Treasuring Christ through Our Christmas Traditions

Pastor Dillon Thornton

What Christmas Means

In a lesser-known essay, entitled, “What Christmas Means to Me,” C.S. Lewis says that several things go by the name of Christmas. One is a religious celebration, focused on Christ. Another is a popular holiday, an occasion for partying and merry-making. Third is “the commercial racket,” the endless interchange of presents. “The modern rule,” Lewis writes, “is that anyone can force you to give him a present by sending you a quite unprovoked present of his own. It is almost a blackmail.” The result is that “long before December 25th everyone is worn out— physically worn out by weeks of daily struggle in overcrowded shops, mentally worn out by the effort to remember all the right recipients and to think out suitable gifts for them.” 

Can you relate to Lewis? Do you sometimes find the Christmas season exhausting, frustrating, draining? Maybe it’s because you’ve been mis-celebrating. If we devote December to hosting extravagant parties, hanging thousands of lights, and shopping for the perfect gifts, we’ve missed the heart of the holiday. This is the stuff of the season, according to our favorite Christmas movies: the Kranks’ famous Christmas party in Christmas with the Kranks; Clark Griswold and his lights in Christmas Vacation; the Turbo Man toy in Jingle All the Way. But most cinematic stories miss the deeper meaning and the more transformative activity of the season. The Christmas season is an occasion for worship; Advent is a time to celebrate Jesus, because of who he is and what his arrival means for us.

 What We Repeat, We Reinforce

Most of us have holiday traditions, long-established practices that resurface every Christmas season. What we repeat, we reinforce. As you think about your traditions, which meaning of Christmas are you reinforcing? Do the bulk of your traditions bolster the idea that Christmas is a popular party? An endless interchange of gifts? Or are your traditions cementing the deeper meaning of the season in your own heart and in the hearts of your children and grandchildren? 

Here are three practices that can help you and your family treasure Christ during the Christmas season: 

1. An Advent Wreath

The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” It’s the season of the year, taken up by the four Sundays before Christmas, in which the church celebrates the two comings of Christ: first, his coming through his incarnation in Bethlehem, and second, his future coming to complete his plan for the world. Advent, then, is a time of celebration and anticipation, a time for looking back and for leaning forward. 

Many churches include an Advent wreath and candles as part of their corporate worship times during the month of December. We do so at Faith Church. In addition to this, my family places an Advent wreath and candles at the center of our table in our home. Each Sunday afternoon, we do our own short Advent reading and light one of the candles. It’s a simple yet formative practice. Advent candles and devotionals are readily available on Amazon. The devotionals by Sinclair Ferguson, Paul David Tripp, and John Piper are a great place to start.

2. A Jesse Tree

The Jesse Tree takes its name from Isaiah 11:1: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” Jesse was the father of King David. The Jesse Tree seeks to tell the story of God’s redemptive plan for the world through twenty-five symbols from the Old and New Testaments. As a basic guide, we use Dean Lambert-Smith’s The Advent Jesse Tree, which provides a list of all the symbols/ornaments that need to be purchased or made (e.g., a globe, an apple, an ark) and Scripture readings and brief devotions to help you explain each symbol.  

3. Special Advent Reading

One of my boys’ favorite Christmas traditions is reading C.S. Lewis’The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. On the chilly nights (which we don’t get many of in FL), we gather around the firepit in our backyard and we read about the White Witch that has all of Narnia under her thumb, making it always winter and never Christmas. We read about Aslan, the Great Lion who defeats the Witch’s evil and triumphs over death. We read of Aslan, and we talk about Jesus. We get lost in the story of Narnia, and we find ourselves more grateful for all our Savior has done for us.