The True Magic of Christmas

As a professor, I’ve had the opportunity to teach many different subjects over the years. I teach courses in creation and innovation, but my favorite is teaching the creation of themed experiences. In the themed entertainment industry, it is all about bringing stories to life with the intent of putting smiles on the faces of those who experience it. This could be anything from a museum experience to a winter wonderland or themed ride. Patrons often refer to these experiences as “magic.” 

As a child, I often felt a sense of magic around the Christmas season. One memory was participating in our Christmas Eve service’s live nativity—dressing up as a shepherd and standing out in the cold alongside live donkeys and sheep. We would even bring the donkey into the church and walkdown the aisle as part of the candlelight service. It was the same sense of wonder that I often see others experience as they go through any themed experience.

But just as every theme park has a backstage area (where your favorite character may be out of costume), the magic can be easily ruined. The feeling of joy and piece that you experience is gone once you see past the facade and the music. Not surprisingly, when tragedy does strike in one of these experiences, it makes headlines.

There is a clear difference with this magic and the magic that I experienced as a child during Christmas. With Christmas, once we get past the lights, the snowmen, and the stories, we don’t enter a backlot of buildings. The true magic of Christmas—the light of Jesus coming into the world as a child—has no hidden areas. The stable is free and open. So when tragedy strikes during this season, we realize that we can grieve with hope. We can grieve knowing that peace is possible. This may be a death in the family, a broken relationship or even drama with other people in our lives.

For some of you, Christmas may not seem so magical or joyful. It may be the hardest season of the year. When we hear the angels sing, “Emmanuel, God with us,” it’s not just God on the mountain top. It’s not just God in the glittery and glossy and warm view of the Christmas season, but it’s God in the pit (Jesus was literally born in a smelly, animal stable!). It’s God when we feel trapped by our own sin, and we are sitting in the mud, broken and destitute, wondering what tomorrow will even bring.

Look at Isaiah 7:1-17. The king of Syria and Israel come up against Jerusalem to wage war against it. Ahaz, the king of Judah, then receives a visitor, Isaiah.  And what does Isaiah have to say to him?  “Do not fear and do not let your heart be faint” (7:4). Then, in verse 14, he declares “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call His name Immanuel.” In the face of attack by not just one but two kings, Isaiah tells Ahaz not to fear and that God is going to provide a virgin who will bear a son.

If God can provide us the gift of a Savior in the face of war, how much more is the gift of Jesus’ birth in whatever we face today?

But let me say this: God does not want us to manufacture joy this Christmas. God does not want us to drum up a feeling of cheer and warmth. God wants us to cry out to Him this season and every season.

So, as we go through this Christmas season, keep in mind that joy and lament can go together. We can come to the stable that has nothing fake behind it with joy and celebration, but we can also sit as His feet in grief and sorrow. He simply wants us to come to Him where we are.