Altar Decoration of Sacriston Methodist Church, 2023 "The Word became flesh and lived among us" John 1:14 Christmas is a celebration - a celebration of the miraculous birth of the baby Jesus. Matthew and Luke describe this unique historical event in their Gospels, telling us about various events that took place around the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago.  Our celebration often takes this narrative route. We focus our carols, sermons, decorations, customs, etc. on these events and characters. The themes that emerge from these events and characters are further elaborated by additional layers of tradition that have been added over the centuries. One example is the proliferation of figures around the manger in the nativity scene - the donkey representing Mary's transport to Bethlehem, the three Magi when the Bible only mentions three gifts, and the camels that brought them to Bethlehem.  Another example is the tradition of exchanging gifts to represent God's gift to...

  She [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them   - Luke 2: 7   Christmas cards without Christ! In 1954, C.S. Lewis wrote a small satirical essay entitled "Xmas and Christmas" in which he describes the commercialised side of Christmas and calls it the "Exmas Rush" which eventually wears people out and prevents them from celebrating Christmas in a meaningful way. He talks about various practices that are just "commercial racket" that is "forced upon us by the shopkeepers" (What Christmas Means to Me). Taking the example of sending Christmas cards, he says,   “…having bought as many as [the cards] they suppose to be sufficient, they return to their houses and find there the like cards which others have sent them. And when they find cards from any to whom they also have sent cards, they throw them away and give thanks to the gods that this labou...