“Almighty God,
you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word:
Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God,
now and for ever. Amen.”

This year, I want to linger on Christmas. I don’t mean I want to keep the decorations up all year (though the thought is a little tempting), but I want to keep the meaning and spirit of Christmas alive in my heart well beyond December into the new year.

It’s so easy to pack everything away and move on. But we forget how monumental that first Christmas night was. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything, changed. God became human in the form of a tiny infant. That infant grew up to be the Savior of the world.

Because of Jesus, there’s no longer a veil between us and God. We are told we can enter boldly into the throne room of God because of Jesus being the Perfect High Priest who was also the Perfect Sacrifice and who lives forever to make intercession for us.

We no longer need to go through a priest or a minister but we can go directly to God. We now have the Holy Spirit who prays for us within us when we have no words. We have a certain hope now of a glorious future and God’s presence with us here and now.

Christmas will always mean that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Thank You, Jesus.