Wednesday, November 5th. This was the day that I saw my first Christmas commercial of the holiday season.
It’s that time of year again. Alas, it feels like that time of year comes earlier and earlier as the years pass.
I could be cynical, and say that I saw my first holiday commercial. But I don’t want to be cynical. Quite frankly, I don’t feel like raving against the economies of Christmas, against society’s tendency for political correctness and against “they,” those conspirators who are taking Christ out of Christmas. Christmas is, after all, not a trinket that can be stolen. But beyond that, I simply have no motivation to join the campaign.
Is that capitulation on my part? Surrender to the creep of humanism into the practice of my faith? Not to my thinking. I see it as an investment.
I plan on investing my time with friends. In laughing with my family. In sleeping late, and maybe picking up a game on TV. I’m looking forward to reading a book or three.
I plan on letting my thoughts dwell on the momentous occasion of the God of all time, the God who invented time, the God who lives outside of time, stepping into time. All so that he could be like you and me.
Think of it, the first time that God ever slept was when he became like us. Though he had invented sleep, it would seem that he’d never actually experienced it. I wonder if Jesus dreamed in color?
Heck, he probably dreamed in colors we don’t even know exist.
It seems like becoming human is a waste of time and energy, even for a God who has all the time and energy in the in the universe. It seems like he could have done the whole incarnation thing a lot more efficiently; I think I would have. He had to spend a whole lifetime growing up as a human. He had to eat and sweat and poop. I wonder if he ever had diarrhea? Incarnation: Ugh, it seems like a lot of trouble.
I guess I have to trust that God knew what he was doing. Life in the flesh is where the reality is, after all. It’s where God is needed the most. It says something that God didn’t have to get down in the trenches to fix things, but he chose to anyway.
-ooo-
So, what do you want out of Christmas? Not what do you want for Christmas, but what do you want out of it? What do you want it to be? Do you want it to be a celebration? Family time? A retreat?
Are we depending too much on what other people make of Christmas? If we simply made it what it already is, what would happen?
I wonder, instead of a tired, chaotic scramble of activity and year-end commerce, what if every single follower of Christ made Christmas into a true celebration? How long would it take for the humanistic push of Christmas to become a non-factor? If every Christian household invited over a friend who didn’t know Christ, or someone who had no friend or family to celebrate with, or someone who couldn’t buy presents this year, … what would Christmas become?
Instead of celebrating Christmas, what if we chose to become Christmas? What would that do to inject some holy into the holiday?
What if each of us could be a commercial for what Christmas is really all about? What if we all allowed Jesus to incarnate himself in us, to show up in the trenches of life — where Christmas is needed most.
I wonder…
I wish you all the best that God and his grace have to offer you this Christmas. I wish for you the joy, the wonder, the awe, the rest, the peace that Christmas can offer, and that your stocking is full of blessings sweet both to the mouth and the heart.
Merry Christmas!
