“He gave himself for us,
that he might redeem us from all iniquity,and purify unto himself a
peculiar people.” Titus 2:14
Christmas is
our American family holiday. Or maybe
better, it’s the holiday when we all aim to cobble together, if only for a few
candlelit hours, the version of family we would really like to be. Expectations are ratcheted up by Norman
Rockwell paintings, sentimental holiday movies, and “There’s No Place Like Home
for the Holidays,” and most of our families have at least one special “holiday
person,” who seems to live for the thrill of whipping the whole spectacle into
shape each year.
Most
families have Christmas rituals, even if they aren’t otherwise all that
ritualistic. There’s a certain way we
open gifts. Decorations go in certain
places. The main meal is always served
at the same time (and we simply can’t imagine how anyone would do it another
way). A few of you may have ended up
here this evening for reasons that run along these same lines.
