Christmas Focus

Twice-Stolen Joy

Perhaps I love the season so much because, growing up, Christmas sometimes felt like a stolen joy.

In my church world, exuberant Christmas celebration was often approached cautiously: December 25 was not regarded as the actual date of Christ's birth, and some traditions that had gathered around the season were viewed with reservation. The government of the day had reservations of its own about imported Western influences.

None of it worked. Christmas came anyway.

And, as I remember it, some of the very people expected to maintain those reservations could be among the most joyful participants when Christmas actually arrived. We were, in that sense, enjoying a twice-stolen joy — and enjoying it rather unapologetically.

Beneath the humour lies something deeper. For me, Christmas has never depended upon believing that Christ was born on December 25. Its spiritual power lies in what the season asks us to remember: that God entered human experience in humility; that hope can appear in unlikely places; that faith, generosity, reconciliation and love remain possible. And Christmas gives those ideas a home.