Article December 17, 1990 Issue

Christmas: a message that goes beyond the holidays

Immanuel, or "God with us," is the Christmas message we can experience every day of every year.

Clifford Kapps Eriksen

Some people have relegated the familiar symbols of Christmas—shepherds, wise men, a stable, and a star—to the ash heap of the past. Others have substituted newer, wholly material symbols—bright lights and aluminum Christmas trees, garlands of tinsel, and expensive gifts. Actually, none of these symbols in themselves can capture the very essence of Christmas. The yearning remains for more of the love that Christmas brings. A familiar hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal describes that longing when it says:

I love to tell the story,
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest,
I love to tell the story,
To sing the new, new song
That is the old, old story
That I have loved so long.