The Christmas Spirit is the condition of abiding in the numinous experience of kairotic participation in Christ’s advent.
What does this mean?
Christ’s advent can be viewed chronologically and kairotically. Chronologically, advent is a historical past reality. Kairotically, Christ’s arrival is an eternal moment that we make a special effort to abide in at the end of every year.
We participate in advent chronologically through memorializing activities which bring to mind the historical advent account. Such activities include: reading the Christmas story, performing Christmas pageants, and setting up nativity sets. These are important traditions that help us to keep the facts straight. However, they tend to produce a comparatively impersonal, observationa, or external persective. It is difficult to abide in and be filled with a historical fact. Rather, the past occurence makes possible the existence of a present condition…
While Christ’s advent occurred historically, it is also an eternal kairotic moment. If we desire to enter into the reality of this eternal moment, we must be filled with the joy of His presence. This joy cannot be repressed. It overflows as the characteristic Christmas virtues: generosity and charity. These virtues are a divine blessing and the natural consequence of Christ’s presence. In Scripture, they are referred to as “peace on earth, good will towards men”.