Article December 9, 2019 Issue

Celebrating Immanuel, ‘God with us’

Marilyn Wickstrom

Not have a Christmas tree? My grandparents, with whom I was living, tried to explain that they didn’t do Christmas trees anymore. I was shocked. The tree, with its decorations and evergreen fragrance, along with the presents underneath, had always been the centerpiece of my family’s Christmas. My grandparents relented, and we had a beautiful tree that year. I was sure I had saved Christmas for them.

Yet half a century later, my grandparents’ point of view seems perfectly acceptable to me. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love” (p. 66).

The spiritual growth I’ve experienced over the past decades has led me to see life and Christmas differently from when the holiday centered around the decorations and traditions. I still cherish wonderful memories of past Christmases—family members staying up all night putting together special gifts; setting up a little tree in my son’s bedroom; making cookies and little bread-dough figures as gifts for each of my pupils at school. But each valued family tradition that used to make Christmas come alive has given way to a deeper concept of Christmas—of Jesus’ birth as the evidence of Immanuel, “God with us.” I no longer focus so much on the symbols that used to dominate our celebrations of this beloved time of year. Instead, I honor the spiritual meaning of Jesus’ birth as the main priority.

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