Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease
Third Verse to “O Holy Night”
On this Christmas morning, my wife and I were gleefully enjoying breakfast while singing a few Christmas songs.
As we were singing the third verse to O Holy Night, a clear and deep conviction fell on both of us. We were first caught by the beauty of the verse and secondarily caught by the true spirit of Christmas penned in this verse.
It was at this moment when I have never felt more of a need for us as Christians to fight for Christmas.
And when I say “fight for Christmas”, I am not talking about the cultural wars we have placed in America to get people who aren’t religious to recite our spiritual mantras. What I am saying is that there is a great and desperate need for us to fight for the message of Christmas in our world.
As I think of what happened this year, with school shootings, mall shootings, the massacre of San Bernardino, the hatred stewing up from our political campaigns, our systemic and personal racism, police violence, and not to mention of the international tragedies happening in the world, we are in desperate need for the message of Christmas.
The message of Christmas is this: the Messiah entered into the world and served as the means for us to be reconciled to God and to be reconciled to each other.
It is as the carol says, “The slave is our brother and in his name all oppression shall cease.”
In a season already drowned in secularistic materialism, can I suggest that we as Christians need to fight for Christmas?
No, not in cultural or political battles. We need to fight for the message of peace of Christmas.
Yes, we need to fight the tide of violence and hatred of world with a demonstration of the love of Jesus that he taught the world in his time here through both his teachings and his life.
The love that turns the other cheek, the love compels humility, the love that confesses our waywardness, the love that forgives, the love that heals broken relationships, the love that heals generational bitterness and hatred–this is the love and message of Christmas.
This Christmas, I am more and more sure that it is the love of Jesus which what our world needs. Not in the form of Christmas cards or religious decorations, but in the form of his selfless love exemplified through his church.
May God put a fight within us to fight for Christmas this season. Because, as I see it more and more, the world needs what it brings.
