Title: Christmas Is Learning a New Language
Intro: Christmas is not measured by how perfectly it looks but by how deeply it is felt.
Scripture: Luke 2:15-20
Reflection
Dear Friends,
A few years ago, a grandmother in Mumbai surprised her family by joining their video call on Christmas morning. She had never used a smartphone before, but that year, with half her grandchildren working overseas, she asked her neighbours’ daughter to teach her. When her face appeared on the screen, smiling, holding up a small parol she had made, her children in Dubai and London started crying. “I wanted to be with you,” she said simply. That moment, small and unrehearsed, captured something beautiful about how Christmas has changed: the heart stays the same, but the ways we reach each other keep growing.
Christmas today looks nothing like it did a generation ago, yet somehow it still feels like Christmas. In the Philippines, people hang bright star lanterns as early as September, their glow warming the long rainy season. In Europe, Christmas markets smell of cinnamon and roasted chestnuts, their wooden stalls glowing under strings of lights. In Africa and Latin America, church choirs fill the air with songs that make the walls shake with joy. And everywhere, on every screen, people post photos of trees, tables, and loved ones, sharing the same festive light across oceans and time zones. The season has become a strange mix of ancient ritual and modern moment, where faith meets technology, and candles share space with cameras.
For some, this shift feels confusing, even sad. The old Christmas was slower, quieter, more rooted in family gatherings and church pews. Today’s Christmas moves faster, louder, filled with notifications and trends. Yet beneath all the noise, the same longing lives on: the desire to connect, to share kindness, to believe that hope still matters. Christmas has not disappeared. It is simply learning to speak in new ways.
Technology has changed how we celebrate, sometimes for the better. Families now gather not only around dinner tables but also around phone screens and video calls. A grandfather waves from another country. A child shows off new toys through a short video message. Friends separated by distance still share Christmas morning together, their faces glowing in little squares on a screen. Even church services travel through the internet now, letting people worship side by side while sitting miles apart. Christmas has become a shared global moment, existing as much in the cloud as in the living room.
Some worry this new way of celebrating feels too shallow, too commercial. And they are not entirely wrong. Every December, advertisements grow louder, sales start earlier, and social media fills with pressure to create the perfect holiday. We compare our celebrations instead of simply enjoying them. We perform joy instead of feeling it. But even in this noise, something true pushes through: people everywhere are still trying to express love and generosity, even if they do it through likes and shares. The tools have changed, but the message of giving and belonging, still finds its way.
Globalisation has also reshaped Christmas in surprising ways. The holiday used to belong mainly to Christian cultures, but now it touches places where Christianity is rare. In Japan, Christmas is a day for couples and friendship. In India, homes light up with Christmas stars beside Diwali lamps. In some Middle Eastern cities, trees glow as symbols of peace in neighbourhoods where different faiths live side by side. Even where belief takes different forms, the spirit of Christmas, joy, light, hope, has become a universal language. The world has borrowed and blended, turning Christmas into a bridge instead of a boundary.
But through all this change, something quiet still calls us back. It is not in the trending songs or viral videos. It is in the small, unplanned moments that sneak through the noise: the child pressing her face against the window, waiting for family to arrive. The old carol sung off-key while washing dishes. The candle lit in memory of someone who will not be at the table this year. These simple, personal rituals remind us that Christmas was never about perfection. It was always about presence, about being there, in whatever way we can.
Maybe that is what we need to remember as tradition meets trend. Christmas is not measured by how perfectly it looks but by how deeply it is felt. Whether it is shared through a screen or sung in a small chapel, it still speaks to the same human truth: we all want to be seen, to belong, to give something of ourselves. The form keeps changing, but the meaning holds steady.
As years pass, Christmas will continue evolving. Our children might hang digital ornaments or send holographic cards. But if we protect the essence, the kindness, the faith, the togetherness, it will not matter how different it looks. The light that began in Bethlehem still shines, only now it travels through fiber optics and satellite signals, finding us wherever we are.
So when you post a photo, light a candle, or sing along to a carol playing through your earbuds, remember you are part of something much larger than a trend. You are part of a tradition that keeps renewing itself, old and new, sacred and shared. Christmas, in all its forms, still carries the same simple promise: that love can cross any distance, reach any generation, and shine through any screen. And that promise, more than anything, is worth keeping alive.
May the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen...
