At this festive season, thought turns instinctively to the true meaning of Christmas. Without all the present- giving, family gatherings and merry-making, what is left? As ever in time of need, I turned to Mrs. Eddy’s writings to see what she has to say about Christmas.
In her book, Miscellany, our Leader writes in part, “Observed by material sense, Christmas commemorates the birth of a human, material, mortal babe – a babe born in a manger amidst the flocks and herds of a Jewish village. This homely origin of the babe Jesus falls far short of my sense of the eternal Christ, Truth, never born and never dying. Christmas represents the Christ too much to submerge itself in merely temporary means and ends. I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, eloquent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception of Truth’s appearing”.
Each year, with the approach of Christmas, I love to companion with a beautiful poem called CHRIST BE IN YOUR CHRISTMAS, written by Jill Gooding. In due course, the poem was set to music by Andrew Brewis. I love to sing along with it as we prepare for Christmas...the first lines of the poem just encapsulate the very essence of this holy season:
“Christ be in your Christmas, heaven in your home, radiance, rejoicing Emmanuel is known...”
The video of the poem has been online, on YouTube, for over a decade... just type in CHRIST BE IN YOUR CHRISTMAS, by Jill Gooding, and you will be able to enjoy this inspirational and healing message in all its glory.
In a letter to her household in December, 1909, Mrs. Eddy wrote, “I wish you all a very happy Christmas, a feast of Soul and a famine of sense”.