Sometimes it feels like the real meaning of Christmas gets a bit lost in the midst of the decorations, presents and whirl of activities surrounding the end-of-the-year festivities.

Christmas literally means Christ’s mas, the birth (mas) of Christ. For Christians, Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation, that Jesus the Christ was born into human history to salvage (save) the world.

Our Eastern Christian siblings prefer to celebrate Epiphany with the coming of the Magi, than Christmas, which is more the focus for Western Christians.

Epiphany was celebrated much earlier in the history of Christianity as a day of “theophany,” a day of the revelation of God’s light and power in Jesus as the Christ. Epiphany’s themes of light coming into the world and the presence of God through the person of Jesus speak to our need for light and God’s presence in the longer days of darkness.

The stories of Christmas, found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, are lovely and tender stories of a baby born into a world filled with strife, who came to bring a different kind of peace.

But they have a gritty side as well. The baby with his humble parents was forced to flee from a despot who sought such absolute control that he felt threatened by a child. They were a family of immigrants for a time in a land where the language was not their own. And over the whole story looms the specter of a cross, the Roman instrument of torture for insurrectionists.

This season, take some time to read the stories in Matthew 1 and 2 and Luke 1 and 2. Consider what challenges they bring.

If you would like to receive daily texts or emails to help prepare your heart for Christmas, call Rochelle United Methodist Church at 815-562-2164 and we’ll give you the number and word to text to sign up, or you can look on our Facebook page or website.

May your Christmas this year be full of real meaning.

- Rev. Dr. Katherine Thomas Paisley, pastor, Rochelle United Methodist Church