I love Christmas Eve. For those of you who don’t know (literally everyone), I’m, actually Puerto Rican, and for Puerto Ricans, Christmas Eve is something special. I remember growing up and going to my Abuelo and Abuela’s home to eat pernil + arroz con gandules, opening gifts by the fire, going to candlelight services at church, and spending time with my extended family who were not always around. I looked forward to Christmas Eve more than Christmas morning itself, because it was a day where I got to spend time with just about everyone I cared about in this world.
I cry a little on the inside when I see people who have no where to go during the Holidays. While Christmas for most is a time of joy and love, too many it’s a time of depression, sadness, anger, etc. I’m grateful for my community, family, and those I celebrate the holidays with. It continues year after year to be my favorite time of the year because I have people around me who love me and care, which means the most.
So why Feliz Navidad? Other than picking the one Spanglish Christmas song out of principle, the message of this jingle is often glossed over. “I want to wish you a Merry Christmas,
from the bottom of my heart.” What we see here is a reference to community, appreciation for friends and loved ones, genuine caring, and the feeling we all get when we are around those special people in our lives that we care about the most. As believers, we are called to love others above all else, and in this day of age, less and less genuine love is seen across the board.
John writes, “We love because he first loved us,”, which is one of the most profound verses in the bible in my opinion. We can love and care about others as a representation of the greater love the father has for each and every one of us and what better time to show that than during the holidays. In Ephesians 3, Paul writes “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
So as we celebrate the birth of our Savior once again, chose to love. That refers to family, friends, co-workers, and yes, even people we may not like as much (or can’t stand even). The greatest example believers can set in 2019 is to love others the way Christ first loved us. The celebration of Christmas is the ultimate expression of that, a time to recognize the beginning of the hope Jesus brought, which originates from the father’s love for us, and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, which was an expression of that same love.
So Merry Christmas BASIC. I pray this holiday is a blessing and a time of joy to you and all your loved ones. May we all love others the eway Christ first loved us.