Christmas Spirit

A light snow fell like sifted flour and covered the landscape, the roads, the parking lots. It was 18 degrees, cold enough to make what snow there was more crunchy than slick. Shoppers were everywhere.

We avoided Black Friday, but could not avoid the trip to Duluth. The 14th Annual Christmas Open House still needed more cookies, dips, and crackers. There were gifts we could not find in our little town. There was the simple need for a change of scenery. So off we went.

Stores and houses and light posts are decorated. Christmas music fills the air, as it does in a lot of places this time of year. I almost started to get into the "Christmas Spirit" until the young woman in the gray Saturn charged down the aisle in the parking lot, horn blaring at a car already three quarters backed out of a spot. She barely missed clipping a pedestrian as she sped to get around the moving vehicle before it could block her path any further.

I seem to recall Coach Carswell drilling the idea into us during Driver's Ed in the tenth grade that if you come upon a car backing out of parking spot, you wait for them to complete their action before proceeding. In other words, you stop and they go. Then you go. You don't lay on the horn and try to get around them putting the lives of drivers and pedestrians at risk.

Minnesotans seem to have learned to drive with different rules of etiquette. If the car ahead of them is making a left hand turn, they pass on the right, crossing the solid white line. They don't slow down. They don't stop. And God help the pedestrian walking on the shoulder at the same time, or the car ahead making a left turn into their path! I've seen cars passing on the right cut off other vehicles that patiently waited for the left turning driver.

All this led me to wonder about the "Christmas Spirit." Where does that inclination to be gracious, patient, kind, thoughtful, sensitive, caring, self-effacing come from? (Certainly not the Minnesota DMV!) The newly fallen snow, the cheerful decorations, the omnipresent music did not seem to create the fabled warmth of the season one might have expected among shoppers and staffers. Lines were long. Patience was short. Frowns were abundant. Smiles rare. Where was the "Christmas Spirit?"

Maybe it is simply too early for its appearance. Maybe there weren't enough children bundled up to their eyelids visiting Santa on the rotunda. Maybe the reason is internal and not external, so the "stuff of Christmas" is getting less effective at producing the "spirit of Christmas?"

I pushed my cart down the aisles at Walmart and thought about it. None of the externals that mark Christmas were present that night. No "price rollbacks." No "limited offer DVDs." No holiday portraits at one low price. No shopping carts, lifetime warranties, or chocolate santas. No gift receipts or express lanes (10 items only, please.)

So, what was there that night? What created the awe, the splendor, the power, the mystery, and the glory that caused Mary to "ponder these things in her heart," and the shepherds to return "glorifying and praising God?" What created the impact the world longs for and so often misses? What created the "spirit" retailers and license bureaus fail so miserably to recreate?

Three things, I think, from Luke 2:10-11. And the angel said to them. 'Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'"

First, the Christmas spirit arises in the human heart from a divine pronouncement. "The angel said to them." I love this, don't you? God could easily remain distant and quiet, withholding his thoughts and leaving us in the dark about his intents and purposes. He could leave us guessing and getting it wrong and still hold us accountable. Instead, he tells us. He shares his mind, his thoughts, his heart with us, revealing himself, even if we can only grasp a glimpse of the immensity who is God. God's pronouncements are an expression of mercy, for through them we are invited to join him, heart to heart, in the work and wonder of his being God. And that is the Christmas spirit.

Second, the Christmas spirit arises in the human spirit from the divine promise. Six hundred years before, the prophet Isaiah prophesied, spoke God's promise, and said, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." That night the angel said, "Unto you is born . . . a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." The child of promise arrived. God made good on what he told his people to expect. God proved that faith is not futile! Hope received what the heart yearned for!

Listen, if God kept this most important promise to his people, you can expect him, through faith, to keep ALL his promises, including the ones he makes in his word to YOU! Expectation of grace, and mercy, and love, and wisdom, and guidance, and justice with good reason (because God keeps his promises); that's the Christmas spirit.

Finally, the Christmas spirit arises in the human experience from the divine presence. "Unto you." That's what the angel said. "Unto you." Into your experience. Into the realm of your existence. Into the measure of your need. For your salvation. For your joy. For your hope. "Unto you a child is." Ponder it. Marvel at it. God himself comes to you, into your life to be fully present for his glory and your joy as you keep your faith in him. God does not make cameo appearances. He dwells! "Unto you a child is." Christ present in your life for glory and joy. That's the Christmas spirit.

The Christmas spirit in us arises from God actively expressing his love and character in us daily through the Son born to us, died for us, and raised for us. You know what that means, don't you? It is not the trappings of the season that initiate or motivate the Christmas spirit within us, but the reality of the Son, who is always with us. That means any day can be Christmas, and every day can be filled with the Christmas spirit!