The emotions of Christmas

The church does a joint Sunday School on Fifth Sundays. I was asked to do an introduction to the topic of "Keeping Christmas." Here are my thoughts. Keep in mind they accompany group reflection.

There is a huge let-down after Christmas. Many stores are closed. All of the presents have been given, all the stories have been told, all of the cookies have been eaten.

The holidays feel totally over and as often as it feels like a relief to have gotten through all of the stress and anxiety of the holidays, it also feels a little sad.

The excitement of Advent and Christmas filled up this big balloon, and Christmas is when the balloon popped and those days were exciting and fun and loud. But now the balloon has been popped and it lays, deflated on the ground.

How do we keep up the excitement of Christmas? We are so energized at Christmas and we have this whole “peace on earth” attitude going. There is a strong desire to give to others. How we capture that after Christmas and hold that throughout the year?

First of all, the secular world wants us to get over Christmas. As soon as the 26^th hits, the after-Christmas sales begin as does the ramp up to New Years. The secular world has its own liturgical season, and this matches up with Advent well. We both approach Christmas with lots of anticipation and excitement. But once Christmas is over, that’s it.

This is not the case for Christians, because, for us, Christmas lasts until Epiphany on January 6^th. Christmas is not just the celebration of one day, it’s part of season in the liturgical calendar. That’s why we can get away with coming to worship the Sunday after Christmas and singing a bunch of carols.

But we’re looking at making the feeling of Christmas last, not just the season. I know that you’re going to be surprised, but in cases like this, I find it helpful to turn to Scripture.

Luke 2:41-51.

Now every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

As I read this passage, I see that it gives us a method to approach the time immediately following Christmas. This is a story about Jesus getting left behind in Jerusalem when he and his parents make their yearly pilgrimage to the town. It’s kind of a surprising story, but it has some instructive parts. Notice the feelings, emotions, and actions in the story. They are strong.

Mary and Joseph as they searched – great anxiety.

When Jesus’ parents find him after searching for three days – astonished.

Everyone who heard Jesus – amazed.

When Jesus talked – understanding versus not understanding

Mary – treasured all these things in her heart.

When we read this story, we see a lot of the emotions that we might imagine as we read the birth story.

There was an incredible amount of uncertainty on the part of Joseph, Mary, the shepherds, the magi, Herod…everyone was anxious.

There was certainly astonishment – the shepherds, Joseph, Mary.

Some people in the stories seemed to understand what was happening, while many of the characters didn’t understand.

This passage ends the same way that the visit of the shepherds does in Luke. Mary treasured all these things in her heart.

I think that this passage is telling us that our faith and the way we live after Christmas should look the way it does as we prepare for Christ in advent. We are being told to experience the same emotions after Christmas that we do – these emotions of anxiety, astonishment, treasuring. To feel the same way about our lives after Christmas as we do before, we can follow the Biblical method – fill ourselves with the emotions we experience at Christmas throughout the entire year.

How do we do that?

Return our thoughts to the four weeks of Advent – Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. =

By revisiting these four themes, we can discover a method for reviving these emotions within us. These themes can stir the feelings of anxiety, astonishment, sometimes a lack of understanding. They can give us life.