Op-ed: Reclaiming the spirit of Christmas

By Maya Wright

Each December, America lights up – not with reverence, but with neon sales, frantic shopping, and countdowns to the next shipment from Amazon. For Generation Z especially, Christmas has increasingly drifted into a glittering spectacle of trends, wish lists, and content creation.

The nativity story, the breathtaking moment when eternity stepped into time through the birth of Jesus Christ, is being drowned out by noise, convenience and commercialization.

This world-shaking miracle has been pushed to the margins of relevance within the cultural bubble that much of secular America, and even many believers, now inhabit.

Though no single generation caused this shift, the effects of our lost focus are now surfacing most dramatically in America’s “under 30” population. A December 2022 Ipsos poll of 1,023 adults, drawn from their probability-based KnowledgePanel, found that three-quarters of Americans believe the true meaning of Christmas has been forgotten.

Secular culture has been slowly sanding down the sacred edges of Christmas for decades. We need to acknowledge the urgency of the moment. Gen Z is coming of age in a culture that has nearly severed Christmas from Christ himself. Many young people today know Christmas as a vibe, an aesthetic, or an event — but not a holy day. Not a divine interruption. Not the miracle of the savior of the world arriving in the humblest, most unthinkable way. As real, devout, Bible-believing, and Spirit-led Christians, we cannot be passive observers of this cultural drift.

We are called to be stewards of truth in a generation starving for meaning, even if they don’t yet realize it. If we do not intentionally teach the true story of Christmas, the world will gladly substitute something cheaper, louder, and spiritually empty.

Christmas began in a manger, not a mall. It began with a virgin girl saying yes to God, with shepherds trembling before angels, with Joseph choosing obedience over reputation and with a child whose first crib was a feeding trough. The holiness of that night is not fragile, but our collective memory of it is. It must be protected, taught and proclaimed.

This season, I urge every believer to speak boldly and consistently about the miracle of Christ’s birth. Reiterate it to yourself. Tell it to your children and grandchildren. Teach it in your churches, your workplaces, your living rooms and your everyday conversations. Let the next generation hear not only what happened in Bethlehem, but why it matters: that the God of the universe took on flesh as Jesus Christ to save us wretched sinners from our otherwise endless pit of darkness and death.

If we reclaim Christmas, not as nostalgia nor as just tradition, but as worship, we are fulfilling our calling to continuously reignite the flame of truth in a culture desperately in need of light.

Maya Wright grew up in Cavendish, and is the executive assistant at the Christian Education Institute in Lynchburg Va.  She is currently hoping to move back to Vermont with her husband.