BOOK: Christmas – The Season of Life and Light

By Emily Hunter McGowin | Amazon.com | 152 pages
Published in September of 2023

SUMMARY: In many parts of the world it is effortless to get lost in the consumerism and busyness of Christmas. As a result, some people looking for deeper meaning cynically reject the celebration of Christmas. In Christmas: The Season of Life and Light Anglican priest Emily Hunter McGowin says not so fast as she frames Christmas within the church’s liturgical calendar while celebrating and exploring ways the holiday’s traditions such as gift-giving and decorations can point us towards the story of Jesus.

“The point of Christmas, like the rest of the liturgical calendar, is to attune our whole selves to the triune God,” McGowin writes. “Observed with wisdom, thoughfulness, and care, [Christmas] provide[s] numerous opportunities to rejoice in God’s salvific work in Christ and open ourselves to the Spirit’s transforming power in our hearts, homes, and communities.”

McGown begins with a short history of Christmas touching on its wild roots to its current materialistic iteration. She quickly pivots to how December 25th became established as the birthday of Jesus explaining the differences between two theories–the history of religious theory and the calculation theory–and which one she thinks is correct.

“Though there is no empirically verifiable ways to guarantee December 25 is the day, there’s no good reason to refrain from celebrating the coming of Christ on that day either,” McGowin pens.

McGown spends the bulk of the book tackling some of the popular holiday traditions such as gift giving, decorating, lighting candles, and singing arguing that these traditions, with the right mindset, can lead to spiritual formation such as generosity (gift giving), affirming that creation is good (decorations), resisting the dark (lighting candles), and praising God (singing).

For those looking for ways to push back against the consumerism and busyness associated with Christmas McGown has a simple suggestion–be with your church community.

“We must prioritize the liturgical journey to Christmas through communal worship…amid the consumption threatening to overwhelm the Christmas season, corporate worship is the best way to pursue the renewal by the Holy Spirit we all desperately need.”

At a tidy 152 pages, including eight pages of liturgical prayers and scripture readings in an appendix, Christmas is beautifully hardbound with glittering gold end sheets in the front and the back. The simple cream cover with a sparkling gold Bethlehem star overlaid a bed of pine is simple and elegant. The matte pages are thicker than most books suggesting this is a book to be read every Christmas season.

All in all, Christmas: The Season of Life and Light serves as an accessible guide to infuse the holiday season with a sense of reverence and purpose that can be revisited yearly.

KEY QUOTE: “The season of Christmas ought to be observed within the larger church calendar, which details the rest of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, as well as the story of Christ’s body, the church. The full calendar helps us remember that the baby in the manger did not come simply to be cradled and adored. He came to live, die, and rise again for the redemption of the world. He came to inaugurate a new kingdom and to empower us to live within it.”

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LISTEN: Hear McGown discuss her book on The Do Gooders Podcast.

OF NOTE: Christmas is part of The Fullness of Time series in which six authors provide an introduction to a season of the church year (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Pentecost, and Easter).

DID YOU KNOW? Sunday to Saturday has a Good Reads page where we post all of the books we have read – even the ones that didn’t make the cut.

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