The True Christmas Spirit (Luke 1:46–55)

• If you’re like me, you have heard the  world’s comments and evaluations of this   time of the year. And one of the phrases that  you hear a lot is “the Christmas spirit.” We   need to have “the Christmas spirit.” And  of course, I began to think about that,   being somewhat analytical.
• Just what is the  Christmas spirit? And I suppose there are a   lot of potential answers to that question.  To Scrooge, the Christmas spirit was a   ghost. To the liquor industry, the Christmas  spirit comes in a bottle, somewhere around   $75 million worth this month in America. Some  people feel that the Christmas spirit is somehow   the truce that takes place in the family when  nobody brings up the issues, the quarrels.
• I suppose for some people the Christmas spirit is  expressed in a card that conveys a sentiment of   well-being. Ninety-five percent of all Americans  will be involved in sending five billion plus   Christmas cards expressing these sentiments.  One little boy suggested that the Christmas   spirit is really contentment, because that’s what  you need to be when you don’t get what you want.
• For some people the Christmas spirit is an  attitude of happiness found in the fellowship   of friends. Or the party spirit while consuming 10  million to 15 million turkeys. For many, however,   the Christmas spirit is not so trivial or so  frivolous or so fun. For many the Christmas spirit   is one of profound sadness, increased depression  because all that is wrong in your life is then   measured against the hilarity of the time and  seems even more profoundly painful.