Green, red, and gold are the colors of Christmas and their meaning are best expressed in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God gave his Son through the birth of Jesus Christ, who shed blood and died, so that whoever believes will receive the gift of eternal life.
What if Christmas is in the air? If we can breathe this air everyday and believe, our daily struggles can be “redeemed from insignificance.”
What if Christmas is in the air?
As a child, Christmas is an event that I look forward to. Christmas gave me a feeling of wonderful joy. I liked the singing of Christmas songs and the showing of Christmas films. I liked the hanging of Christmas lanterns and the setting up of Christmas tree. I delighted at the blinking Christmas lights everywhere and at the Christmas displays featuring either the birth of Jesus in a manger with angels and the three wise men or Santa Claus with his team of flying reindeer and toy-making elves. I cheered at the fun activities lined up, applauded at the promised gifts, and drooled at the thought of the delectable meals and all sorts of delightful desserts I got to feast on only on Christmas day.
With the cool breeze blowing on my face, I look expectantly at the gold-speckled mountain side from my terrace. Christmas is in the air. I have learned that gold is one of the colors of Christmas and that it signifies God's gift of eternal life. In Baguio City, the sunflowers that yellow the mountain slopes are among the early signs that the Christmas countdown has began.
As the nights stretch longer, the green star-shaped leaves of Poinsettias are crowned with flaming red blossoms. All the time, Poinsettias stay green but they pick such a fine time to turn red when Christmas is in the air. In my mind, they replay the story of a miracle that happened to a poor little girl with no means to present a gift for the celebration of the birthday of Jesus. The story tells that an angel prompted the little girl to gather weeds from the roadside and offer them as her birthday gift to Jesus. The little girl believed. Red blossoms sprouted from the weeds sometime after the little girl had put them at the church altar. The weeds became beautiful poinsettias.
The green and red colors are the two very popular colors of Christmas. Santa Claus wears red and his elves wear green. Christmas trees are often green pines trees adorned with red balls and ribbons. Many Christmas items come in green highlighted by red. The Christmas meaning of green is the birth of Jesus Christ and that of red is the blood of Christ and His death.
Green, red, and gold are the colors of Christmas and their meaning are best expressed in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God gave his Son through the birth of Jesus Christ, who shed blood and died, so that whoever believes will receive the gift of eternal life.
People have clashing emotions about Christmas. Some think that Christmas is just for children. While most children jump with joy when Christmas is in the air, quite a number of adults get afflicted with the so-called Christmas blues. These people think that they would rather pass the year without Christmas. The Christmas season, supposed to be a joyful time, seems to be a time of the year when many people are most inclined to get depressed. As we grow old, so many Christmases have passed our lives and many of our expectations of the celebration were barely met. With all the spending required for the traditional gift giving and the special food preparations, people with limited income become tremendously troubled as Christmas approaches. Christmas, being a time for family reunions and togetherness, can be painfully lonely for those who cannot be with their special someone or with their family. As the song goes: “I'll have a blue Christmas without you. I'll be so blue thinking about you. Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me.”
Wystan Hugh Auden's For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio is about having a flash of the real meaning of Christmas despite the frantic bustle, the frenzied merrymaking, and the unsuccessful attempts to love all of our relatives. Auden wrote:
“having drunk such a lot, stayed up so late, attempted – quite unsuccessfully – to love all of our relatives, and in general grossly overestimated our powers. Once again as in previous years, we have seen the actual Vision and failed to do more than entertain it as an agreeable possibility, once again we have sent Him away, begging though to remain His disobedient servant, the promising child who cannot keep His word for long.”
Auden's poem tells us of how Christmas has given us the “actual Vision” that God is with us but we have failed to fully accept it. Auden continued:
“To those who have seen the Child, however dimly, however incredulously, the Time Being is, in a sense, the most trying time of all. For the innocent children, who whispered so excitedly outside the locked door where they knew the presents to be, grew up when it opened. Now, recollecting that moment we can repress the joy, but the guilt remains conscious; remembering the stable where for once in our lives everything became a You and nothing was an It. And craving the sensation but ignoring the cause, we look round for something, no matter what, to inhibit our self-reflection, and the obvious thing for that purpose would be some great suffering. So, once we have met the Son, we are tempted ever after to pray to the Father; 'Lead us into temptation and evil for our sake.' They will come, all right, don't worry; probably in a form that we do not expect, and certainly with a force more dreadful than we can imagine. In the meantime there are bills to be paid, machines to keep in repair, irregular verbs to learn, the Time Being to redeem from insignificance.”
Believing that God, who loves us so much, is with us, not just on holidays, can redeem our daily struggles in life from insignificance.
The real meaning of Christmas, just like its colors, is also expressed in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world …” Love is the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas is meant to be a time of celebrating and sharing this great love. As we struggle to celebrate Christmas in whatever predicament we are in, blue Christmases can be repainted with green, red, and gold if we believe in God's great love for us.
The colors of Christmas are mentioned in the Christmas song, Silver Bells: “Strings of street lights, even stop lights blink a bright red and green.” Stop lights have green, red, and yellow or gold and they will always be around us. Let them remind us of God's great love for us everyday of our lives.
What if Christmas is in the air? If we can breathe this air everyday and believe that God, who loves us so much, is with us, our daily struggles can be “redeemed from insignificance.”
What if Christmas is in the air? If we can breathe this air everyday and believe, our daily struggles can be “redeemed from insignificance.”
What if Christmas is in the air?
As a child, Christmas is an event that I look forward to. Christmas gave me a feeling of wonderful joy. I liked the singing of Christmas songs and the showing of Christmas films. I liked the hanging of Christmas lanterns and the setting up of Christmas tree. I delighted at the blinking Christmas lights everywhere and at the Christmas displays featuring either the birth of Jesus in a manger with angels and the three wise men or Santa Claus with his team of flying reindeer and toy-making elves. I cheered at the fun activities lined up, applauded at the promised gifts, and drooled at the thought of the delectable meals and all sorts of delightful desserts I got to feast on only on Christmas day.
With the cool breeze blowing on my face, I look expectantly at the gold-speckled mountain side from my terrace. Christmas is in the air. I have learned that gold is one of the colors of Christmas and that it signifies God's gift of eternal life. In Baguio City, the sunflowers that yellow the mountain slopes are among the early signs that the Christmas countdown has began.
The green and red colors are the two very popular colors of Christmas. Santa Claus wears red and his elves wear green. Christmas trees are often green pines trees adorned with red balls and ribbons. Many Christmas items come in green highlighted by red. The Christmas meaning of green is the birth of Jesus Christ and that of red is the blood of Christ and His death.
Green, red, and gold are the colors of Christmas and their meaning are best expressed in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God gave his Son through the birth of Jesus Christ, who shed blood and died, so that whoever believes will receive the gift of eternal life.
People have clashing emotions about Christmas. Some think that Christmas is just for children. While most children jump with joy when Christmas is in the air, quite a number of adults get afflicted with the so-called Christmas blues. These people think that they would rather pass the year without Christmas. The Christmas season, supposed to be a joyful time, seems to be a time of the year when many people are most inclined to get depressed. As we grow old, so many Christmases have passed our lives and many of our expectations of the celebration were barely met. With all the spending required for the traditional gift giving and the special food preparations, people with limited income become tremendously troubled as Christmas approaches. Christmas, being a time for family reunions and togetherness, can be painfully lonely for those who cannot be with their special someone or with their family. As the song goes: “I'll have a blue Christmas without you. I'll be so blue thinking about you. Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me.”
“having drunk such a lot, stayed up so late, attempted – quite unsuccessfully – to love all of our relatives, and in general grossly overestimated our powers. Once again as in previous years, we have seen the actual Vision and failed to do more than entertain it as an agreeable possibility, once again we have sent Him away, begging though to remain His disobedient servant, the promising child who cannot keep His word for long.”
Auden's poem tells us of how Christmas has given us the “actual Vision” that God is with us but we have failed to fully accept it. Auden continued:
“To those who have seen the Child, however dimly, however incredulously, the Time Being is, in a sense, the most trying time of all. For the innocent children, who whispered so excitedly outside the locked door where they knew the presents to be, grew up when it opened. Now, recollecting that moment we can repress the joy, but the guilt remains conscious; remembering the stable where for once in our lives everything became a You and nothing was an It. And craving the sensation but ignoring the cause, we look round for something, no matter what, to inhibit our self-reflection, and the obvious thing for that purpose would be some great suffering. So, once we have met the Son, we are tempted ever after to pray to the Father; 'Lead us into temptation and evil for our sake.' They will come, all right, don't worry; probably in a form that we do not expect, and certainly with a force more dreadful than we can imagine. In the meantime there are bills to be paid, machines to keep in repair, irregular verbs to learn, the Time Being to redeem from insignificance.”
Believing that God, who loves us so much, is with us, not just on holidays, can redeem our daily struggles in life from insignificance.
The real meaning of Christmas, just like its colors, is also expressed in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world …” Love is the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas is meant to be a time of celebrating and sharing this great love. As we struggle to celebrate Christmas in whatever predicament we are in, blue Christmases can be repainted with green, red, and gold if we believe in God's great love for us.
The colors of Christmas are mentioned in the Christmas song, Silver Bells: “Strings of street lights, even stop lights blink a bright red and green.” Stop lights have green, red, and yellow or gold and they will always be around us. Let them remind us of God's great love for us everyday of our lives.
What if Christmas is in the air? If we can breathe this air everyday and believe that God, who loves us so much, is with us, our daily struggles can be “redeemed from insignificance.”
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