When Winter Never Gets to Christmas

In C.S. Lewis’ delightful children’s book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy find themselves in the enchanted land of Narnia. It’s a wintry land, all ice and snow, with not a hint of sunshine or warmth. It is a bleak and hopeless place where winter never ends.

Lucy, the youngest of the children, observes that in the land of Narnia it is always winter but never gets to Christmas. For Lucy there was nothing to look forward to in Narnia, except endless days of bitter cold and oppressive dreariness.

I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe while still a teenager, but Lucy’s words have left a lasting impression on me—always winter but never gets to Christmas. Lucy, in her child-like innocence, comes up with a profound insight about the magical land she has found herself in: The cold and dreary days of winter are made far more bearable by the anticipation of Christmas.

Lucy is not so much complaining about the cold that occurs during the winter season—after all, Christmas falls just after the winter solstice with months of frigid temperatures ahead—what Lucy bemoans is the absence of a certain state of mind that surfaces during the Christmas season. The promise of the Christ Child gives birth to hope, joy, love, and peace in a world that is often cruel and foreboding. Without Christmas the world would be stuck in perpetual winter, a much darker and less hopeful place. Lucy realizes that the bleakest winter can be endured when the warmth of Christmas lives within us.

We’ve all experienced something of the Spirit of Christmas Lucy describes, haven’t we? During the month of December many people seem to be a little more charitable, a little more patient, a little more forgiving. People greet complete strangers with a pleasant, “Merry Christmas!” Patrons leave a larger tip on their tab. There are more smiles on people’s faces and the laughter of little children warms the heart of the coldest cynic.

I like to think that the reason for this more sensitive and optimistic disposition has something to do with the life born in Bethlehem so many years ago. The kindest, most gentle and caring man ever born walked upon the earth to show us a different, more fulfilling way to live.

He taught that it is more blessed to give than receive. His council to do unto others as you would have them do unto you challenged human nature’s prevailing self-centeredness. He even overturned conventional economic wisdom by teaching that the road to human fulfillment was found not in the accumulation of riches for oneself, but in the sharing of God’s bounty with the less fortunate.

And Jesus was just getting started. His teachings were so radical that the well-connected and privileged viewed him as a threat to their way of life. When he taught his followers to love their enemies, the authorities criticized him as a bleeding-heart liberal. When he proclaimed that God loved all the peoples of the world, that there were no throw-away or garbage people, the religious establishment was outraged, as it undermined their provincial theological dogma that some people were chosen by God, while others were rejected.

According to the Old Testament and the New, Jesus was so keenly sensitive, compassionate, and empathetic to the people around him, it was said of him, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench”( Isa. 42:3; Matt. 12:20). Quite simply, Jesus lived his life “doing good” (Acts 10:38).

Jesus spent his earthly existence modeling a life he encouraged others to follow. “Follow me,” he said over and over again. If Jesus encouraged his followers to live as he did, where can we find such people today?

We hear of a few people, from time to time, who appear to have taken Jesus’ words seriously, people like Francis of Assisi or Mother Teresa, or maybe the neighbor down the street who volunteers his time at a homeless shelter, but overall there are precious few people who have taken Jesus’ teachings to heart.

The wonderful Catholic writer, G.K. Chesterton, quipped, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” The long history of the church, sadly, underscores Chesterton’s comment. It’s easy to profess one’s faith in Jesus; but to live the life that he taught . . . now that is something else entirely.

G.K. Chesterton

Maybe that’s one reason why the church instituted such holy days as Lent and the Season of Advent. By the late 4th century or so, many within the church community realized that Christianity was becoming more a creed to believe than a way of life to follow. Christians needed a refresher course in the Jesus Way, especially before the Christmas and Easter seasons, to more faithfully walk in his footsteps.

The Season of Advent was designed to give people time to reflect, meditate, pray, and change their ways to prepare for the coming of Christmas. Clearly, Advent serves as a reminder for Christians to recommit to the Jesus Way.

Unfortunately, many churches skip Advent altogether and spend the entire month of December celebrating only the birth of Jesus. The Christmas season becomes just one long birthday party, with little to no emphasis on how the life of the one born in the manger invites us to follow a radically new way of living.

It is in following the Jesus model that infuses Christmas with love, joy, peace, and hope. Without these gifts of grace to warm our hearts, Christmas is just another day, and it will remain always winter and never get to Christmas.