At this time of year I hear people decrying materialism, as if shopping for gifts is beneath our better selves. What’s the matter with matter (like decorations, toys, trees)? It’s energy! It’s interconnectedness! Nothing is only material; no gift or decoration is only material. There’s an energizing force that unites everything and everyone. And the name of that force is Jesus Christ. And we all know that Jesus is the reason for the season.

Let it be known that I’m all for buying, wrapping, and giving gifts. I love to see decorations arranged well to enhance the beauty we may overlook without the lights and ornaments. I’m for seasonal foods like fruitcake and egg nog. I’m happy and surprised to receive gifts and observe the delight on the faces of giver and gifted. Christ is not only the reason for the season. Christ is the reason for the whole cosmos that is incarnational, for Christ invests himself organically with all creation. Creation, the universe, the cosmos, the people singing “Silent Night” are completing Christ until some point in the near or far future when the universe will be “christified.” It already is, for “in Christ” is the atmosphere in which we live. “In Christ” every sprig of holly, every table laden with cutout cookies and rum balls, every person who is a gift is God among us. Until then keep singing “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” Even Scrooge exchanged “Bah humbug” for “Merry Christmas!”