Merry Christmas

Want to wish someone a Merry Christmas in their own language? Here's how it's said in some of the world's most-spoken languages.

Did you notice? Many of these names for Christmas simply mean birth.

Navidad, Natale, Natal and Noël all come from the Latin natalis: birth. The Arabic means "glorious birth feast." The Chinese Shèngdàn means "holy birth."

All over the world, people are saying the same thing: Someone was born.

But who? And why would that still be worth celebrating?

Matthew tells us the child's name: Immanuel, "God with us" (Matthew 1:23). That's the secret at the center of Christmas. God didn't stay distant. He came close and became one of us.

So the joy of Christmas isn't something you have to manufacture. No perfect tree, dinner or family photo required. It's a gift you receive.

That's what makes Christmas merry. Not that everything is fine. But that God is with us.

Don't make it busier or more expensive. Make Christmas Merry in the old sense: glad, warm, blessed.

1. Read the original story. Luke 2:1–20 takes five minutes. Read it out loud on Christmas Eve. Notice who God tells first.

2. Give in secret. Do something kind for someone having a hard year, without taking the credit.

3. Set an extra place. Invite someone who might otherwise be alone. The first Christmas visitors were strangers too.

4. Make room for quiet. Light a candle, sit still for ten minutes, and pray: God, if you're really with us, let me see it this Christmas.

5. Mean it when you say it. The first "Merry Christmas" was a prayer. Say it as a blessing.

And a few questions to reflect on:

• What makes Christmas feel merry for you? What makes it hard?

• Who in your life could use a little extra joy this year?

• What would it mean for you if God really is "with us"?

• If you don't believe (yet): what draws you in this story, and what questions does it raise?

Merry Christmas. It started as a prayer. It became a greeting on a card. Today it's printed on mugs, sweaters and shopping bags.

But underneath it all, the message hasn't changed. In dozens of languages, all over the world, people are still saying it: Someone was born. And that Someone changes everything. He means God isn't far away. He came close: into a crowded house, to the people on the night shift, into the darkest days of the year.

He came for all the people. Including you.

You don't need a perfect Christmas to receive that gift. You can simply be curious. Read the story. Ask your questions. Make a little room. So from all of us, in the oldest sense of the words:

May God send you a merry Christmas.