SAYING
YES ON CHRISTMAS

Topics: Christmas; God’s Sovereignty; Hope; Incarnation; Providence; Salvation

Reference: 2 Corinthians 1:18–20

Songs, good feelings, beautiful liturgies, nice presents, big dinners, and sweet words do not make Christmas. Christmas is saying yes to something beyond all emotions and feelings. Christmas is saying yes to a hope based on God’s initiative, which has nothing to do with what I think or feel. Christmas is believing that the salvation of the world is God’s work and not mine.

—Henri Nouwen, New Oxford Review (November 1986)