Name: Keeping Christmas faith all year
Uploaded: 2025-12-26T18:19:33.390Z
Duration: 6 min 37 s
Description: Pastor Jesse Bradley and Father Patrick Flanagan join to discuss how to keep the spiritual meaning of Christmas with us all year long.

Pastor Jesse Bradley and Father Patrick Flanagan join to discuss how to keep the spiritual meaning of Christmas with us all year long.

Father Patrick Flanagan of St. John's University and Pastor Jesse Bradley of Grace Community Church discussed ways to keep the spiritual significance of Christmas alive throughout the year. Both leaders emphasized the themes of peace, hope, and generosity, noting that these values should extend beyond the holiday season.

The conversation highlighted a recent resurgence in faith, with increased church attendance and Bible engagement. The leaders encouraged focusing on the spiritual message of Christmas, fostering community support, and meeting people—especially youth—where they are to help sustain faith and hope year-round.

Keeping Christmas faith all year

are asking how to keep the spiritual meaning of this day alive, and not just today, but for all year long. So joining us now to discuss is Father Patrick Flanagan. He is the chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, St. John's University, and also with us, Pastor Jesse Bradley. He is a senior pastor at the Grace Community Church in Auburn, Washington. Good morning to you both, and Merry Christmas. Good morning, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Deneen. Well, Father Flanagan, we'll start with you. We were just watching Pope Leo deliver his first Christmas address. What is your initial reaction to his message? I'm not one to say my boss nailed it, but he did nail it. His themes are peace and hope. So you recognize when he came out of the platform, on his first appearance, the people of God in the world, he said the words that Jesus said at the resurrection, peace be with you. And that's the message essentially of the nativity, that in the midst of all the craziness, midst of all the darkness, midst of all the pain and sorrow, God brings peace in this beautiful child. At the same time, also brings a restoration of hope that had been quiet and dark for so many years. You know, Pastor Bradley, tell us about how we can make our faith last over the entire year. You know, to Father Flanagan's point, it's the time of year that does inspire hope and this resurgence or resurrection of hope in a lot of people this time of year. But how do you keep that going for the rest of the 12 months of the year, the remainder? Because, you know, as a reporter, as a journalist, this year has been hard for a lot of people. There's been a lot of tragic, tragic stories here. How do you keep that hope alive? Andrew, that's a great point. There's good news of great joy, the Savior is born, but that good news doesn't stop on Christmas. Think about the names of Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. God is with us always, 24-7 relationship. Also, the name Jesus means he'll save his people from their sins. And this is because of God's grace. We don't achieve it, we receive this gift. And then we have peace, the Prince of Peace. We have peace with God and also the peace of God. And that's when we come to God in prayer, give him our burdens, we thank God. Jesus said, if you abide with me, then you will bear great fruit. And his birth is connected to his death, his resurrection, his return. This is an eternal relationship, a daily relationship. In Seattle, we've had floods the last two weeks. It's been tragic, but we were able to come together and churches unite and then fill cars full of resources. And it's the hope of Jesus that's infinite and indestructible. So anyone can turn to the Lord. Christmas for me growing up was about presents and Santa, but then I learned it's about the Savior, Jesus. Now you make such an amazing point there because as children, if you're not taught otherwise, what is the reason for the season? Everyone does just think it's just shopping and getting presents and looking for Santa to come down the chimney. But for a lot of people this Christmas, it's turned into a stressful situation, shopping and social media. Father Flanagan, how do you refocus people on what Christmas is actually about spiritually? Well, I think you spoke so eloquently about it. You said that we have to remind ourselves the reason for the season. It's about why are we giving gifts? Why are we being so generous? Why are we being so kind? It's because God has been extraordinarily kind with us in giving us Jesus's son, and that gives us reason for hope. And so to Pastor Bradley's point, it's critical not only that we celebrate Christmas this day, but throughout the whole year, and we become harbingers of hope and prophets of peace and make that alive in the way we interact with people, and we build a common good that's just and holy. You know, Pastor Bradley, I wanted to ask you this because there's been a lot of data and there's been a lot of words written about a resurgence of faith over the last, say 12 months, 24 months, that people are recommitting themselves or coming to Christianity, maybe for the first time, or maybe they're coming back. Have you seen that in your congregation? What do you ascribe that to? How has that concept of faith, you think, changed over the past few years that are bringing people back to it? There's definitely a resurgence and America returning to God. We had four services yesterday. They were full. We've never had so many people. People are hungry for God and hungry for God's word. Bible sales are increasing rapidly. There's apps like the You version that's had over a billion downloads. And the word of God, not just on Sundays, but also personally, people reading scripture during the week. At home, people are gathering and praying. I've been serving with Global Media Outreach and we've shared the gospel with over 3 billion people. Worldwide, we've seen millions come to know Jesus. So here's the good news, Andrew. Anyone can come home anytime. We drift. Sometimes it's unintentionally, but God's grace is greater than our sin. It's a relationship. It's not just religion or dead rituals. And when we come home to God, God receives us. The prodigal who comes home, the father comes running. So anyone can, to lift up their eyes to the hills, look to Jesus. He's our risen savior and he is the hope of the world. And Father Flanagan, your thoughts in terms of what Pastor Bradley just mentioned, like how do you bring people back? How do you keep children engaged, whether it's young and into adulthood, to keep them going back to church? So one of the remarkable things that Pastor Bradley alluded to was the fact that these churches that we saw empty just a few years ago are filled and filled with vibrant young people. And as pastors, as priests, that is so encouraging to us because it makes our lives much easier, but it also challenges us to meet them where they're at. And to meet them where they're at is at a place where they find themselves being struck by a world that is not delivering the answers that they want. And they find that there's lots of promises made out there, but they're not delivering. And where they find themselves going back to God and they go back to the churches and going back to the scriptures is they find foundational texts and reason for their hope as 1 Peter says in 3.15. All right, Father Flanagan, Pastor Bradley, thank you so much. And Merry Christmas to you both. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.

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