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On this Christmas I want to answer a very simple question- if someone who knew nothing about Christmas asked why we celebrate Christmas what would I tell him or her? Have you ever thought about that? What would you say? I mean…we spend a whole lot of time getting ready for this Christmas deal and we make a whole lot of preparations for this day…and in the back of our minds we know that it has something to do with baby Jesus being born…but do we have any idea why this is important? And would you know what to say to someone if he/she asked what Christmas was all about?
Here’s what I might say:
Have you ever had an ache in your heart? You know…an ache that just weighs you down and hurts so bad that you can’t do anything but just wish it would go away? Maybe it was a close friend talking about you to other people and it just killed you on the inside. Maybe it was watching a loved one battle an agonizing fight with cancer or another disease until it took their life….or at a minimum debilitated them. Maybe it was a friend or family member who misread something you said or did and have held a grunge against you ever since. It could even be watching your child suffer from a disability, or get made fun of at school, or struggle through school. Or maybe it is the ache of being addicted, strung out, losing all control of your life… and feeling like there is no way out. Maybe you are under the crushing weight of debt or unemployment. You don’t know how you are going to pay your bills or make ends meet. Maybe on the other side you are a person who has a job but the stress of the job is taking its toll on you and you are suffering from anxiety and physical problems. Maybe you feel trapped in life and like you exist each day just to satisfy the expectations of other people.
Is this the best life has to offer? Will things ever change? Is there any reason to have hope?
Do you read the paper or watch the news? Kids killing their parents. Parents killing their kids. Kids killing other kids. Adults killing adults. Just this week a man sprayed a woman, who he was angry with, with an accelerant and then threw a match on her. Just this week a man stopped on a bridge and took his young child out with the car seat and threw it into the river for the child to die. Just this week people punched and fought each other to get their hands on a newly released pair of basketball shoes in the stores. Just yesterday a 3-year old shot and killed a 5-year old with a hand gun. Just yesterday a man killed two people and then stole an SUV with a toddler in the backseat. Last night 9 people were shot and killed at a Christmas get-together. Everyday another person is abducted…and the hearts of families, friends, and communities break because they never find the helpless victim. People are stealing copper lines from businesses and churches to make a buck. People are breaking into homes and businesses to steal Christmas presents. Cities are offering the homeless one-way tickets to get out of town. And that is just in one week…in one country…at one time in history. The things we do to each other are so tragic and sad. The love of many continues to grow colder and colder.
Around the world we continue to war. Just this week dozens die as 14 bombs exploded in Baghdad. Nations rise and nations fall. Leaders rise and leaders fall. Nation threatens nation and kingdom threatens kingdom. People protest around the globe because the system is messed up- the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Many hard-working men and women work endlessly to have the money taken out of their pockets by politicians, bankers, and corporations who, many times, operate by power and greed. People rise up and the establishment fights back…it’s an endless, endless cycle that isn’t unique to our day and age. Money makes the world go round. And it limits and categorizes and oppresses and weighs down on people. And don’t you just get tired of it? Don’t you just want things to be equitable…even IF people don’t really deserve it? Do we have to have the have’s and have not’s? Don’t you wish that we could help each other and trust each other and care for one another without all the hoarding and greed. Is life only about accumulation and dividends and profits and commercialism?
And we treat people like objects. Around the world people are still enslaved- working at 10 years of age, working 16-hour days, working harder labor than we will ever know or understand. Right now another young girl is being exploited by a pimp who only cares about making another buck while she is emotionally, physically, and spiritually devastated. People are making a few bucks a month. People are living in filth in the slums. People are scraping to have a bite to eat and they long for clean water. And with all the money we have in the world…and all the money we spend on frivolous things…and all the money our government wastes…and all the money we spend and spend and spend….why are people still suffering in the 21st century? Does your heart ache? Do you long for things to be better? Do you hope for a day when all will be set right?
Yes…in this world there is immeasurable glory…and yet there is immeasurable pain and suffering. We long for something else…for a better world. We long for peace…but we never can seem to attain it. We long for justice…but the system seems wildly out of control and completely unjust. We have hope. We have hope. We have hope. But hope in what? Is this the way life will always be? Will things ever be set right? Will there ever be peace? Will there ever be justice? Will the aching ever go away? Will the oppressed ever be set free? Will we ever quit hoarding and finally share? Will we ever find joy in this life? Will love ever prevail instead of hate and violence and pain? Will the longings of hope that we have deep in our souls ever be realized into something? Will the tears ever be wiped away?
Isn’t there anyone who can help us? Is there anyone who can save us from ourselves? Every person we look to fails us and hurts us and manipulates us and leaves us in an even worse situation. Is God just out there and distant and removed from our pain? Does God even know what this life is like and how hard it is? Does God know how unjust this world can be toward people? Does God know how people close their doors in your face when you are in desperate need? Does God know what it is like to be pushed to the edges of society without a place to lay your head? Does God know what it is like to ache and be in so much pain?
The surprising answer is yes, because that same God came down and lived a life in full flesh as a human being and understands our pain, our emotions, our longings, and our yearnings.
Christmas…the Incarnation (God becoming Man)…the Word becoming Flesh…the Christ-child being born is the focal point of history. It is the moment in which God lowered himself and came down to us…to love, to serve, to demonstrate life. He did not come down to force, coerce, or lord over people from the top like an oppressive King. He did not say, “You guys have really screwed this up so now you are going to do it my way.” He came down born in a simple, humble birth in a lowly manger on the edges of society. And it was in this that God demonstrated his character to each one of us who have fallen short of the way he created us to be. He came down to teach us the highest and most honorable way to live.
As we have gone our own way, worked for our own purposes and our own desires, and rebelled against God in every way imaginable…it was God through Jesus who came down in humility, in grace, in all his gentleness and subverted all of our hatred by his love.
In Jesus, God’s Kingdom, God’s Reign broke into this world…and initiated a completely new way of doing life that looks nothing like anything this world has ever seen (or ever will see). It was in Jesus that Heaven and Earth came together as one. And it was in Jesus that Heaven and Earth are continuing to come together…until all things are brought together in their full measure at the renewal of all things.
The Scriptures say:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
God’s plan of redemption and restoration started on Christmas Day through the birth of his son. But we only celebrate his birth for the victory over death through resurrection. For without rising from the dead, his birth is utterly meaningless. That is why we celebrate this light coming into the darkness. That is why we live by faith and have hope that the forces of evil are being extinguished, exhausted, and taking their very last breath. That is why we live and celebrate victoriously on Christmas Day, because we have hope that our sufferings are only temporary. It is on this day, in light of his resurrection, that we celebrate his birth in one accord and look forward to a day when:
Pain will be no more.
Hatred will finally and completely be defeated by love.
Heartache will give way to complete healing.
Killing will cease and life will abound forever.
Peace will reign throughout the cosmos.
The scars and wounds that we wear will be healed by his hands.
The hungry will be fed.
The lame will walk.
The blind will see.
And all things will be set right: heaven and earth will finally be one.
It is in Jesus that we know that God acted decisively in history by coming down to a people desperately needing life, hope, and rescue. The meager, tiny baby in the manger that drew the attention of all creation: the angels, the wise men, the shepherds in the field, the kings of the land, people all throughout the world, and every man, woman, and child throughout history…is celebrated, praised, and lifted high…because he won the greatest victory in history.
That is why I celebrate Christmas.
Have a Merry Christmas!
Brandon
Thanksgiving has certainly been transformed over the years by popular culture into more of an event than a way of being. Many of us have a heightened awareness of giving thanks at least one time during the year (and possibly in the days preceding the event)…but I am not sure that we have ever given much of thought to embodying a real, authentic moment-by-moment life of thanksgiving.
In fact, I would make the case that the majority of us view thanksgiving as a momentary, sporadic expression of gratitude that happens when something goes in our favor. To that extent, our thanksgiving is quite conditional.
What we find in the biblical scriptures is something very different than what we have been cultured to believe.
We find that thanksgiving is never viewed as an event, or as something that should only occur sporadically or momentarily, or as an expression of gratitude only when something goes in our favor. Rather, we find that thanksgiving is a moment by moment expression of gratitude in everything that is done, in every moment of the day, with every breath that is taken, and never dependent upon the situation or circumstance.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2: 6-7
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3: 15
Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18
Real thanksgiving is our continual expression of gratitude to God regardless of our life situation or condition.
Real thanksgiving is a continual expression of gratitude for God’s grace, God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s provision, and God’s marvelous creation.
Real thanksgiving is saying right now and right now and right now, “this is the very best life can offer and I am not worthy of it.”
Real thanksgiving responds in the midst of chaos, confusion, and calamity, “thank you God for your grace, mercy, love, and beauty that outshines and makes everything else fade.”
Many times, as a Christian, I have neglected the very essence of who I have been created to be by not being thankful.
The Christian is a present participant in the promise of Jesus Christ in making all things new. New creation has been initiated in our lives. The spiritual effects of the Resurrection are being realized in power in our lives through God’s Holy Spirit. And we have been given new eyes to see clearly the beauty, majesty, and wonder of God right now!
The Spirit cries out to me: See the wonder! See the glory! See the beauty! And move forward in awe!
Listen.
Smell.
Feel.
Take it all in and delight. Let the wind blow at your back and let the sun shine down on your face.
Listen to the conversations.
Joy in the laughter of your children.
Celebrate that you can give your baby a bath.
Delight in the songs of the birds and the rustling of the leaves.
Be enveloped by everything and everyone around you.
Count your blessings.
Smell the autumn fragrance.
Let the preparation of your meal be a prayer and a blessing.
Savor every bite as if it is your very first.
Feel the textures.
Let the work of your hands be praise.
Count your blessings.
Sit in the woods and notice every detail of creation.
Close your eyes and absorb every note and harmony.
Glory in every drop of your morning coffee.
Embrace the touch of another.
Join in the chorus of all creation in praise.
Count your blessings.
Can any one of us even utter a grumble…in the midst of creation’s immeasurable wonder?
It is good.
It is good.
It is good.
From the depths of my soul and with every breath…thank you God. I am an unworthy man.
Peace…
Brandon
brandonandress
kwinabram
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