It always amazes me at how quickly the joy and excitement of the Christmas season subsides. I suspect it is because the joy of Christmas does not come from the virgin birth, from shepherds in their fields, from kings following a star, or from angels singing with the heavenly hosts. It isn’t about the beautiful decorations, the gorgeous music, the happiness of seeing and being with family, or watching our children open gifts from Santa. All of these wonderful things are byproducts of the fact that God lives among us.

In her book, “Take This Bread,” author Sara Miles says “that impossible word, Jesus, lodged in me like a crumb … I had no idea what it meant; I didn’t know what to do with it. But it was realer than any thought of mine, or even any subjective emotion: it was as real as the actual taste of the bread and the wine. And the word was indisputably in my body now, as if I’d swallowed a radioactive pellet that would outlive my own flesh.” What Miles is describing is her first encounter with taking Communion. One day she found herself drawn to St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco, despite having spent her entire life up until that point avoiding religion, adamant that her atheistic upbringing was all she needed; yet here she was accepting the word, the living God, Jesus, into her life.

The conversion of Sara Miles is a Christmas miracle and her life is an example of God’s power manifested in the world. Something drew her to St. Gregory’s — something draws many people to spaces of worship on Christmas Eve —  just like how something draws many of us to those same spaces weekly.

That “something” is the word made flesh, Jesus Christ, and all of the people who were sent to prepare the way for his coming. John the Baptist was sent to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah, for Emmanuel, God with us.

The joy of Christmas rests in the realization that God dwells among us and it is our turn to be John the Baptist; it is our turn to prepare the world for the return of Jesus.

In 1978, author and theologian Howard Thurman published a poem titled “The Work of Christmas,” which teaches us how we can be the church.

When the song of the angels is stilled
When the star in the sky is gone
When the kings and princes are home
When the shepherds are back with their flock
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoner
To rebuild the nations
To bring peace among others
To make music in the heart.

Christmas is also our turn to embody the spirit of God and be the church Thurman embodied in his poem, by finding the lost, healing the broken, feeding the hungry, freeing prisoners, rebuilding nations, and bringing peace to others. It is this work that draws people to God; it is the hope of being found, healed, fed and freed that brings people to God.

It is not our buildings, or our traditions, or our prayer book, or any other human construct that draws any of us to God; it is the presence of the Word, the Spirit of God, that binds us to each another and makes us the church.

Some of us feel drawn to the institutional church, but most people don’t, and that reality is quickly becoming clear as more and more congregations close their doors. The future of the church does not rest in the pews, it rests in the hearts and minds of the many people who feel connected to God.

We must take the message of Christmas where it belongs: among the people, and not just between Thanksgiving and New Years. It belongs at all times and in all places.

The Rev. Jason A. Burns is a deacon at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Northampton and lives in Greenfield.