Christmas has gone for another year and, sadly, in much of western Europe it has become so much part of the social and cultural life that Christians may have to stand back to keep it in proper focus from the secular holiday it has become and the commercialism that surrounds it. Christmas, therefore, runs the danger of just becoming a time of festivity.
What has happened is that Christmas, in the west, has become part of social religion. People think they are celebrating Christmas but, in fact, they are taking part in something that has been transformed to fit the needs of society.
There is nothing wrong with this; a hiatus or comma strategically placed in our year does no harm, unless, of course, you want to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Social religion in much of western Europe celebrates the things associated with Christmas - Santa, presents and parties - but takes lightly the birth of Christ while Christianity celebrates the nativity of God's human face, the Incarnation. God has gone much further than just creating us and, in order to teach us how to become fully alive and live this life in the best possible way, God took our human nature in Jesus.
St John's gospel gets us straight to the point: Jesus came into the world as the Word, God's creative power, God's will, the Incarnate Love, the source of all light showing us where to walk in safety, dispelling dark forces.
And Jesus is not just a light, He is The Light, an unquenchable light in our lives, which cannot be overcome by the evils of our world. We can all fall into the trap of social religion, Christmas becomes commercial and Easter is about eggs and not the resurrection. St Paul reminds us that the Incarnation and resurrection are part of God's plan for each of us and he asks us to remain focused on their true meaning.
Today, not all Christians agree on the number of sacraments. Some speak of seven, others of two but, in any case, baptism is among them. Even the ancient Nicene Creed speaks of "one baptism for the remission of sins" and this has been the starting point in a quest for unity of Christianity. Furthermore, we are all children of God because God is the author of all life. In baptism, the sign of the cross is traced on the forehead to claim us for Christ, united with Him, to belong to Him. And to be baptised is to lay claim to the redeeming death of Christ.
Accordingly, when someone is being baptised we should not only claim him for Christ but also incorporate him into the community of "faith", which is a mystical "Body of Christ". This is a constant reminder of the call to unity among all Christians as each time we celebrate this sacrament we are pledging ourselves to work for that unity among Christians for which Christ prayed.
It is His will that we don't baptise people "Catholic", "Orthodox", "Reformed" or "Protestant" but only a simple "Christian". To be born again, from the water of baptism, means that God forgives our sins. Baptism unites us with Christ and frees us even from that sin, which gladly accepts and acquiesces in the disunity of God's people on earth.
Therefore, we all have a duty to our baptismal calling to stand together as fellow Christians from whatever tradition or denomination we find ourselves and proclaim with one voice the Gospel of Christ.
Fr Zerajic is a Serbian Orthodox priest and Fr Williams is an Anglican priest and chairman of the Malta Ecumenical Council.