Christmas is a joyous season. It illustrates the coming of the Christ to human consciousness, and it is therefore sacred in its significance. Perhaps some have been educated to believe that a sacred occasion is sad, even joyless. But the angel's message on that first Christmas morn at Bethlehem belies this belief. The angel of the Lord, the strong, swift messenger of Truth, declared to the wondering shepherds watching their flocks (Luke 2:10): "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." This solemn and sacred nativity was to be one of great joy embracing all people.
Have Christians lost some of the sacred significance of Christmas? If so, Christian Science will restore it. Mary Baker Eddy writes in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 260), "In Christian Science, Christmas stands for the real, the absolute and eternal,—for the things of Spirit, not of matter."
We love to spend Christmas with our family and friends, to gather round an open fire, and also to give pleasure and comfort to the lonely and the aged. But there is more in Christmas than that. It is a season in which we may draw nearer to God through the Christ and demonstrate the evidence of the Christ in our thought and actions. We may follow our Leader's example. She says (ibid., p.262), "I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, eloquent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception of Truth's appearing."
