It may seem odd to wish people a Christian Christmas but the usual Christmas greetings can feel a little shallow. What is it we wish people? A Merry Christmas implies more than the odd glass of Sherry. A Happy Christmas ignores the fact that Christmas isn’t a happy time for many people. A blessed Christmas is too full of jargon and is too fluffy. So what should we wish people?
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. It depends on who you are talking to, how well you know them, whether they are people of faith. I use all the above Christmas greetings and some others too, depending on who I’m talking or writing to. On the assumption that if you are reading this blog post you are most likely to be a Christian I would like to wish you a Christian Christmas.
What do I mean by that? I do wish you a Merry and a Happy Christmas but I want to wish you more than that. My wish is that during this Christmas period you will find time to relax and reflect. In the midst of the celebrations with friends and family, the opening and giving of presents, of enjoying a festive feast, that you will know again the real meaning of Christmas.
Speaking to people on the streets in the run-up to Christmas many people told me that Christmas is all about the children. My reply is that it’s actually all about ‘the child.’ The child who, in the words of Philippians 2 v 6-7; “being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” And why? So that we might know God.
