IT'S CHRISTMAS ONCE AGAIN!

One of the most loved season of the year…

One of the memorable time of the year …

One of the fondest memories apart from our birthdays …

One of the glorious messes that we create in our living rooms during the year …

For all these, we have only one possible answer:

It’s Christmas once again!

Christmas brings along wonderful memories of our younger past.

-         Brand new clothes for the festive season

-         Carols of the bells around the corner

-         Sweet sound of the beautiful choir singing Jingle Bells

-         Frosty and  chilly atmosphere that adds beauty to the season

-         Evergreen Christmas tree laden with gifts and cards and angels and stars and bells… You would never ever exhaust exploring the tree.

-         Of course, the night Vigil service in our parishes in the open ground where our elders are busy listening to the sermon while the young ones run around the mighty crib.

None of these things have changed even the least. And none can deny the vibrating positive memories of christmas.

I remember listening to a song “Christmas Time” by Bryan Adams and those meaningful words still linger in my mind even today. It goes this way:

There's something about Christmas time
something about Christmas time
that makes you wish it was Christmas everyday

To see the joy in the children's eyes
the way that the old folks smile
says that Christmas will never go away

It’s Christmas once again. We have seen it year after year.

What’s so special about it?

What does Christmas mean to you?

Or is it just a ritual of fun and frolic every year?

Are our homes like the INN that is so busy with celebrations and have no place for Jesus or

Are we one of the STABLE few to welcome Jesus amidst us?

I feel personally that Christmas is a necessity for every christian because there has to be at least a single day of the year to remind us that we are here for someone else besides ourselves.

The Great Physicist Albert Einstein rightly articulated it:

There are only two ways to live our lives.

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

Other is as though everythig is a miracle.

I would put life this way: Life is like a rollercoster. It has its ups and downs. But its your choice to SCREAM or ENJOY the ride.

Everything about Christmas too seems like an accident.

-         A decree from Caesar Augustus

-         An Angel appearing to Mary

-         A virgin becoming Pregnant

-         An Angel coming to Joseph in a dream

-         A baby who will be called Immanuel

-         A star in the east

-         Magis showing up in Jerusalem  

-         A trip to Bethelehem

-         An INN that was full

-         A stable that was available

-         Gifts of gold, frankincense and Myrrh

You can see them as accidents or you can cherish them as Divine plan.

So does our Christmas every year. They are not incidents or accidents but part of divine plan.

We may not see Santa Claus putting the presents under the tree but his works through us each time we give freely without expectation and each time we spread Joy, Love and Light.

When you start to feel like, things should have been better this year, remember the mountains and valleys that got you here. They are not accidents and those mountains were not in vain.

You are not the same. You have grown and you are growing.

You are breathing and you are living.

You are wrapped in endless boundless grace.

There is more to this Christmas than the previous.

I would like to end this message with the beautiful quote from Elizabeth Barret Browning:

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries

Sometimes, it may be the beautiful crib, around which we may celebrate so much and miss Jesus during Christmas.

May the good lord find a place in you so that you make everyday a Christmas for someone.

Merry Christmas!