What does the Course have to say about Christmas?
What about New Year's? and...
Which workbook lessons relate to this season?
My favorite workbook lesson for the Christmas Season is number 303:
"The Holy Christ is born in me today."
"The Holy Christ is born in me today."
1 Watch with me, angels, watch with me today. ²Let all God’s holy thoughts surround me and be still with me while Heaven’s Son is born. ³Let earthly sounds be quiet and the sights to which I am accustomed disappear. ⁴Let Christ be welcomed where He is at home, and let Him hear the sounds He understands and see but sights which show His Father’s love. ⁵Let Him no longer be a stranger here, for He is born again in me today.
2 Your Son is welcome, Father. ²He has come to save me from the evil self I made. ³He is the Self that You have given me. ⁴He is but what I really am in truth. ⁵He is the Son You love above all things. ⁶He is my Self as You created me. ⁷It is not Christ that can be crucified. ⁸Into Your world let me receive Your Son.
[CE W-303]
Chapter IV, section V of the Complete Annotated ACIM offers a new reading on Christmas: p.166
Section V: 2 Christmas is not a time; it is a state of mind. ²The Christ Mind wills from the spirit, not from the ego, and the Christ Mind is yours. ³You, too, have a Kingdom which your spirit has created. ⁴It has not ceased to create because your ego has set you on the road of perception. ⁵Your spirit’s creations are no more fatherless than you are. ⁶Your ego and your spirit will never be co-creators, but your spirit and your Creator will always be. ⁷Be confident that your creations are as safe as you are.
⁸The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. ⁹Amen.
[CE T-4.V.2:1-9]
Following is a link to the main readings on Christmas. They are found in Chapter 15 and begin with the end of section III, Littleness Versus Magnitude; "In this season, which celebrates the birth of holiness into this world..." It concludes with the end of section XI and all of section X and XI, which ends with two paragraphs that address the New Year. "This is the time in which a new year will be born from the time of Christ."
ACIM on entering the New Year
Text and related Workbook Lesson
Chapter 15, section XI
7 This is the time in which a new year will be born from the time of Christ. ²I have perfect faith in you to do all that you would accomplish. ³Nothing will be lacking, and you will make complete and not destroy. ⁴Say this to your brother and understand it:
⁵I give you to the Holy Spirit, as part of myself. ⁶I know that you will be released, unless I want to use you to imprison myself. ⁷In the name of my freedom, I will your release, ⁸because I recognize that we will be released together.
8 So will the year begin in joy and freedom. ²There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. ³Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening. ⁴Make this year different by making it all the same. ⁵And let all your relationships be made holy for you. ⁶This is our will. ⁷Amen.
[CE T-15.XI.7-8]
Text and related Workbook Lesson
Chapter 15, section XI
7 This is the time in which a new year will be born from the time of Christ. ²I have perfect faith in you to do all that you would accomplish. ³Nothing will be lacking, and you will make complete and not destroy. ⁴Say this to your brother and understand it:
⁵I give you to the Holy Spirit, as part of myself. ⁶I know that you will be released, unless I want to use you to imprison myself. ⁷In the name of my freedom, I will your release, ⁸because I recognize that we will be released together.
8 So will the year begin in joy and freedom. ²There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. ³Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening. ⁴Make this year different by making it all the same. ⁵And let all your relationships be made holy for you. ⁶This is our will. ⁷Amen.
[CE T-15.XI.7-8]
Workbook Lesson 68