Finding Christmas’ meaning

Published 2:44 am Tuesday, December 6, 2005

(Warning to members of the American Civil Liberties Union: The following column about Christmas contains themes of an explicit Christian nature.)



From now until Dec. 25 you will be besieged with conflicting messages about the real meaning of Christmas.



Television commercials will tell you to give meaning to your spouse’s holiday by bringing home a new car/piece of jewelry/expensive clothing. You get the impression that gift giving — emptying one’s wallet in the name of love — is the reason for the season.



Innocuous holiday specials will feature celebrities who will explain why they think the meaning of Christmas is in spending quality time with family, or loved ones, or members of whatever political cause is currently in vogue.



You may hear friends and co-workers describe traditions that make the holiday special for them. Exchanging gifts, eating plenty of turkey and dressing, catching up with that cousin who lives down in Florida, watching Ralphie finally get his Red Ryder BB gun in the movie “A Christmas Story.”



All of those things are nice, but they don’t get to the heart of why there is such a thing as Christmas.



Radio personality Paul Harvey once told the story of a farmer who couldn’t fathom what Christmas was about because of his skepticism.



One a harsh winter day, the farmer watched from his window as wind-battered sparrows flew around his barn.



In a moment of compassion, the farmer walked outside and opened the barn door — with the intent of offering the birds a warm place to light. The sparrows continued flying, terrified to enter.



Attempts at waving the birds inside only frightened them further. Suspicious of the man, the sparrows ignored food and water he employed to lure them to shelter.



Unsuccessful at aiding the birds, the farmer shook his head sorrowfully.



A thought occurred to the man: What if I could become a sparrow just long enough to get through to those poor creatures? They may be frightened of something as big as a human, but certainly not one of their own …



That’s when an epiphany — the real message of Christmas — hit the farmer.



Jesus Christ entered the world as a baby and walked the Earth as a man who drew others to Him. We celebrate Christmas because a God loved us enough to lower himself to our level. He came not as a great moral teacher who would tell us how to be good people — but as a savior who would show the dead how to live.



If we fail to grasp that, we miss everything.



The secular pushes harder each year in its attempts to surgically excise Christ from Christmas.



But if you enjoy the good cheer the holiday brings, it’s certainly worth your time to reflect on the Cheer Bringer whose small frame in a manger is the centerpiece of every Nativity scene you will drive by this season.