After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”-Matthew 2:1-2

“Who his own self, bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”-   1 Peter 2:24

 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

 “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”–Acts 20:35.

 

Keeping His Story Eternal
Out in the snow, we see trees that are freezing.
But, inside there’s a tree warmly shining.
On top, there’s a star which honors the past
Of an ancient star used for divining.
A star which was put in the sky by God,
As we are told in our most sacred lore,
To direct the Magi to Bethlehem
And the birth of our blessed savior.
The tree itself speaks of our saviors cross,
Sometimes known as His tree.
Reminding us how he gave His sinless life
That you and I may be free.
We adorn the tree with beauty and light
And we lift it to ultimate glory;
Reminiscent of how God used the pain of the cross
To begin His epic love story.
Throughout the room, we have glowing candles,
Dimly lighting the room they adorn.
They represent the only light to be found
In the stable where Jesus was born.
Under the tree lie colorful gifts
Festively wrapped and tied with bright string.
They help us remember the gifts that were given
To honor the newborn King.
So the next time you hear naysayers complain,
“Christmas has become too commercial.”
Remind them of how these modern symbols are used
In keeping His story eternal.
©Linda Troxell 12/25/16

I’m sure you have often heard, as I have, some dour cleric or negative secular person complain about how commercial Christmas has become. Clerics use this complaint to chastise their congregants against having fun at Christmas at the expense of reverence for the birth of our Savior. The negative secular person uses it to cast a shadow over the warmth and fun of Christmas to honor their own depression.  Whatever the motive, these humbug individuals always seem to point to the fact that all of the modern celebration and decorations have nothing to do with the birth of our Savior. Well, I beg to differ, there are connections to the birth of Jesus in our modern celebrations and rituals, the presents that represent the gifts of the Magi and the star on the tree that represents the star the Magi followed to find Jesus to name just two.

Almost everyone who lives on this earth knows the story of the birth of Jesus. Even those who are not Christians are familiar with the basics. But just in case you are visiting from a planet far away, let me recount the bare bones of the story. The birth of a coming savior, the Messiah, was predicted by the prophet Isaiah six or seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus. He predicted, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 and “For us a child is born, a son is given, …And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”-Isiah 9:6.

More than 600 years later a virgin was visited by the angel Gabriel and told that she would give birth to a son, because: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.’-Luke 1:35-37. Flash forward nine months or so and in Bethlehem, in a stable with a manger for her child’s bed, Mary gives birth to a son and names him Jesus (The Lord Saves). After Jesus’s birth, He was visited by three wise men who had followed a star to find him. They came to worship him and bring him presents of great worth. Now the story is much more complicated and has so much more meaning then is conveyed here, but this is the bare bones of what is celebrated all over the world on December 25.

Now here we are, roughly 2,017 years after the birth of the Savior of the world and we celebrate the day that God became human by putting a tree in our living rooms, decorating it with colorful lights and other ornaments, throwing parties and singing songs. Then we exchange gifts with those we love, and often, with those we can barely tolerate. Is it any wonder that so many think we have lost the meaning of Christmas? Now, again, the story is more complicated than this overview conveys and these rituals hold so much more meaning than can be understood by this telling. It may seem that we have lost the connection that these symbols and rituals once had to the most important event in history, that the symbols and the rituals have become the reason for celebration. But despite the impression that this overview of the celebration of Christmas might give, let me tell you why it isn’t true.

Christmas is the most famous celebration the world has. Even those who do not celebrate it, and those who celebrate not as the birth of the savior of the world, are fully aware of its meaning. That means for at least 25 days of the year the birth of Christ and the fullness of what that means to the world is on the minds of most of the world’s population. And whether they believe it, or whether they don’t, it is still in their consciousness for 25 days straight. So, the decorations that some decry as commercialism at its most flagrant, are keeping the birth of Christ in the minds of believers as well as non-believers.

Now, I am not going to go into it, but I think we all know what effects those things which we think about have on our beliefs, behaviors, and experiences. It has been proven that the Christmas season brings out a spirit of benevolence, caring, giving and doing good works, one might say a Christion spirit, in everyone, including those who are not Christian. Perhaps that’s because the birth of our savior is in the consciousness of everyone at this time of year. Whatever the reason, it would not happen without all of those sparkling, glistening, and colorful Christmas decorations that are the topic of scorn for those above-mentioned humbug individuals.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, along with Easter Sunday, are the time for record church attendance. This too tends to be a topic of scorn particularly from “Religious Christians”. They are offended that all of a sudden individuals who never show up to church all year want to come and worship God on these special days. I guess their reasoning is that if you can’t come to church all year you don’t deserve to worship God on Christmas. Somehow, I don’t think God would agree. My opinion and I would think God’s is similar, is that wherever, whenever, and however we can get anyone to sit still and hear anything about God is a good thing. Any chance to share the birth and life of our Savior is one more chance to bring someone to, or back to, God. I believe God welcomes worshippers anytime and anywhere. I think he is delighted to see so many of His beloved attending His birthday party. And here again, it probably wouldn’t happen if we didn’t first have 25 full days of decorations and Christmas Carols and the benevolent giving loving spirit that prevails for those 25 days.

For non-believers, Christmas is simply the one time of year when every heart seems to be full of good will and every soul is open and full of love and caring. It is a time of year that they can live in a world that they hope for and dream of, a world that they long for. For non-believers, it is a time of year when inexplicably they want to reach out to others and do good deeds. It is the one time of year that they agree with what Paul said in Acts: “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”–Acts 20:35. And it is the time of year that no matter the reason, the streets, stores, and homes are all shiny and bright, lit up with cheerful and colorful decorations.

But for the 2.2 billion Christians in the world, Christmas is a glorious time. For Christians, it is a sacred celebration of the day God became human. A celebration of the birth of our Savior, who was fully human, born of a woman, living as we live, feeling pain as we feel pain, being tempted as we are tempted, facing death as we face death, fighting sin as we fight sin. But conquering sin as we cannot because He was fully God too. Conceived from the pure, holy and perfect seed of the Holy Spirit, He too was holy, pure and perfect; and capable of no sin. It is the beginning of our adoption to sonship and daughtership into the family of God. The beginning of our awareness that we are, all of us, believers or not, one family, the children of an omnipotent, sovereign God who loves us unconditionally. A God who became human to bear our sins, to Himself be abused, tortured, scourged, and hung on a cross; to die in order to pay for our sins so that we could live forever in paradise with Him. This is what we celebrate the 25^th day of December every year of our Lord.

So the next time, come the Christmas season, you hear someone complaining that Christmas has become too commercial, or that all of the sparkle and glitz has distracted from the meaning of Christmas. Remind them that many of the rituals and the decorations are symbols of that sacred event and have been used through the years to keep the story of God eternal. Tell them that this is a time when people come the closest to being what God calls us to be and should be celebrated with all of the glitz and sparkle such a miracle deserves. Reach out to them, invite them to spend some time with you, with your family, maybe invite them to church. Be the true spirit of Christmas for them. Illustrate through your words and deeds the meaning behind the glitz and sparkles: That our Savior lives, that God loves them, and that it is better to give than to receive.

Merry Christmas everyone and may God bless you and yours on Christmas and throughout the new year!

Points for Prayer and Pondering

Only one question to think about today:

How do you feel about all of the glitz and glitter of Christmas? Is it too much commercialism or does it add to the joy of Christmas and the birth of the Savior?