I’m a sucker for Christmas, and it’s always been the case. I am one of those weirdos that looks forward to climbing the stairs to the attic the day after Thanksgiving to retrieve the Christmas decorations. I love picking out a tree, tacking up the garland, hanging the stockings by the chimney with care all while listening to Bing Crosby sing “White Christmas.”
I’ve tried to figure out why I’m so smitten with Christmas. I used to think it was just the buzz and sparkle of it all. To be sure, that’s part of it. I’ve come to realize, however, that something deeper, purer is at work, something childlike and innocent. More than any other time of the year, Christmas wakes up my imagination to the reality of the truth of things.
The phrase “wakes up my imagination to the reality of the truth of things” may seem like a strange way to put it, because we don’t usually think of the imagination as the vehicle for communicating what is true. Fairy tales, fiction, child’s play – that’s the stuff of imagination, right? Well, yes, it is, but the imagination is much more than that, too. It’s endowed with a deeper magic we might say—that is, the ability of mind to see the unseen, to visualize the real but invisible.
This may be surprising to hear but the capacity to imagine lies at the very core of Christianity. As the writer of Hebrew reminds us, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). The capacity for faith requires the ability to envision what we can’t see. And the ability to envision what can’t be seen is the work of the imagination. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. How else could we know and love a God whom no one has or can see (1 Timothy 6:16) if we don’t have the capacity to see with our “mind’s eye” what is true and real but hidden from sight?
What this means is that tending our imaginations is an important spiritual practice for a strong and vibrant faith. God wants our imaginations to be healthy and holy, and for that to happen, we must learn to care for them—to fill our minds with “…whatever is true whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise…” (Philippians 4:8). With the Spirit’s help this Christmas, let’s commit to pluck up the weeds of cynicism, unbelief, and despair. Let’s let the holy enchantment of the Christmas season to take hold of our hearts, as we’re swept up into the wonder of the story of the gospel all over again.