This morning while I was in the woods,
watching for the elusive whitetail, I started thinking about this
time of year and all that it means. Not only is it the first of
December and snowing, but it's one of those rare times of the year
when all my friends are celebrating one holiday or another. So what
is it that we are celebrating? For Jews it's a celebration of Gods
deliverance from the Greeks and the miracle of 8 days of oil burning
when there shouldn't have been enough. For Christians it's the birth
of Jesus and the hope of salvation and for my Pagan friends is a
celebration of the renewal of the solar year. For Christians and
Pagans many of their holiday traditions are similar because the Roman
Catholic church copied many of the Pagans traditions as a way to try
and convince them to convert. For all three celebrations there are
lights and candles, gifts and food and music, but what is it that
really links the three groups together? What is it that all of us are
really celebrating?
I would humbly submit to you that all
three celebrations are celebrating light,life and hope.
We are celebrating these holidays at
literally the darkest time of the year. We light candles, light
fires, and put lights on our trees and on our houses all in
celebration of the holidays but also, in some ways anyhow, in
defiance of the darkness and in the knowledge that the light is going
to return.
We celebrate life in the deliverance of
the Jews from the Greeks, the birth of a savior bringing salvation to
the world and a renewal of the year as the sun starts its progress
back into the sky.
We celebrate hope that the new day will
bring a longer day, that God preforms miracles for His people, and in
a baby the grace of God came to earth.
This is not about religion, this isn't
even really about the holidays themselves. It's about what we all
have in common. We spend to much time looking at our differences and
trying to claim superiority over each other and yet in our hearts and
in our celebrations we show that we are not so different after all.
Blessings to all.