The Spirit of the Season

It’s been four years since I spent Thanksgiving or Christmas in my home country of America. Although Christmas is widely celebrated where I live now, Thanksgiving isn’t, and it has typically been the holiday when I feel homesickness the most. Despite Thanksgiving’s not being a celebrated holiday in my second home, I’ve done my best to carry on some family traditions and maintain a taste of the season through home décor and food. And yet, in spite of all this, it often just doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving or Christmas because the environment is so different from what I experienced the first three decades of my life.

For one, most of the leaves don’t change color here in the fall. While some trees lose their leaves, most just turn a duller shade of green until the winter comes and brings its rain. The weather might still be hot, or it might be just starting to cool—this year I didn’t wear “comfy fall clothes” until the week before Thanksgiving. Thursday is the day of our regular church service (we have church on Sunday too, but because Sunday is a working day, more people are able to come on Thursday evening than Sunday), so we don’t usually have our Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving Day. Because of the time difference, the Macy’s parade and the National Dog Show come on in the evening (when we’re headed to church), and nothing is on for Thanksgiving morning. There aren’t Black Friday commercials playing ad nauseum on TV or pumpkin decorations to buy in the stores. There aren’t bonfires or hay rides or any of the other typical “fall” things we associate with the season in America (except the occasional pumpkin spice drink in a shop or two).

Christmas is a bit more familiar with lights in the streets, Christmas trees in town squares, a Nativity scene by city hall, Christmas décor in the stores, a Christmas market, and a parade. This year and last, though, because of the war in Gaza, there haven’t been any public decorations or celebrations, so we’ve gone right from “it doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving” to “it doesn’t feel like Christmas” and then, suddenly, they’ve both passed, and the spirit of the season never fully came. Or did it?

This experience of living through holidays in a different culture has led me to wrestle with how much my enjoyment of these times of year has been wrapped up in superficial, cultural practices instead of welling up from the deep, abiding spiritual truths that these holidays remind us of. Is my ability to focus on giving thanks dependent on a turkey dinner, the brilliance of fire-hued leaves, and television traditions? Is my wonder and joy at the incarnation of the Christ conditional upon decorations, freezing temps, and twinkle lights? These are the things that popularly represent “the spirit of the season,” but isn’t the true spirit of the season something totally other?

As a follower of Jesus, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, I have access to a perpetual supply of both gratitude and Christmas cheer, if only I choose to tap into it. The Holy Spirit is my Helper, who will remind me of Jesus’ words and bear witness about Him, causing my heart to be thankful and rejoice at the many blessings He has given me and the grace of His sacrifice for me (John 14:26; John 15:26; Acts 5:32; Hebrews 10:15). He is the means by which God’s love is poured into my heart (Romans 5:5). It is by His power that I am able to “abound in hope” (Romans 15:13). He is God’s gift to us—the gift of His very self—by whom we are able to understand the other gifts God has “freely given us” (1 Corinthians 2:12).

When the Holy Spirit teaches us the things of God and helps us understand and appreciate the depth and breadth and implications of what we’ve been given in Christ, including “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3) and a brand new identity of sainthood (Ephesians 2:19, 2 Corinthians 5:17), we are able to be thankful even when our present circumstances seem less than ideal—or even downright devastating. In this way, the Spirit enables us to have the spirit of the Thanksgiving season regardless of how conducive our physical environment is to fostering it.

And when it comes to Christmas, the Holy Spirit, in a sense, is very literally the Spirit of the season. He is the one who enabled the Incarnation of Jesus, after all (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35). He inspired the declarations of Elizabeth and Zechariah (Luke 1:41-45, 67-79) and directed the steps of Simeon (Luke 2:25-27), all of whom testified about the identity and purpose of the Savior who was born. And ever since that first Christmas, He has continued to testify of Jesus and draw people to Him.

So wherever you find yourself this holiday season, regardless of the weather outside, the number of traditions upheld or missed, or the feelings that fill the air, remember that the Spirit of the season is alive and well, and He either already dwells inside of you or He is calling you to follow the Promised One who took on flesh (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 John 4:2) and begin a life-altering relationship with Him and His Spirit.

As we enter the Advent season, I hope you’ll join me in seeking to listen to the Spirit as He reminds us of the unmatchable Gift that we have in Jesus. Let’s allow Him to direct our hearts and minds to meditate on the glorious, good news that Emmanuel (God With Us) has come—and has not just come, but has lived and died and been raised and ascended and sent the Spirit not merely to be with us but to be in us.  And may that reality fill us with abiding joy. 

PC: Hannah Wind Vazquez. Used with permission.