As real as Santa?

My kids pronounced several weeks ago that none of them believed in Santa - even my seven year old cynically denounced all red suited action. As I have never lied about it I have let it alone but now, on Christmas Eve, they are whispering in corners. The whispering is a plan and the plan is to catch whoever puts the gifts under the tree red (forgive the color choice) handed.

I wonder whether this is so important to them because lingering in the back of their minds is the vague hope that if they do make it through the night awake enough too see what is going on they might find out that their disbelief is wrong and there is a Santa after all. I will have to counter-plot to get them all to bed - the last piece of whispering I heard was along the lines of "we won't have to worry about that until 4 in the morning....." Hmmmm......

This set me to wondering how many people spend Christmas as adults pulling the same sort of tests for Christianity. When Santa disappears, somehow so does Jesus, but just like my kids want a fellow to descend down the chimney so there are many, many people who want some really good news.

Good news however does not come in bright colored packages. As we know, good news turns up in unexpected places and in the hands of unexpected people. Stable, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, Jesus and even us.

So for all those people who are sitting around tonight wondering, not whether they will hear sleighbells, but whether they will feel the breath of an angel, perhaps you are the angel - the greek word from which angel comes means messenger. We are the messengers, the bringers of glad tidings.

Why? Because this is not a myth we grow out of but a reality we grow into. Jesus IS born into the world, into hearts and minds, stables, homes, children, adults, all people and all time. IS for real. But how would anyone know that if there are no messengers, or if the message is so crumpled and distorted by our holding onto it so tightly for ourselves that it no longer speaks of freedom and love?

Let's all make sure we mention the Christ in Christmas, and often. Just in case there is a childlike heart hurting, hoping that, after all these years, that wonderful story, might just be true after all.