlier message.  My thought, now, after rereading many of His teachings and listening to many hours of Christmas music, is to very briefly review the basic message of Christmas and what our response might be. 

In America we may call this season of the year from Thanksgiving Day through New Years’ Day the ‘holidays,’ but for me the preeminent ‘Holiday’ (holy day) is Christmas—the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ.  It happened this way:

A little over two thousand years ago the archangel Gabriel appeared from the Heavenly realms and made a startling announcement to some faithful shepherds who were attending to their task in the dark of the night.  The message was that the long-awaited Messiah had been born and was now among them. Additional heralds, a multitude of what we suppose were singing angels, joined Gabriel praising God. They, too, left their message with the astonished shepherds.  The shepherds responded with haste to this glorious outpouring to find this child, this long-prophesied Messiah—to gain a personal testimony of the things they were told.  After they had seen for themselves, they unhesitatingly told all they encountered of what they had heard and experienced. 

What can we learn from this?  The scriptural record here shows that God, on His timetable, will make known even to the lowliest of His children messages of transcendent importance. There is no indication in the record that the shepherds were aged or highly-educated sages; nothing is said about them holding position or priesthood.  Nothing is said of their gender. The likelihood, instead, was that these were probably poor and uneducated young men and/or young women who knew how to care for God’s creatures, who were in the line of their duty, and who were not asleep.

What else might have qualified the shepherds to be given this message?  Perhaps the fact that they had earlier listened to the prophecies about a promised Messiah and found them credible.  Perhaps because they were worthy to receive a spiritual message and that their spirit resonated with the message they heard.  Perhaps because they believed in angels.  Perhaps because God knew they would not hesitate to proclaim the message and witness they received to any person they subsequently encountered.

Can you see the pattern?  Though the wise men came later bearing gifts, the response desired by God of those who were in a position to immediately respond to this Holy day, this Birthday of birthdays, was for them to listen to His messengers, to gain a personal testimony themselves, to worship God’s Son, and to proclaim to others what they knew to be true.  Could this not be the proper response for us to emulate during this Christmas season? Could we not qualify ourselves in the same way?

We will glorify God this Christmas season and give our best gift by proclaiming with joy the Good News message of His Son’s ministry (his activities and teachings or three years following his baptism) and mission (the events of his last week as a mortal) into a darkened world and into the hearts of His children.

Let us light the world!