Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places—

Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ!

“Who will celebrate Christmas correctly?”

This was a question asked by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, celebrated German pastor and theologian who stood up to Hitler and the takeover of the German church, and lost his life doing so in the waning days of WWII. When Bonhoeffer speaks, I do my best to put everything else aside and listen.

I didn’t know, though, we had to celebrate Christmas correctly. It was never right or wrong growing up and growing older. It had always been about family and carols and Christmas Eve services and candles and gifts. Right?

As a pastor, it’s also been about working on Christmas Eve for forty-four years straight and worrying for days beforehand about the services and my message, and that all would go well. It mostly did but not all the time.

As a young pastor one Christmas Eve the sanctuary was packed to the rafters—we counted six hundred people—and somehow the other staff and I did not correctly calculate the timing and the service went over by thirty minutes! People weren’t happy. Kinda ruined the Christmas spirit. I still cringe with that one.

Another Christmas I thought it would be good if I based my meditation on scripture other than Luke 2. Not a good idea, turns out. Folks want the familiar story. Learned my lesson.

Then I read the answer to Bonhoeffer’s question and my cringe and learning turned to wonder:

“Who will celebrate Christmas correctly?

whoever finally lays down all power,

all honor, all reputation, all vanity,

all arrogance, all individualism

beside the manger.”

That’s a lot to lay down!

When people say it doesn’t feel like Christmas or they don’t feel like celebrating, or it’s not the same as it used to be, or how can we celebrate when the world’s a mess (and it always seems to be a mess), and we didn’t sing the right carols, and family couldn’t come this year, and someone got sick . . . I now have some words to ponder.

I can imagine the whole world getting into the spirit of this poem and all our honor and reputation and vanity and arrogance and individualism is stacked so high around the manger that, with it all cleared away from our own lives, we can now see each other better. Children of God. Trying to live as best we can. Holding on to hope by holding hands. Sharing compassion. Showing kindness. Talking wars out of existence.

Maybe Bonhoeffer is right. There might well be a correct way to celebrate Christmas.

Hope, peace, and joy,

Harry