I had been having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit knowing that Donald Trump is set to become president when I realized something rather obvious.
Christmas has nothing to do with Donald Trump because it has nothing to do with who is and is not president.
Christmas has nothing to do with external circumstances of any kind. It comes every year because Jesus’ birth happened.
It is true that it probably didn’t happen on December 25th, or that he was born in a manger in Bethlehem or that anything about the birth stories in Matthew and Luke is actually true. Some of it could be, but probably not much of it.
And it doesn’t matter!
The Christmas story is just that, a story told by the church that allows Christians to celebrate the essential truth that the birth of Jesus of Nazareth changed the world.
The details don’t matter, any more than the exact details of the stories of Christmases past we tell every year matter.
Those personal stories make us smile, laugh, cry, relive special moments, and re-enforce enduring family ties, stories that continue to shape our identity and make us who we are.
The same is true for Christmas. Every time the story is read or told it makes us smile, laugh, cry, ponder the presence of God in our lives, and I think always makes us want to be better people.
That’s the point of Christmas. The story says Joseph named the babe in the manger “Jesus” because he would save his people from their sins.
That is a peculiar Christian affirmation that speaks of salvation for everyone by declaring the greatest truth of faith – all faith – that the One who Created us is like a mother who will never abandon us, like a father who will always be there for us, like the best parents who always forgive us because that is the nature of unconditional love.
It’s too bad some Christians use that message to judge people who are not Christian, or not the kind they are, or use it to insist Christian truth is the only truth.
That’s not what Christmas is about. The message of Christmas is not tribal, exclusive, or judgmental.
It is, instead, one of assurance that everyone is family, that no one is left out, that love is unconquerable, and that barriers between people are created by earthly powers like King Herod, but never by those who celebrate the birth of the babe in the manger.
Christmas is a time to remember that as bad as today is, there is still good in the world because there are still good people who outnumber the people who are bad.
Charles Dickens knew there were people like Ebenezer Scrooge when he wrote a story about Christmas, but he also knew there were people like Bob Cratchit who keep the spirit of Christmas alive.
In the end that spirit triumphs, not just in the story, but in real life.
That is why circumstances like Donald Trump’s election, WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Great Recession do not determine whether or not Christmas is Christmas.
Christmas is always Christmas. That’s the message of this season.
And it means that any of us can get into the Christmas spirit if we want to.
When I realized that I knew I wanted to, and ever since not a single day has been overshadowed or diminished by thoughts about what the new year will bring.
Come what may, Christmas is and always will be Christmas.
And that is why I say without hesitation, whatever your circumstances, whatever your faith tradition, whatever your worries, whatever your struggles…
Merry Christmas! It really is the most wonderful time of the year.
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