What does it mean to celebrate Christmas?

Is it all about parties, get-togethers, shopping, giving and receiving gifts, cooking, baking, hangovers, and bills to pay afterward?

I was struck by a quote from Mary Baker Eddy from her article, “What Christmas means to me.” She wrote, “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.”

The words, “…express my conception of Truth’s appearing,” grabbed my attention.

Christmas is about far more than the birth of baby Jesus. It’s about the message of spiritual truth Jesus brought to humanity from God. It was not solely Jesus, a physical person, who transformed the world, but the Christ, Truth, Jesus taught and lived. The two are inseparable, but to catch the true meaning of Christmas, one must think beyond a material birth to the divine idea that appeared through the life and teaching of Jesus. The divine idea included the truth that we are all spiritual, we are all children of God, loved and upheld by divine grace, just as Jesus proved and taught us how to find.

To celebrate Christmas is to live true to our spiritual selfhood as Jesus so ably exemplified, and to let it appear vividly through our thoughts, words, and actions.

This is why I believe Eddy wrote, “I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, benevolence, charity,…” because these forms of observance allow thought to get still with God and discern the appearing of Christ, or Truth, within. It cultivates a ready state of mind that allows the true meaning of Christmas to surface.

Then she outlined the outward form this appearing takes in her life as, “…letting good will towards man, eloquent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception of Truth’s appearing.”

Christmas is not a social event. It’s not the 25th of December. It’s not about attending parties, events, and programs. It’s not about living up to the commercial and consumer expectations of secular society. It’s about the appearing of Christ in our lives and examples.

To follow through with this high vision, I’ve been asking myself, “How is Truth appearing in my life this holiday? What is the outward evidence of it? How are other people’s lives being positively affected by it?”

I’ve made some changes in the way I think about Christmas. I want to be a better influence on others. I want to help others more effectively, and I’ve decided I need less for myself.

What’s your vision for Christmas?