Celebrating Christmas Throughout the Year

By Robin G. Jordan

How can we keep Christmas all year round, have the Christmas spirit every day of the year? How can we, like Ebenezer Scrooge, be a new man?

The first thing we can do is to be open to the Holy Spirit. The spirit of Christmas is ultimately the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit.

The second thing we can do is to feast and to make merry. If we think about it, Jesus spent a good part of his earthly ministry at banquets and weddings—at parties! His detractors called him a “glutton” and a “winebibber.” He shared the hospitality of others. In doing so, he conveyed to them through his actions that God cared about all people, not just the more religious members of Jewish society.

In the Mid-East 2000 years ago as in the Mid-East today accepting someone’s hospitality shows acceptance of the person whose hospitality one is accepting. When we accept the invitation of an unchurched friend, co-worker, neighbor, or relative to their home, we are emulating Jesus and showing our acceptance of them. We are taking an important step in a relationship that may lead to them coming to have a relationship with Jesus. The Holy Spirit works through our relationships to draw others into a relationship with God. Being a friend can indeed bring a friend to Jesus.

I am not suggesting that we use Jesus’ frequenting of banquets and weddings as a license for excessive eating and drunkenness, for the abuse of the hospitality of others. Eating together and having fun together, however, can help to cement relationships. It can also build community in a church and knit together a church family.

A third way that we can keep Christmas throughout the year is to spread Christmas cheer. Christmas cheer I suspect to many of us means hot spiced hard cider or hot Christmas punch, liberally spiked with whiskey, rum, or some other kind of “spirits,” or eggnog similarly spiked.

In the Bible “cheer” is used in the sense of to be in good spirits or to comfort or gladden. The Bible certainly countenances cheerfulness in those who trust in God. “Be of good cheer,” Jesus tells his disciples, “I have overcome the world.” As Christians we not only should seek to be cheerful but also to cheer others.

Cheerfulness is not an artificial cheeriness, a pretend geniality. Rather it is an upbeat frame of mind that takes bright views of life and chooses not to dwell upon life’s gloomier aspects.

A cheerful person has a sanguine disposition. He is habitually hopeful, expects things to go well, and usually has a word of encouragement for others. Other people are drawn by his optimistic attitude. His cheerfulness is infectious.

The cheerful Christian recognizes that God has his best interests at heart and takes comfort from this knowledge. No matter what happens to him in this life, nothing can separate him from the love of Christ.

The world has enough Puddleglums who take an overly serious view of life. What is need are more Barnabases who not only offer encouragement to their fellow Christians but also to those who do not yet know Christ. We need more Christians who are ready to answer those who asks for a reason for the hope that is in them and cheer those who ask with their answer.

A fourth thing that we can do to maintain a year-round spirit of Christmas is to be hospitable, to open our homes and to give a friendly and liberal reception to guests or strangers.

A fifth thing that we can do is to be a good friend and companion to others. We can take an interest in what is happening in their lives. We can make time for them. We can give them not only the gift of our time but also that of an attentive ear.

A sixth thing is to be generous. We share what little we have with others. We can be liberal and openhanded.

A seventh way is to be charitable toward others. This may include helping them when they need help. It may simply mean giving them the benefit of the doubt and not judging them too harshly. We are willing to forgive and not bear a grudge, to not hold past wrongs against them. It may also mean being firm and honest when firmness and honesty is what they need, speaking the truth in love.

These are not the only ways that we can have the Christmas spirit everyday. However, they are important ways. They will make us much more winsome Christians and stronger witnesses to the One whose birth we celebrate this time of year.