Christmas Is for Adults

Christmas is for children, we say.
And, who doesn’t enjoy the look of joy and excitement on the face of a child on Christmas morning!
Of course what we celebrate with children on Christmas morning has very little, or nothing at all, to do with the stories of our faith.

Even the nativity story we all know so well is an amalgam of many diverse stories melded together nowhere in our sacred texts.

As a pastor for some 45 years, I have labored for a more educated understanding of the basic truths that underlie the stories we know so well.

At the end of the day, Christmas is important to us not primarily for children; but, because it is primarily a story for adults.

Take a look at the very earliest writings we have –
the letters of Paul and some of the writings that were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi and other places in the desert country of Egypt and Syria and Palestine,
and the very earliest Gospel in our Bible:
the Gospel of Mark – which was published around the year 70.
We actually have several texts now that were published during these early  years – during the first 75 years or so after Jesus was killed.

And, look as we may, it is obvious that none of these texts say anything at all about the birth of Jesus. 
It just was not important to them.

Yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their history,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their faith,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their life experience – in their understanding of who they were and what they to do.
Clearly, they each articulate a faith that in Jesus, they saw God incarnate – God in the flesh –
for them,  Jesus was Emmanuel – God with us.