Somewhere or other I read/heard the contrast between: the annual polite requests-appeals-strident demands that maintain the effort to keep Christ in Christmas, or to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season, or to correct someone who wishes you season’s greetings or happy holidays that they should be saying merry Christmas; and the fact that it’s not up to us to keep Christ in Christmas because we didn’t put him there in the first place.
God did that.
God entered creation in the incarnation when nobody really wanted Him to come.
It’s helpful to remember that we didn’t want Jesus either until God placed His Spirit in our hearts.
The (intentional or accidental) sidelining of Jesus from celebrations of His own birth is an annual metaphor of the circumstances of His first coming.
He won’t receive the recognition or welcome He deserves until His second coming.
And that second coming will also depend on God, not us.
So, whatever it is Christians observe about attitudes to Jesus this time of year underlines the spiritual reality we face until our Lord’s return.
God became incarnate and entered creation with humility, grace and love.
Our lives are meant to be a reflection of the incarnated love that comes to those who aren’t expecting it.
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