Christmas is a time of year for homecomings. Service men and women come home, college students return, families gather to celebrate the birth of “the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. vii). Although not everyone has a physical home to come to, or the means to get home, we’re all included in this homecoming.

As we each pray deeply to cherish the significance of Jesus’ life and works, how important it is to recognize what we’re really coming home to—and to know our way home!

Jesus showed us the way. In answer to a disciple’s question, “How can we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:5, 6). So to know the Christ, is to know our way home. The real homecoming is in waking up to our spiritual, divine nature, defined by Christ, Truth. Christ has heralded—praised and sung from the rooftops!—our whole, eternal, perfect natures for as long as God has existed. Forever. Christian Science declares, “The Christ is incorporeal, spiritual,—yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death” (p. 332). What a gift that is.

There are many homecomings in the Bible that illustrate the activity of the Christ, destroying the false concept of manhood and womanhood and bringing healing. Think of the prodigal son whose return to his father involved a “coming to,” an awakening to his spiritual selfhood and all the blessings that includes. Think of that day he saw his father and family as a Christmas Day—yes, festive with presents and food (even a bit of family squabbling)—but truly celebrating this son’s new birth to his Christliness within. Think of the name changes of Jacob to Israel, of Saul to Paul. Their identities returned and were restored to where they began: at home with the Christ. Think of the children of Israel who found their homeland not in “the desert of human hopes,” but in the promised good of the joy of Christlike living—lawful, peaceful, blessed. Think of Ruth, whose commitment to God helped her see that her home wasn’t a geographic location or family name. And “. . . so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires in their passage from sense to Soul, from a material sense of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared for them who love God” (Science and Health, p. 566). That’s a promise for every one of us—inspired ideas guiding us on the path that leads us home.

Each healing thought, each return to our innate Christliness heralds the glory that Christmas represents, and honors Jesus’ birth. Our hearts and souls and minds can trumpet the joyous music Soul composes for us each day. The festivities and celebrations of the season carry far more meaning when we know ourselves within. When we recognize the Christliness in our husband or wife, and our children, in the person who’s not so fun to be around, in our global neighbors—we’re offering our gift of healing to the world, just as Jesus did and just as the wise men recognized when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. That’s the immortality of the Christ in action, and it’s the best gift we can give.

So as you make your way “home” this holiday season, follow the way mapped out by the Christ within you. You will hear angel voices singing you praises, reminding you of who you really are. Loving you. And you’ll say, “Now this feels like home.”