Christmas Still Shines

[As a Salvation Army advisory board member, I was asked to write the message to be included with the food and toys distributed to central Ohio families through this year’s Christmas Cheer program. I post it here for you. Merry Christmas, everyone!]

Do you remember those “2020 glasses” people wore as we rang in the new year almost twelve months ago? They were great party props, of course, but even if they had come with lenses, we still could not have envisioned the year that awaited us. A global pandemic with its spreading emotions, appalling injustices and a united outcry against them, and partisan politics to disturbing extremes even as our hearts yearn for goodness and peace—we have never experienced anything quite like 2020, have we? The year is mostly in hindsight now, and it will linger long in our memories. Yet it is not over—Christmas has come.

Christmas is certainty in uncertain times. At Christmas we remember God’s faithfulness: in sending Jesus, His Son, God kept His promise to be with us for a time and for a purpose. At Christmas we consider God’s compassion: in Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for our sins, He became hope for a hurting humanity who had no hope. At Christmas we rejoice in God’s love: all of us who place our faith and hope in Christ Jesus are welcomed as children of God. At Christmas we celebrate new life—the Spirit of God is born in us as we believe in the Son of God born to us so many Christmases ago. Christmas has come, and Christmas still shines.

Then let us welcome Christmas into our hearts, and let it be for us what Christmas can be for us. Let this be a time to pause and reflect on our promise-keeping God and His life-giving Son. May this be a time of drawing near to God through our honest prayers and His powerful Word, that we would find deep, refreshing rest for our soul. Let this Christmas be a time of forgiving others with the same restoring forgiveness we have received from God. May this be a time of teaching our children about the grace, truth and eternal life we find in Jesus. And may we set our sights not so much on what the world brings to us along the way, but on bringing to a longing world the hope that is found in Christ—certainty in uncertain times. For Christmas has come. Christmas still shines. Christmas always will.

Merry Christmas to you today and every day of the year.

Written by Paul Nordman
Advisory board member of The Salvation Army Columbus Area Services and author of two books—Christ in Me and Working in Us What Is Pleasing to Him