This Christmas, Keep It Real

We all have our own Christmas traditions - things that must happen every year in order for Christmas to be Christmas. We get the tree on this date, we attend this Christmas show, we watch this Christmas special on TV, we view our Christmas movies in this order. We arrange it all in hopes that Christmas will feel like Christmas. I think that what we really long for, what I know I long for this time of year, is that Christmas be meaningful and real. That it affect me personally, emotionally, spiritually. This is a high standard to set for Christmas because there are so many artificial things involved and so many people with an interest in selling us on the idea that we can ‘purchase’ a real and meaningful Christmas.

I recently received an email reminding the Church that it might be time to order new candles for the Christmas Eve service. In the email they advertised different kinds of candles that could be purchased, and as I scrolled down I saw something that I never thought I would see, something unimaginable – fake, plastic candles. Yes, you can buy plastic, battery-powered candles to hold as you sing Silent Night, complete with “white plastic flame tip for elegant and realistic look when candle is on or off!” And a “flame that flickers like a real flame!”

They sell these because real candles pose a risk – namely of burning down the church, or at least Aunt Mable’s petticoat. But we use real candles because we want the real thing, risk and all. During Advent, as we prepare for Christ’s coming, if we want this season to be real and meaningful, it make require us to take some risks. To find quiet time, to pray, to search our past, present, and future, and make our hearts and minds a place where Jesus has room to stay. As John says about Christ: “In him was life,^* and the life was the light of all people” (John 1:4). Let’s allow that light to shine on us this year. It might expose some unpleasant things, but it’s worth the risk – it always is if you want the real thing.

Just like a candle – but without the flame, wax, or heat!