Poem: Without Christmas

Where would we be without Christmas?
I suppose we would be all right.
We’d survive okay with an ordinary day
On December twenty-five.

We could still have a feast if we wanted,
You don’t need a holiday to eat food.
Any woman or man may cook a twenty-pound ham
As often as they are in the mood.

And yeah, we wouldn’t buy presents,
But we have plenty enough as it is.
And I’m pretty sure all the retail stores
Would be more upset than the kids.

And what about old Saint Nicholas,
With all those reindeer just standing about?
Come on, you don’t think he knows venison sells for forty bucks a kilo?
I’m sure he’d figure something out.

We could still play backyard cricket,
We could still go down to the beach.
If you really wanted to there’d be nothing stopping you
From hanging some lights on a tree.

Yes, we’d be okay without presents,
And carols and stockings and lights…
Except that those things really mean what they mean
In light of the advent of Christ.

And where would we be without Jesus?
Now that is a far better question.
’Cause we’re talking bigger than some religious figure—
He is the Son of God come from heaven.

Perfect and holy and righteous,
The exact likeness of his Father.
With heavenly speech and miraculous deeds,
There’s none like him before or after.

And if Jesus had never shown up,
If the light of the world never came,
Then all mankind would be lost, would be blind,
With no possible way to be saved.

What hope would there be for the guilty?
All have sinned against God Most High.
No excuse can condone, no good works can atone—
The soul that sins shall die.

What on earth could ever replace Jesus,
The Lamb of God slain for our sins?
When we were to blame, we had all gone astray,
God laid all our guilt upon him.

He took the torturous beating,
Thorns were the crown on his head.
God’s wrath against sin was poured out on him,
On the cross he died in our stead.

What sacrifice is there but Jesus,
To reconcile sinners to God?
All sins washed away by faith in his name,
And peace with our Maker restored.

For the one who repents of his evils,
And turns to the God who forgives,
And believes with his all that Jesus is Lord,
Then that one once condemned now shall live.

Where would we be without Jesus,
And his wonderful, incomparable glory?
Who had such love to for us shed his blood,
There’s not time to tell the whole story.

Rather…
Thank God we are not without Jesus,
We have Christmas because we have Christ.
Full of truth and grace, he came to save,
His promise is eternal life.