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He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.
John 1:10-12
In the world today, Christmas is slowly being taken away. Yes, there will be celebrations in December. But these will not be called Christmas celebrations. Instead, these will be called as 'Holiday' celebrations or 'Winter' celebrations. It is quite sad that the early Church christianized pagan practices. Now, pagans are paganizing Christian practices. A celebration of the love of God is now reduced to gift giving. A remembrance of God's generosity of giving his Son to save the world is now reduced to remembering a fictional character who goes around the world to give toys to children. So should we to be surprised at this phenomenon? St. John had said, Jesus created the world and still the world does not know him. This is why they want to take him off the public consciousness. With the move to become self-sufficient, man has decided that he is his own savior. This thinking is bound to fail. We see clearly, we need a Savior. We cannot save ourselves. Just look at the world today, we can see how good we are at destroying ourselves. This is why it is important to remember that in the midst of our advances in technologies, in the midst of our successes, we still need a Savior. In Psalm 30:6-7, David said, “I said in my prosperity, 'I shall never be moved.' You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain to stand strong. But when you hid your face, I was troubled.'" Everything we have comes from God. We cannot save ourselves. We need Jesus to save us. This is why we come together as a community. It is to remind ourselves we cannot do this alone and we are never alone. If we come together, we know God is with us because the community should be a sign of God's presence. It should be God's presence in our lives.While the world goes its way to redeem itself, the community should remind its members that there is a Savior and his name is Jesus. The community is called to be holy. Holiness is not just being separated from others. It is to be separated with the intent of standing out. Like a lamp that is not hidden under a bed but put on a lamp stand, Christian communities are called to be separated so they can be beacons of light to an unbelieving world. The Christian community is called to be counter-cultural. It must stand for Jesus and it should remind its members of the need for a Savior. Only then can we truly celebrate Christmas – the gift the Father has given us – the power to be children of God. The world will not understand this. The world will not know Jesus. Only a Christian community will know Jesus. And for those who know him, they will have power to be sons of God. This is the meaning of Christmas – to remember that we are children of God – not because we worked for it; but because God, in his goodness gave this as a free gift. Merry Christmas and may the coming year be an abundant one!
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