The week before Christmas, my neighbor walked in my back door and found me making Christmas cookies and singing, “Let us sing of Easter gladness” (Frances Thompson Hill, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 171). She laughed and said I had my holidays mixed up.
But did I? Aren’t Jesus’ nativity (Christmas) and his resurrection (Easter) inextricably linked? If Christ Jesus had not come, he could not have been resurrected, proving for all mankind that God is the Life of man, and Love the master of hate. And had he not fulfilled his God-appointed mission, we wouldn’t be celebrating his birth.
It seems to me that anyone giving thoughtful attention to these two momentous events would come to see their undeniable link; and pondering that Christ-link more deeply would make Christmas even more meaningful—the Christ more alive and important in our lives—than ever. It certainly has for me. It also gives me an inner peace and love for mankind that all the busyness and commercialization of Christmas cannot take away.
