Article December 24, 2018 Issue

A fresh look at observing Christmas

Margaret Mayer

After a friend of mine used the word observe to describe his religious and family traditions, I gave some deeper thought to what it means to observe, to celebrate and acknowledge, Christmas. When I “observe” Christmas, what do I see?

I began my exploration with the Bible. Starting in the Old Testament, it was the prophets—keen spiritual observers—who predicted a coming salvation. Like the first pale light of dawn, these prophets glimpsed the dawning of salvation that Christ Jesus would usher into the world.

In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy defines prophet as “a spiritual seer; disappearance of material sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth” (p. 593). It is a role we can embrace today. And if we are to be spiritual seers, then observing Christmas requires spiritual vision and a putting aside of mortal concepts. Giving our attention primarily to a spiritual view of Christmas leads us to embrace holiday activities—decorations, shopping, food, parties, etc.—in the most helpful, balanced way. To do this, we need to look deeper to observe the facts of spiritual truth that are fundamental to the dawn of Christianity and were welcomed in by Christ Jesus’ birth.