Christmas and the Meaning of Life

Pastor’s Column

Christmas 2024

          We can’t find the meaning of Christmas – let alone the meaning of life at Target or Amazon or Wal-Mart, or any other store. God knows we try, though, don’t we? The visible world does try to give us what it can though, entertainment, comfort, pleasure, cool stuff; it can anesthetize us for a while – with suffering mixed in -- and that’s about it. But this is all the world has to offer. It is unable to give us real meaning, because at heart we are eternal beings in a temporal world, and only Jesus can fill our hearts, and stuff just doesn’t cut it in the end.  Stuff passes.  Life passes.

          The world cannot offer us eternal life. It cannot offer us answers to the deepest questions of our hearts. Christmas is really such a great holiday (“holiday” is short for “holy day”). I feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t celebrate it or put Jesus under the tree, because like Thanksgiving, it does point to what matters in our lives: the people we love and those who love us. Most importantly, it points to our faith, the gift of eternal life. That’s what presents and cards and the like represent. Most of us want to be with people we love today; if they are far away, we miss them; if they have passed away, we grieve for them; if weather prevents us from being together (something I dealt with regularly as an airline employee), we are grieved. We want to be home. Of course, sometimes even the ones that irritate us are with us today, but that’s part of life too. Without these people, how on earth would we learn to love?

          We do have another family that we belong to. Jesus is inviting you into his own family and to a place at his table. Christmas is all about Jesus’ invitation to join him as a part of his family and hopefully to be a bigger part of our church family right here.

          There is an old saying that applies to Christmas; it is both an invitation and a warning: be careful what you wish for, because you may get it. If Christmas is only about presents and parties, you may get what you want, but it won’t be enough, because that’s not what the real Christmas is actually all about. Stuff gets old and wears out. Parties end. But if you want a deeper relationship with Jesus, now is the time to begin again. Now is the time to begin to pray every day again.  Now is the time to think about returning to church if you have been away. Now is the time to ask yourself, “What is my life about and where am I going? Who or what really is the goal of my life?” 

          Jesus is like a present under the tree that often goes unopened. It is a small package, but opening it can bring you to the real meaning of life when all the presents are long forgotten and the tree is in the dumpster. The person with the most stuff doesn’t win in the end; it is rather, the person who has loved and knows that they are loved, and especially by Jesus who came into this world to save us from meaninglessness. So, do be careful what you wish for in life; take care to watch where you are headed because you just may get there.

Father Gary