Of all the national holidays we celebrate, Christmas is the most ancient, pre-dating our American genesis by about 14 centuries as a Christian celebration. Some of the associated lore goes back nearly another millennia as part of the Roman winter solstice festival of Saturnalia.
Longevity adds a distinct weight to Christmas; it's the singular season during which we sing songs, read verse and prose, and carry on customs from hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
The world has changed immensely since America's inception in the 18th century. We can scarcely conceive the true magnitude of its changes delving back five and 10 times further into human history. Life at the time of the Christ-child's birth is essentially beyond our imagination.
Christmas is old and resilient, and also uniquely transcendent in a geopolitical sense. For more than two billion people across 160 countries, it's the signature holiday and/or holy day of the year.
Given the enormity of its proportions, religiously and culturally, it's natural to view Christmas through a grotesquely oversized "big deal" lens. Besides being the consummate event at the core of the world's largest religion, it is master of the annual almanac. No day has more than 24 hours, but December 25 looms largest by every other measure.
With its trappings and gift traditions, it dominates the retail economy; indeed, nearly every shopping and buying experience in the fourth quarter is "Christmatized." It commands even greater regality in Christian denominations, organizations and churches.
Christmas has ubiquitous awareness and near-universal adoption in the U.S.: 90 percent of Americans will celebrate next Wednesday.
Add all the religious pomp and circumstance to the retail circus and chaotic commotion, and there's not a superlative adjective big enough to accurately describe its predominance.
That's our reality today. There is simply so much to do and be done: decorations to be put up, gifts to be bought and wrapped, parties to attend, cards to send, dinners to be made, families to visit. From musical presentations and theatrical productions to parades and lighting displays to work functions and church services, there's hardly a spare moment to give--or think.
But we need a little thought this Christmas, perhaps more this year than in many recently past. We need to remember not only what Christmas was at its start, but how it unfolded.
Whether you believe in the divinity of the Nativity or not doesn't change the details of its story, and the accompanying significance of those particulars.
The notion of God sending a Messiah to Earth via a poor couple in a stable runs counter to every "big deal" instinct of our consumerist consciousness and social hierarchy today. The point that Christmas first came to the "have nots" is a lost fact that desperately needs resurrection.
There were important places and people back at that time. The Jewish temple in Jerusalem was imposing and revered; religious officials were pious and ceremonial and held in high esteem. The Roman Empire erected palaces from whence it ruled and taxed the people, and magistrates and consuls wielded significant power and influence.
Yet it's revelatory and telling that in the story of the first Christmas, the good news of great joy to all wasn't channeled through a high priest or Caesar. On the contrary, it was proclaimed by word of mouth starting with lowly shepherds, who were arguably near the lowest rung of society in those parts.
In the beginning, Christmas circumvented the rich and famous and powerful. It's a story of ordinary people, in less than optimum conditions, dealing with stressful situations but still rising to the occasion. The faithful understand that stripping away of worldly pretense as reflective of our common humanity as creatures of God.
How an event so small and remote and disconnected from the social, religious and political order and structure of the day could wind up eventually eclipsing it does seem, well, miraculous.
There is also an e pluribus unum characteristic of Christmas that endears its spirit to a democratic people. It's one holiday, invitational to all, out of which many can approach, enjoy and share.
Few examples testify to the unifying potential of Christmas more profoundly than the impromptu "truce" among entrenched opposing troops on the western front in the early months of World War I.
Following a Christmas Eve of carol-singing across the lines, some German soldiers rose from their trenches unarmed the next morning, and called out "Merry Christmas" in English. The British, initially wary of trickery, responded in kind and the Great War was put on hold for a few hours while foot-soldiers exchanged gifts and good tidings.
Miracles of the heart can happen anytime, and we never know how far their resulting ripples can reach. Or how deeply they might reverberate across space and time.
Christmas reminds us to pay more attention to them, inspires us to be more open to them. Christmas instructs us to look for them, in keeping with the timeless truth that he who looks will find.
May you seek and find Christmas this year in little places and ways you never expected.
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Dana D. Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.
Editorial on 12/20/2019