White Christmas

Even after two big snowfalls and shoveling four driveways with my boys, I am still looking forward to a white Christmas. The idea of a White Christmas truly has become a romanticized ideal in North American Pop culture. Heck it even has its own theme song! Written by Irving Berlin and made famous by Bing Crosby (who sang it in two movies, the second of which was actually called White Christmas, in1954), the song is a holiday classic. One of my favourite things about this time of year, is to be able to look outside the window after dark, and to see snowflakes dancing in the beams of streetlights, glistening in the golden glow, and creating a clean white blanket over the earth. I admit, it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. As much as I love the idea of a White Christmas , however, I do find myself wondering what it has to do with Christmas?
The first Christmas took place in Bethlehem, whose Mediterranean climate makes rain far more likely than snow, which is rare. Even rarer would be an accumulation great enough for sleighs making it unlikely that one might hear “sleigh bells in the snow”. When you read about the birth of Christ in the bible, there is no mention of snow at all. Snow doesn’t play any role in that original Christmas. I live in Canada, however, and many of my Christmas memories do include snow. It is just a reality about where I live and thus a significant part of my Christmas experience.
There are numerous scripture passages that do mention snow, and one of them in particular seems relevant. Psalm 51 is a Psalm in which King David is repenting of sin and in it he makes this request to God:
“Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.” (NIV)
It is God who offers forgiveness and cleansing from our sin. At Christmas we celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world, God the Son taking on human flesh. We celebrate His life, which would see Him go to the cross and shed His blood, poured out for many for the forgiveness of of sins. By virtue of His sacrifice, we might be forgiven, cleansed and washed as white as snow. So, as I look for the snow falling through the streetlight beams and making a blanket of white, I will try to remember this fact; that I have been made white as snow and that is a White Christmas worth celebrating.