For many in our society, the only meaning Christmas carries is the material one.  It is true that one way to remember Christmas is to buy so many gifts that bills will have to be paid off throughout the entire next year.  And with inflation, some bills won’t even get paid off in the next calendar year.  The news has been running stories of people having already maxed out their credit cards to be able to buy Christmas presents.  But isn’t that a sad commentary on what this season is all about.

Surely, for us as Christians, it is more than that.  So what is Christmas really all about anyway? During this season we talk a lot about Advent being a time of preparation, of getting ready, of anticipation and expectation - as we wait for the coming of Christ.  And we would rightly answer the question by saying that Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of Christ.  It is a time of focusing on the incarnation as we affirm the truth that “God is with us” - Emmanuel! The greatest love gift of all time came into the world through Jesus Christ.

“Love came down and Christmas,

Love all lovely,

  Love divine;

Love was born at Christmas,

  Star and angels gave the sign.”

    - Christina Rossetti

Digging around in the Guinness Book of Christmas, I discovered some interesting things about the derivation of the word Christmas.  It is a word that rolls off our tongues with great frequency at this time of year and other than seeing Christ in the word, we probably do not think too much about it.  But did you know that the “mas” comes from mass, which is the right or religious service of worship predominant in the Catholic Church?  

In the early church, the service would end with the words: “Ite, Missa Est” which means, “go, it is ended.”  And “Missa”, which the word mass comes from, came to mean “dismissal”.  The earliest known example of the word belongs to the last quarter of the fourth century, where it occurs in the epistles of Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan.  In addition, it always denoted the Eucharist.  And so the presence of Christ is celebrated both in the Lord’s Supper and at Christmas (Christ-mass).

Christmas, then, can mean all of the following and more: Christ + birth; Christ + worship; Christ + service; Christ + communion; and Christ + dismissal.

What does Christmas really mean?  It means many things - for this is one of the richest seasons of the year - far and above the materialism of our culture.  Each one of us could expand on the meaning of Christmas - that is part of the beauty of Christ’s presence in our lives.

As we prepare for the coming of Christ during this season of waiting, arrivals, gifts and joy – let’s also prepare for our dismissal as transformed people – that we will not forget Christmas as we move into 2023 in new and exciting directions.  Like the wise ones (Magi) of old, let us “worship the child…and depart…by another way.” (Matthew 2:12)  That Way, Truth, Light and Life is Jesus Christ our Lord! (John 14:6)

“Christmas is eternal 

like the love that gave it birth 

like the love that touches others 

as it reaches ‘round the earth.”

- Christina Rossetti

In the True Spirit of Christmas,

Rev. Dr. David D. Young
Senior Minister

This piece originally appeared in The Wave on December 7, 2022