The Original True Meaning of Christmas

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—or at least it’s supposed to be.

When people talk about the “true meaning of Christmas,” most often, they mean things like giving, service, love, and peace. The meanings extracted are the light, joy, and family in our lives right now. These well-meaning interpretations are usually intended as a counterweight to the holiday’s commercial trappings rather than a dedicated pursuit of true meaning. These are all wonderful things, but they overlook the significance of the actual birth of Christ, both to contemporaries of his birth and his modern-day followers.

For a couple of years, I had been feeling like the glitter and shine of the holiday was wearing off. There was always so much to do, and neither Christmas lights in the snow nor Burl Ives on the radio seemed to fill me with joy and wonder like they used to.

Then, in 2021, right before Christmas, my wife suffered a miscarriage, and I lost my job. These back-to-back trials left us reeling, out of breath, and without any clear path forward. It felt cruel that these things had to happen just at the beginning of the Christmas season when instead of sitting on the couch together in the dark, we should have been watching breezy movies about kindness and togetherness or listening to vintage tunes about falling in love.

What if, however, Christmastime was the perfect time to heal from these painful wounds? What if celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ should be more than a light, fun holiday about giving and kindness? Christ’s mission, and so His birth, means much more—joyful, certainly, but the joy of hope in darkness.  Christmastime was the perfect time to heal.

To read the entire article: Public Square Magazine