Let me begin by stating the obvious: it will indeed be a very different type of Christmas this year.  This is publicly and privately acknowledged, often with great grief.

There is no one unaffected by this pandemic.  Some readers have had to personally fight the virus.  Some have lost loved ones to it … loved ones who won’t be sending a Christmas card this year and who won’t be available to talk with this season.  Others were laid off from work and are wondering how they will pay the mortgage and the car payments, much less purchase Christmas presents.  Some didn’t just lose their job; they lost their entire business.  

Discouragement, depression, and even despair are more prevalent than usual.  Arguments and abuse are escalating.  General discontent, widespread unhappiness, frustration and “cabin-fever” are commonplace.   People are “so ready” for their situation to be better.

Not to mention the impact of the safety precautions upon Christmas plans.  The majority of the traditional annual visits to see loved ones won’t be made this year.  Large, boisterous family gatherings are undoubtedly postponed.  Crowded tables around delicious feasts are unlikely.  Gift-unwrapping parties will probably be much more private than in the past.  Those who are usually alone and always looked forward to Christmas when others would be with them will even be lonely on Christmas this year.  There will be fewer to share the Christmas cookies with this season.  (More Christmas cookies for one’s self would normally be a welcome turn of events!  Not this year.)  Much of the festivity of the holiday seems to be lost.

Even Christmas worship services will be impacted.  Some of the Christmas traditions that congregations have been doing “forever” won’t be observed this year.  Special arrangements and adjustments will be made by many churches, but even so attendance is likely to be down.  For some life-long Christians, it will be the first Christmas in their entire lives that they do not attend a Christmas service.

And no one knows when things will return to “normal” again.  All of which makes this a very different Christmas than usual.  For some, the grief is palpable and the mourning profound.

I will not patronize you with flowery, fluffy epithets or lovely but empty phrases.  We are all affected.  We are all hurting.  We are all sorrowful.  It’s undeniable; in multiple ways (in most ways!) this will definitely be a different Christmas than usual.   And it will be a different sort of Christmas for everyone.

But there is one way that this Christmas is exactly the same as every other Christmas.  It’s summarized in the message the angel shared with the shepherds on the very first Christmas: “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

May this unchanging truth be your beacon of hope and joy this Christmas.  Regardless of the personal challenges and sorrows in your life this season, your Savior entered this troubled world for you.  Regardless of how very different this Christmas may be from a typical Christmas, there is still cause for celebration.  Jesus was born for you to grow up to die for you.  He came to earth to bear your wrongs to the cross and make your relationship with God right again. 

All of which is amazing enough.  But death could not hold him.  Jesus is alive again!  Which makes Christmas just a wonderful prelude to Easter.  And what is more joyful than celebrating a living, loving Savior?  So during this “different” sort of Christmas, anchor your emotions in these truths … Jesus was born; Jesus has died; Jesus has risen; Jesus is alive; Jesus is still lovingly engaged in our lives!

Perhaps this pandemic and all the impact it is having on our world and our Christmas this year is actually an amazing blessing.  Of course, we know that the Lord is bringing blessings through it, as he does in all situations (Romans 8:28).  Undoubtedly the Lord is bringing many blessings.  But perhaps one of those blessings is that this pandemic synthesizes this season down to the simplest but most significant thing: Jesus our Savior is born.  No matter how many other traditions may be different this year, the simple truth remains: Jesus our Savior is born.

In that way at least, this Christmas is the same as every other Christmas.  Thanks be to God, in that way this Christmas is exactly the same!