I’ve so enjoyed reading your Facebook posts, the ones where
you show off your trees, all pretty and decorated, a pile of perfectly wrapped
presents underneath. I love all the recipes for the different cookies you’ve
been busy baking, and the projects you’ve been sewing and handcrafting.
When my kids were at home, I did a lot of this stuff too. We
always went the Saturday after Thanksgiving to a tree farm up in the Columbia
River Gorge and cut our tree. We hoped for snow, and we were usually rewarded.
We’d throw snowballs and somebody would cry, and we’d stand around the fire
they had going to warm up while Dad tied the tree to the top of the Jeep. We’d
get home and the kids would hang all their wet gloves and hats and coats over
the railing around the stairwell to dry. On Christmas Eve we always had soup
for dinner, and then went to church as a family, and usually several of us were
performing in either a pageant or in song. Christmas Day meant presents and a
huge dinner. There were caroling parties and madrigal feasts and lots of
dinners with friends. There were school programs, and lots of shopping.
Christmas is different now. My kids have all grown and moved
into homes of their own. No school programs, no cutting a tree, and Christmas
at church is different, more modern. Last year I cooked Christmas breakfast for
my kids who live in town, and then drove three hours to have dinner with my
daughter. I drove another two hours and finished the day with my Mom. There is
less shopping, and more gift cards.
We all have different ways of celebrating Christmas, and
those celebrations change with our place and season in life. The really great
thing is that we have reason to celebrate. God, the same God who
created the universe, who hung the stars in the night and stretched the rainbow
across the sky, this same God, wanted to be with us. He became
incarnate, the Emmanuel. He came to earth and inhabited human flesh. When Mary
looked into the manger and smiled at her little baby, she was smiling at God.
She will bear a Son;
and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from
their sins.”
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken
by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall
be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call
His name Immanuel,” which
translated means, “God with us.” Matt. 1:23
This idea of God wanting to be with us
is prevalent throughout scripture. God walked with us in the garden, he had his
people build him a tabernacle and dwelled in it in the wilderness, and he came
to earth and became one of us.
He didn’t stay a baby, though. He grew
up and lived and died and rose again for us. And then this
God who would be with us, indwelt us.
We have reason to celebrate. Our
traditions may change, our life situations will certainly change, but God never
changes. He still wants to be with us.
However you celebrate, whether it’s
Christmas or just being alive and saved, don’t forget about Jesus. So much of
our preparations for Christmas are harried and busy. We are so focused on
getting everything done and decorated that we forget the point; God wants to be
with us. Don’t leave him out. Don’t ignore him. Be with him.
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