Christmas: God and Sinners Reconciled

Hark! the herald angels sing

Glory to the new-born King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!

- Charles Wesley

Christmas is for sure a time for God and sinner to reconcile. Jesus did not come to reunite Himself with mankind 2,000 years ago as a one time thing. He is available to us every day. We Christians realize that. However, I believe there is a special grace around Christmas time for God to reconcile Himself to the lost ones around us who have not yet been united with God. Maria Lundqvist, the wife to Pastor Joakim Lundqvist of Word of Life Uppsala, opened my eyes to this fact. At the same time of growing secularism in the western world you can still here Christmas songs in stores singing about Jesus. This gives us Christians a chance to pray that as people listen to these songs their attention may be drawn to Jesus. May their curiosity be awakened! May they through prayer come to realize that there is someone who lived and died on earth for them through pure love so that they might die sin and live again with Christ.
      Recently, I have been reading angry arguments from people saying that children should not be sent to their local church by their own choice during school hours to learn about why we celebrate Christmas. These people have already had their way in having authorities to agree to discontinue distributing New Testaments to 5th grader as had been the norm for many years. People feel very much threatened by Christianity. People claim that in order to have religious freedom people, especially Christians, should not pray or say anything Christian near a non-believer lest they start to force their believes onto them. The truth is, there will never be freedom to religion in this way. Not until people learn to tolerate different people with different personalities and religions. Things will not start to change until we start to pray for the people and for our countries. Paul says in 2. Corinthians 4th chapter that our gospel is veiled to those who are perishing. The enemy has blinded

the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the Glory of Christ. That is why we see people time and time again quote biblical passages in a hateful, out-of-context manner. They read it with different glasses. The enemy has shut their eyes, so they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand (Isaiah 44:18). The lost ones need the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth as He as guided us.
      As much as we need to pray that God give sight to the blind we need to bring Jesus to people in actions. As much as non-believers fight with their words I have from experience come to realize that fighting back with Word of truth are of little use. C.S. Lewis said: "Such people (non-believers) put up a version of Christianity suitable for a child of six and make that the object of their attack. When you try to explain the Christian doctrine as it is really held by an instructed adult, they then complain that you are making their heads turn round and that it is all too complicated and that if there really were a God they are sure He would have made "religion" simple, because simplicity is so beautiful, etc. You must be on your guard against these people for they will change their ground every minute and only waste your tune." This is why we need to be creative in find ways to show people love in actions. We need to go out of our way in doing it. Christmas is SUCH a perfect time for action evangelization. It's a time of giving and blessing others. You can do anything from baking cookies for someone or buying a gift to smiling and saying "Have a wonderful holiday" to a customer stressed in the midst of Christmas shopping. We are lights in this dark world. As Lisa Bevere says: "Sometimes the most powerful words are the ones left unspoken." If you're close to God your face will shine with such a radiance that it will be hard to go unnoticed. In schools and work places I have been at it never takes people a long time to figure out that there is something different about me. I don't have to say one word. 
      I have seen many people arguing that Christmas derives from a pagan feast held by the vikings in honor of the nordic gods and that gifts, Santa Clause and christmas trees have nothing with Christianity to do. As I mentioned in the beginning, yet, they have not let go of Christmas songs that

have Jesus song all over them. I must quote C.S. Lewis again for he put the hammer directly onto the nail when he says:

"You will find this again and again about anything that is really Christian: every one is attracted by bits of it and wants to pick out those bits and leave the rest. That is why we do not get much further: and that is why people who are fighting for quite opposite things can both say they are fighting for Christianity. "

People want the good parts of Christianity but not the rest of it. Yesterday I thought about the different things people celebrate every years and all the time, such as: Christmas, Easter, Weddings, Confirmations, St. Lucia, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day... All of this has its roots in Christianity! Whether it is traced back to the Bible or people that were heroes for their faith in God. But, everyone wants some holidays from work, presents, good food, which is understandable. But let us remind people that God is the beginning and the end of everything, including the holidays we celebrate. Since Christmas is my holiday of focus in this post I will focus on the Christian aspects of it. Yes, it is true that what we call "jul, jól, yule..." is initially the name of a pagan holiday. However, when Christianity spread across the world this name was take and used for what we call "Christ-mas", the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Christmas is about Jesus. We give presents as a symbol of God giving His son to us, the greatest gift of all. Nothing is more worth and everlasting than the gift of salvation. There are different stories concerning the symbolism of the Christmas tree. One of them is that it's triangular shape reminds us of the Holy Trinity, Father, son and Holy Spirit, and how it points to heaven. Many Christians see nothing Christian about Santa Clause. However, Santa, who also goes by the name Saint Nicholas, was a historic 4th century Christian saint in whom God performed many miracles through his intercession. He was also known for secretly giving gifts and putting coins in shoes of people who left them out for him. Everything starts with Christianity.

As I mentioned in the beginning Christmas is a time for God and sinners to be reconciled. God can meet people through Christmas songs, acts of love and words from our hearts. Me and you might be the only "Jesus" someone meets. Christmas is a time where we celebrate love, salvation, truth and life entering the earth because of love. Let us reconcile ourselves to Jesus and He will resurrect our hearts to Him and His steadfast love. He will also stand behind our backs in our prayers for the lost ones. 

Merry Christmas to all and a happy time of prayer as well!

-Sahara Rós Ívarsdóttir