What happened to Christmas?

What happened to Christmas?
The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 NIV
I went to a Christmas musical at a church. The performers dressed as if they had been pulled right from the pages of a Charles Dickens book. They danced and sang the carols that one might expect. If you can believe it, the stage hands even created a gentle snow fall among the performers. After twenty minutes of dancing and cheer, I suddenly became skeptical. I started thinking about how some people aren’t having a holiday filled with wonder and merriment. Some are struggling with loneliness, illness and loss. I was wondering why a church would put on such an elaborate display without any spiritual insight? I sat there contemplating, “What happened to the real reason for Christmas?” And at just that moment, the performers literally fell to the floor, the music stopped and the stage went black. After a long theatrical pause, a spot light erupted from the darkness and followed the pastor as he moved onto the stage. The pastor asked, "How did the real Christmas story get lost in all of this?"
I think a lot of people like the idea of “X-Mas” or the “Holiday Season” because neither of those titles demands of us a choice. Neither of those titles calls us to remember the humble beginnings of God’s first moments in the flesh. When we remove Christ from Christmas, we no longer have to deal with the reality of Jesus and what it means to ignore him.
Some may think of Christmas as a one day a year event. Some see the holiday as an opportunity to enjoy a few days off from work. But for the believer, Christmas isn’t a once a year festival, it is a daily event. We aren’t filled with hope, cheer and good will towards men once a year, but we walk in it daily. For believers do not walk in darkness, but in the illumination of Christ. Jesus said that he came into the world to bring light to mankind (John 8:12). I think that Jesus came to bring our minds out of the darkness of sin and into the light which is the knowledge of God. And that is something truly worth celebrating!