Pastor Sean DeLawder
Woodsboro Evangelical Lutheran Church
(12/1) Advent is here already and Christmas is just around the corner. This has led me to the questions, "What does Christmas mean to me – what does Christmas mean to you?" For me, Christmas has meant different things in my life depending on where I was in my life. As a child (as for many if not most children), Christmas was about Santa Claus, the gifts, the lights and decorations, the carols, the baked goods, all of the Christmas cartoon specials (I still enjoy watching them). As a child, Christmas was about magic and wonder – we did not have a fireplace or chimney but somehow Santa Claus made his way into the house and left gifts for my brother and sister and me.
When I was a teenager, I was blessed to maintain the feeling of Christmas wonder and magic through my sister who was born with Down’s syndrome and who continued to "believe" in Santa well into her adult years. She continued to wake up on Christmas morning (usually in the very early morning) and find that indeed, Santa had made his way into our chimneyless home and leave gifts for her (she did not seem to notice that Santa did not leave gifts any longer for my brother or me – or maybe she just thought we were too bad throughout the year to warrant Santa leaving any for us). Santa’s magic remained in me as I became Santa when I was a teenager as I was charged by my parents to leave the gifts under the tree for my sister before I went to bed. I loved having this responsibility as I experienced the joy of Christmas through my sister’s joy.
When I moved away to attend college, Christmas became a time to visit with high school friends, spend time with family and have the much desired break from school and studies. I continued with my duties as Santa and it was during this time that my family began a new tradition of having a Christmas Eve dinner with family and friends that we would not see on Christmas day. My mother would cook the same Christmas Eve dinner for many years to come – seafood gumbo, Cobb salad, garlic bread and various desserts – it was a wonderful meal and we all looked forward to it each year.
In my young adulthood, as I became involved with the woman who would become my wife, I was so happy and thrilled when she gladly accepted the invitation to join my family in our Christmas Eve dinner. She returned to her family and home that night, but it made Christmas so special for me as she was included in this family gathering and even more, that she wanted to come!
After we married and had our own children, the Christmas Eve tradition at my family home continued and my wife and I also began our own traditions. We became involved in church and although I always understood that the birth of Jesus was the reason that Christmas was celebrated, putting Christ at the center of the holiday became more important to me. I wanted my children to understand not just the story of Christmas, but also the love that God has shown to us by sending his son into this world as a baby, a baby who would grow into the man who would teach us about what love truly means.
Now that I am of the age where I have received the AARP magazine for many years, the meaning of Christmas continues to change and evolve. My children are grown –my son lives across the country, my daughter is married with her own family, my wife passed away from cancer eight years ago, my father died two years ago, and my sister who kept the Christmas magic alive for so many years, died this spring. Our Christmas Eve tradition ended years ago as it was harder and harder to gather our family and friends together and my wonderful cook of a mother, through age and arthritis just could not produce such a dinner any longer.
Now for me, Christmas is not about Santa Claus, or gifts – it is not about decorations or Christmas carols – it is not about feasts and baked goods (although I am not going to pass up a meal or baked goods or even a favorite Christmas cartoon or carol for that matter). For me, Christmas is about the love that Jesus tried so hard to teach us about. Christmas is about the lesson that a child can be born to a young mother and father with very limited resources, and yet can become the most influential man in the world. Christmas is about the lesson that God’s love through Christ extends to all people, no matter who they are or where they live, or what language they speak, or what the shade of their skin may be. Christmas is about the lesson, that although you may feel like you have very little to give or to offer to this world, that with God’s love, all things are possible.
So for me, Christmas is to be lived through us and in us, each and every day. Christmas is understanding that life can be hard and our life circumstances can and will change throughout our lives. But it is through living our lives that we can be the living embodiment of what Christ came to teach us – that love is at the center of Christ’s life and it needs to be at the center of our lives. If we can focus on love, then we can give hope to the hopeless, we can feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the unhoused, we can give companionship to the lonely, and comfort to the ill, we can bring the magic of Christmas to everyone that we meet – and we can do this all year, not just at Christmas.
I pray that you will experience this love today and always and I pray that you will share this Christmas love throughout the entire year.
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