Believe

By Katie Hill

Believe. Believe…Believe!

It’s an ubiquitous word this time of year. By that, I mean, it’s EVERYWHERE! Whether it’s scrolled elegantly on a wooden sign or even, dare I say, emblazoned on an ugly sweater, we’re regularly encouraged to “Believe!” It IS a nice, sentiment, isn’t it? And it sounds almost spiritual, particularly during the supposed “war on Christmas.” Better to say “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” or you might offend someone. At least Starbucks cups say Merry Coffee now…so they are halfway there ;-). Perhaps when we encounter a “Believe” on a coffee mug or on a Christmas ornament it seems like a light in the darkness. Well, we might take it as such, and that’s okay. For some, it might mean nothing more than “Believe in the magic of Christmas!” or “Believe that Christmas is a time of love and joy!” Those are good things to think about, generally speaking. The reality is since “Believe” probably means different things to different people, it doesn’t mean much of anything at all. The meaning of this Christmas-y exhortation is filtered through the perception of the beholder.

“Believe” as a catch word was probably popularized by the 2004 movie The Polar Express, and let’s face it, Josh Groban could convince us to believe nearly anything with that voice of his. It’s an innocent enough song. “If you just believe,” it says, which begs the question: “Believe what?” The Polar Express is magical and redemptive in its own right. It just goes to show how easy it is to start a trend that takes on a life of its own.

As Christians, however, we’d ultimately like “Believe” to mean “I believe that God the Son came down and took on flesh to save His people from their sins, and that’s what Christmas is truly about.” Or maybe even something along the lines of John the Baptist’s cry, “Repent and believe!” It’s highly unlikely that this reflects most people’s interpretation, though. A Pew Research Center survey from several years ago showed that a slim majority of Americans—about 56%—believe in the God of the Bible, and any others who “believe” in God at all do not look to the Scriptures to define Him.

So, like a great many things during this Advent and Christmas season, “Believe” can be redeemed. Thankfully, we don’t depend on it as our source of the Gospel. What you, as a baptized child of God, have the freedom to do is find joy in what’s true of your belief or faith in Christ Jesus. In Ephesians 2:8 Paul tells us “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” The cool thing about this verse is that the “it” in the second part points back to BOTH “grace” and “faith.” These are gifts and they are yours! This means your believing is a gift and doesn’t come out of your feeling warm fuzzies. Warm fuzzies are fine but we can’t depend on them and they certainly aren’t used by God to save us.

So what does this mean during this expectant season and celebratory time of Advent and Christmas? Our finding joy in the true meaning of Christmas is not something we’re just supposed to manufacture on our own. God has given us means to “Believe!” While there are a variety of these means, here are a few:

1. Feed your faith.

Go to Sunday Divine Service and take advantage of any mid-week Advent services your church is offering. Through Word and Sacrament, God specifically promises to be among us and to provide us with faith-strengthening grace. Spend time in the Scriptures, where verses like Acts 16:31 and Romans 10:9-11, among many others, exhort us to believe. What you will discover is that these verses are not about OUR belief but about IN WHOM we believe.

When you’re not receiving His Gifts in church, there are some great Advent and Christmas devotionals out there for you to enjoy, not the least of which are Higher Things Reflections (https:// higherthings.org/reflections/). It’s a great way to get a daily dose of the Gospel!

2. Spend some time in your Small Catechism with the accompanying explanation.

Read through The Apostles’ Creed. Pay special attention to the Second Article. Besides feeding your faith, this will also help equip you to talk about the true meaning of Christmas with your friends and family. Look up all the Scripture references. Know what it is you believe and relish the reminders of the Gospel.

3. Read Martin Luther’s Christmas Book, if you get a chance.

Pick up a copy (print or digital) of this delightful little book edited by Luther biographer, Roland H. Bainton (who wrote the more well-known Here I stand). It’s an endearing combination of Christian art, song lyrics, and some of Luther’s best sermons related to Christmas. This is an example of somewhere where you can get caught up in the magic of “Believe” in its truest sense. As Bainton notes in his introduction, “The manger and the cross are never very far apart for Luther,” and how true this is! You’ll learn how Luther saw all other miracles as subservient to the Incarnation but was stunned by the belief he observed in those most intimately acquainted with Jesus on Christmas Eve: Mary, Joseph, the shepherds.

In Christ you are free to take the things of this world that are incomplete and vague and redeem them to point you back toward the Gospel, found in His Word and in His Gifts. Therefore, when you see “Believe” sprawled across a billboard or embroidered on a stocking (or just about anywhere else, for that matter), it can be an prompt to be thankful a thousandfold for the miraculous gift of faith, granted to us in our Baptism. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). That’s a promise from our Father TO YOU.

Katie Hill is the editor of Higher Things Magazine. She can be reached at katie. hill@higherthings.org.