Let’s Keep Christmas was a sermon written by Peter Marshall* and made into a little book that is now out of print. (Still can get it online). I (Kevin) have made this a tradition to read it almost every year since 1980. Pastor Marhsall's words are timeless and are all the more a time that our world needed its message as much as today. Take time to read this story and be reminded that... " we will not 'spend' Christmas… nor 'observe' Christmas. We will 'KEEP' Christmas—keep it as it is…in all the loveliness of its ancient traditions. May we keep it in our hearts that we may be kept in its hope."

Merry Christmas from Johnny Mac, Bob and Kevin

                                                   Let's Keep Christmas

Changes are everywhere. Many institutions and customs that we once thought sacrosanct have gone by the board. Yet there are a few that abide, defying time and revolution. The old message “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” is still the heart of Christmas. It can be nothing else. And this message can neither be changed—nor quite forgotten although there are many things that tend to make us forget. 

The idea of Santa Claus coming in a helicopter does not ring true. No interior decorator with a fondness for yellow or blue could ever persuade me to forsake the Christmas colors of red and green. I must confess that modernistic Christmas cards leave me cold. I cannot appreciate the dogs and cats, the galloping horses, the ships in full sail…or any of the cute designs that leave out the traditional symbols of the star…the manger…the wise men on their camels. Angels there must be-but they need not be modernistic angels in evening dress with peroxide permanents.

There is no need to search for stories new and different. There is only one after all-and no modern author can improve it:

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night, and, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.” And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

We all feel the pressure of approaching Christmas. The traffic is terrible. You can’t find a parking space…the stores are crowded…Mob scenes make shopping a nightmare. You are thinking about presents-wondering what in the world you can get for so-and-so. You think of friends and loved ones who are so hard to shop for. You can’t think of anything they need (which is rather strange when you take time to think of it). Maybe there is nothing in a store that they need. 

But what about some token of love—what about love itself…

And friendship…

And understanding…

And consideration…

And a helping hand…

And a smile…

And a prayer?

You can’t buy these things in any store, and these are the very things people need. We all need them…Blessed will they be who receive them this Christmas or at any time.

Let’s not permit the crowds and the rush to crowd Christmas out of our hearts…For that is where it belongs. 

Christmas is not in the stores—

But in the hearts of people.

Let’s not give way to cynicism and mutter that “Christmas has become commercialized.” It never will be—unless you let it be. YOUR Christmas is not commercialized, unless you have commercialized it. Let’s not succumb to the sophistication that complains: “Christmas belongs only to the children.” That shows that you have never understood Christmas at all, for the older you get, the more it means, if you know what it means. Christmas, though forever young, grows old along with us.

Have you been saying,” I just can’t seem to feel the Christmas spirit this year”? That is too bad. As a confession of lack of faith, it is rather significant. You are saying that you feel no joy that Jesus came into the world…You are confessing that His presence in the world is not a reality to you…

Maybe you need all the more to read the Christmas story over again and sit down with the Gospel of Luke and think about it. I thank God for Christmas. Would that it lasted all year. For on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, all the world is a better place, and men and women are more lovable. Love itself seeps into every heart, and miracles happen. When Christmas doesn’t make your heart swell up until it nearly bursts…and fill your eyes with tears… and make you all soft and warm inside…then you’ll know that something inside of you is dead.

We hope that there will be snow for Christmas. Why? It is not really important, but it is so nice, and old-fashioned, and appropriate, we think. Isn’t it wonderful to think that nothing can REALLY HARM the joy of Christmas…

Although your Christmas tree decorations will include many new gadgets, such as lights with bubbles in them…it’s the old tree decorations that mean the most…the ones you save carefully from year to year…the crooked star that goes on the top of the tree…the ornaments that you’ve been so careful with. And you’ll bring out the tiny manger, and the shed, and the little figures of the Holy Family…and lovingly arrange them on the mantel or in the middle of the dining room table. And getting the tree will be a family event, with great excitement for the children and there will be a closet, into which you’ll forbid your husband to look, and he will be moving through the house mysteriously with bundles under his coat, and you’ll pretend not to notice…

There will be the fragrance of cookies baking spices and fruitcake…and the warmth of the house shall be melodious with the lilting strains of “Silent Night, Holy Night.”

And you’ll listen to the wonderful Christmas music on the radio, some of the songs will be modern—good enough music, perhaps—but it will be the old carols, the lovely old Christmas hymns that will mean the most. And forests of fir trees will march right into our living rooms…There will be bells on our doors and holly wreaths in our windows… And we shall sweep the Noel skies for their brightest colors and festoon our homes with stars.

There will be a chubby stocking hung by the fireplace…and with finger to lip will whisper and ask me to tiptoe, for a little tousled head is asleep and must not be a wakened until after Santa has come. And finally Christmas morning will come. Don’t worry—you’ll catch the spirit all right, or it will catch you, which is even better.

And then you will remember what Christmas means:

The Second Chance for the world…

The hope for peace…

And the only way.

The promise that the angels sang is the most wonderful music the world has ever heard.  “Peace on earth and good will toward men.”

It was not a pronouncement upon the state of the world then nor is it a reading of the international barometer of the present time…But it is a promise---God’s promise---of what one day will come to pass.

The years that are gone are graveyards in which all the persuasions of men have crumbled into dust. If history has any voice, it is to say that all these ways of men lead nowhere. There remains one way—The Way—untried, untested, unexplored fully…the way of Him who was born a Babe in Bethlehem. 

In a world that seems not only to be changing, but even to be dissolving, there are some tens of millions of us who want Christmas to be the same…with the same old greeting “Merry Christmas” and no other. We long for the abiding love among men of good will which the season brings…Believing in this ancient miracle of Christmas with its softening, sweetening influence to tug at our heartstrings once again.

We want to hold on to the old customs and traditions because they strengthen our family ties. Bind us to our friends, and make us one with all mankind for whom the Child was born, and bring us back again to the God who gave His only begotten Son, that “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

So we will not “spend” Christmas… nor “observe” Christmas. We will “KEEP” Christmas—keep it as it is…in all the loveliness of its ancient traditions. May we keep it in our hearts that we may be kept in its hope.

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Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels 

 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Chris] the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."  15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."  16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told.

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*Peter Marshall, a Scottish born minister who came to the United States as a boy, became pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, in 1937, and was appointed twice as Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, serving from January 1947 until his sudden death in 1949.

Let’s Keep Christmas, a sermon by Peter Marshall, with an introduction by Catherine Marshall, was first published by McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. in 1952..