In this day and age of secularism and social media, one of the most countercultural acts a Christian can do is to send Christmas cards - real cards in real envelopes that end up in the real hands of loved ones, colleagues, friends, and those with whom we come into contact throughout the year.

Most Christmas cards are sappy and Gnostic, focusing on warm-fuzzies, roasting chestnuts, reindeer, and even crass humor. At best, the kinds of Christmas cards you can buy at Barnes and Noble or at a pharmacy have vague references to a generic God, and possibly some kind of reference to Baby Jesus that doesn’t say too much about why He came into our world. Most of what is available doesn’t even rise to that level, being something to do with Frosty the Snowman, Star Wars or Disney princesses.

Christmas is Christ’s Mass, the Feast of the Holy Incarnation. And this is the one time of year where even the United States Postal Service will (at least for the time being) issue stamps with our Blessed Lord and His mother depicted in art.

So what kind of Christmas cards would be meet, right, and salutary for Christians to send?

First of all, they should be Christocentric and Christological. They should be timeless expressions of our Lord Jesus Christ in His human incarnation for the purpose of redeeming the world from sin, death, and the devil. They should be devoid of dated expressions of pop culture.

Second, they should be artistically and aesthetically beautiful. Depictions of our Lord should make no provision for kitsch. Western civilization abounds with beauty - especially over the centuries of magnificent Christian art. There is no reason to settle for mediocrity in our Christmas cards.

Third, they must have texts grounded in the Holy Scriptures and Christian hymnody, going beyond vague good wishes and generic God-talk. The texts must put the fleshly, incarnate Christ before the reader as an expression of the Gospel. And the fonts used should be crisp and dignified, pleasing to the eye, and uplifting.

Finally, the cardstock and envelopes should be of high quality, fit for the proclamation of our King. The imagery and layout should be superlative and pleasing to the eye and to the touch.

So where can we Christians find Christmas cards of this caliber? Our friends at Emmanuel Press have a collection of eleven magnificently beautiful cards that meet all of these criteria. You can order them in sets of 15 ($22.95) or 40 ($49.95) in an assortment of your choice. Shipping is included!

My favorite is “Magnificat,” because of the beautiful Bouguereau painting of our young Lord in his mother’s arms. His intense, piercing eyes are gazing right at you, with his right hand blessing you with the New Testament priestly blessing, and his left hand making the traditional Old Testament priestly blessing. His mother’s eyes are downcast in humility. The calligraphy is the beginning of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-47). The inside of the card contains a stanza from the “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” (LSB 384) written by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (348-c. 413 AD).

Although this is my favorite, each and every card is exquisite and beautiful, proclaiming the birth of God in the flesh to save us!

Emmanuel Press is owned and operated by Lutheran pastor The Rev. Michael Frese and his wife Janet. This explains the care that goes into these cards: love for the Lord, for beauty, and for quality, and of course for theological clarity in the confession of our Lord Jesus Christ. In their own words:

No generic winter scenes or Santa’s overflowing bag of toys for us – all else pales in comparison to God incarnate in the manger, born to die for the sins of the world.

I cannot recommend these cards highly enough. I simply cannot take my eyes off of them. They really are magnificent.

These cards are an opportunity to strengthen the faith of our brothers and sisters who share our confession, as well as a once-a-year chance to lay the gospel before those who may not fully grasp the significance of our Lord’s incarnation, and to do so in a way that beauty draws the one holding the card into contact with the Word of God and the mystery of our Lord’s entrance into space and time.

Oh, and in the unlikely event that our readers like books, check out the treasures that EP has to offer!