These movies remind us to be grateful, to laugh, to look back on our own Christmases past, to reclaim some of the mystey and magic of Christmas. They make us laugh, cry, and feel some of the joy and love of the season.

Are these part of a “war on Christmas” as some have said, or a needed correction as we live in an increasingly pluralistic, religiously diverse world? Must we depend on corporations like Starbucks to prop up our Christmas observances, or is that the work of the church and individual Christians?

The promise of Christmas is that God comes to us in our joy, in our sorrow, in the fullness and complexity of our humanity in the birth of Jesus in a lowly manger in Bethlehem.

Most superhero stories operate in this way. Batman is about overcoming fear. Spiderman is about power and responsibility. (Did someone say “geeking out?”) The Christmas story operates in the same way.