The Restoration of Christmas
A message shared with a young man inquiring to Orthodoxy.
A little bit about the faith that I was allowed to experience for the first time yesterday…
I thought Christmas was dead after childhood. The spirit had been dying in our home. Yesterday it was reborn.
I thought I’d leave all of the late nights and long celebrations in my past when I came to the Faith. But it’s all been restored to something so much more fulfilling than any time I spent with friends at a club or with strangers in Europe.
It all comes together in the Church.
Yesterday into this morning, we broke the fast after midnight liturgy and sung hymns and carols long into the night. We feasted and celebrated with joy and reverence so fulfilling that only God’s grace is the explanation.
To paraphrase the message from Father, we celebrate that our savior came to us a small, delicate light born amidst irrational beasts in a dark cave. It was in darkness and through the pangs of childbirth that He came to us, painful yet with a gentle, warm invitation to receive Him in our arms. He encouraged us to celebrate not just the birth, but the completion of His life, from birth, through maturation unto sacrifice and finally resurrection into the promise of life eternal.
Today, we celebrate the birth of even the smallest Light in our hearts, the faintest Light in the world, and we see it even in the faithless around us. And we embrace it, and nurture it with love and joy.
God bless you brother! Hold onto the Light, even if it’s babysized and in the darkest corners of your soul. With a Mary-like love for the Lord and for each other, it will blossom into a fire that draws other near like moths to a flame.