“Should I travel? Do I have covid? Where can I get tested? Did I give Nana covid?” Nothing elicits more angst than celebrating holidays during a global pandemic. No one wants to be known as a super spreader. After reading the NY Times op ed, Please Don’t Tell Me ‘It’s Not Covid’ While Coughing in My Face, I decided to incorporate my negative covid kit result into my Christmas outfit. How better to put others at ease about my chronic cough and sniffles? Simply stating you’re not contagious doesn’t fly as others eye you with fearful suspicion.
Early on it seemed like no one was willing to admit we were right back where we were last Christmas. Against all logic, people were determined to have a ‘normal’ Christmas this year, attending large parties and super spreader events. Nevertheless, despite heroic attempts to maintain Christmas traditions, most people I’ve talked to shared this critique of Christmas 2021: “The best thing I can say about this Christmas is that it’s over.” There’s an almost audible, collective sigh of relief that we’ve survived the holidays – especially if you’ve managed to stay healthy thus far. The fallout from New Year’s Eve remains to be seen.
Despite these feelings of relief and oft-heard laments, Christmas doesn’t end. That first Christmas over 2,000 years ago was just the beginning. We aren’t meant to just “get through it,” but to embrace it. The love and light of Christmas is intended to sustain us throughout the year. It celebrates the commencement of God’s salvation plan and His lavish love for humanity.
In The Chosen’s Christmas episode, as the last shepherd departs he declares, “People must know. People must know.” Then he and his comrades race out to spread the Good News of the long-awaited Messiah’s birth. There is only one arena where I aspire to be a super spreader and that is spiritually. I, too, believe people must know. It’s why Jesus instructs us to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). We can’t all be a Billy Graham or Desmond Tutu, but we do have a sphere of influence. The humble shepherds didn’t have theology degrees or eloquence. They simply shared their experience, and so can we. The power of personal testimonies can’t be underestimated. There is no better witness for Christ than a transformed life.
This year let’s choose to live our faith in a way that makes people notice – not us but Jesus. I can’t think of a better way to start the new year.
