I’ve enjoyed forty-five Christmases. All forty-five have been spent with family. All forty-five have had beautiful decorations, presents under the tree, and a feast on the table. So when one of my sons prayed that we might have a good Christmas, I took pause. I thought to myself, “Of course we will have a good Christmas.” We always have a good Christmas. A good Christmas … what is that?

I have friends this Christmas season who are grieving. I have friends who will struggle to provide Christmas gifts and still pay their bills. I have friends who are busy grappling with a diagnosis, rather than grappling with their Christmas list. Will all these have a good Christmas? It hardly seems possible.

How can I really ensure my family has a good Christmas? If having a good Christmas is dependent on what I am able to provide, it is not Christmas at all. It’s just a “happy holiday” or a meaningless, winter vacation with presents.

But it is Christmas, and a good Christmas is not dependent on what I can make happen. It is dependent upon the Christ of Christmas and what God has already made happen for all people.

Luke 2:10-11 declares, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Good news? Great joy? A Savior? For All people? That’s a good Christmas.

Matthew 1:21-23 says, “‘She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:  ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).”

Saved from our sinfulness? God with us? That’s a good Christmas.

Isaiah 9:2-6 proclaims, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

People in darkness now see light? Increased joy? Oppressive yoke shattered? Given a wonderful Counselor, a God who is mighty, a good forever Father, and a peaceful Prince? That is a good Christmas.

When we rightly contemplate what Christmas is, is it even possible to have a bad Christmas? 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer spent one of his final Christmases in a Nazi prison. On the first Sunday of Advent that year he wrote to his parents, “The Altdorfer nativity scene, in which one sees the holy family with the manger amid the rubble of a collapsed house … is particularly timely. … Even here one can and ought to celebrate Christmas despite the ruins around us.” 

Other Scriptures that came to mind as I considered a good Christmas:

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never becomes faint or weary;
there is no limit to his understanding.
29 He gives strength to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Youths may become faint and weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)

3 You will keep the mind that is dependent on you
in perfect peace,
for it is trusting in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
because in the Lord, the Lord himself, is an everlasting rock! (Isaiah 26:3-4)

12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it. 

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone, was coming into the world., 10 He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. 

14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ “) 16 Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, 17 for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him. (John 1:1-18)

16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God. (John 3:16-21)

If you are looking for a rich Advent devotional, may I recommend “God is in the Manger” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.