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Community Corner

Tis' the Reason for the Season - Finding the Meaning in Christmas Part 2

Patch asks local clergy to offer their own thoughts on this time of year

 

It's easy to get caught up in the commercial aspects of Christmas. Patch asked a sampling of San Leandro clergy members to share their thoughts on the true meaning of the holiday. Patch will post them between now and December 25.

 

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The second in the series, below, is by the Rev. Diane Bowers, Ph.D.

 

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The complaints are familiar. Every year the stores decorate earlier for Christmas—sometimes right after Halloween! And how many times can a person hear “Jingle Bells” set to an electronic beat without going mad? People forsake their families to line up outside big box stores to buy TVs and Xboxes at midnight on Black Friday. “The season has become too commercial!” we cry.  “Aren’t we losing sight of the true meaning of Christmas?”

Well, yes and no.  Of course, yes, it’s all too easy to buy into the advertising message that more toys, more gifts, more stuff, will make our children happy, when we all know that it isn’t enough. And yes, the church laments that in the rush to Christmas we miss out on the achingly beautiful season of Advent, a season that expresses our deep human longing for God to come and put all things right.

But in a certain sense, our frantic and pressured preparation for Christmas reflects that we know all too well what Christmas means, and what it should be, but we get off course. What is the meaning of Christmas? Simply this: Immanuel. God with us. Christmas is about God refusing to accept our “no,” and tearing open the heavens and coming down to be with the ones God loves.

And is this not what we long for? More than for a new TV or a perfectly decorated house? That we should be deeply known and loved? That we would be touched and embraced by the divine, and be transformed by it?  This is the gift of God to us in the birth of the Christ Child come among us, sharing our human life and offering salvation. Nothing but God can do this for us.

 

So give gifts. Decorate the tree. Host dinners. Just don’t make yourself crazy. All of those things are beautiful and meaningful, but only to a point. Remember that Christmas is about the awesome and crazy idea that God really wants to be with us.  Why not do something almost as crazy this year by having…gasp…family devotions? Or personal devotions? Read the biblical story. Pray together. Go to church. Discover something deeper. God is calling, and offering what you actually most truly want. Why not answer?

 

Dr. Diane Bowers

Pastor of St. James Lutheran Church of San Leandro

St. James Lutheran will be holding a family friendly Christmas Eve service at 5 p.m. December 24 and a Christmas Day service at 10 a.m. on December 25. All are welcome. The church is located at 993 Estudillo Avenue.

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