I had to go to the local shopping Mall today --- UNFORTUNATELY! It was packed with people flowing into the shops with lots of hope and most probably a little bit of plastic, and with people flowing excitedly out of the shops laden with their latest purchases.
All this and it's still NOVEMBER!
When you talk to so many people about Christmas, the last thing that they either do or want to talk about is the real reason for it, generally speaking. When I was growing up the Christmas Nativity story was central to our Christmas. We heard about it in Sunday School of course, but we also heard about it at school and in our home. Yet somehow, with all the talk about presents and food and --- when you get older --- drink, the real message is lost a little. Sure, not all at once, but just as surely it gets chipped away at year by year until it's pigeon-holed into being a small part of Christmas rather than the story of what Christmas is really about.
Each of us has the opportunity to change that. If we return to making the birth of Jesus the centre of our Christmas, sharing that with others whenever we get the opportunity, then the pendulum will start to swing back somewhat. It won't be an easy task because it has rapidly become politically incorrect to state that Jesus is the Reason behind the Season, but then, do you really want to be politically correct? I'm certainly not interested in political correctness when it comes to fabricating things in order to hide or even abolish the truth. I lived in Zimbabwe at a time when the government was conniving with so-called 'liberal' governments such as Sweden, in order to re-write history, so I do know how evil political correctness can be.
But back to the real reason behind Christmas. It's simple isn't it? It's all about the miracle of God's love and the birth of the baby Jesus, a child that was wholly human and yet wholly divine at one and the same time. His birth is the beginning of a story of reconciliation --- the opportunity for sinful humanity to be forgiven of their sinful state and reconciled to God the Creator.
Now that was easy, wasn't it! Make sure your cards tell that story this year and you'll be helping to do your bit to spread the Word.
All this and it's still NOVEMBER!
When you talk to so many people about Christmas, the last thing that they either do or want to talk about is the real reason for it, generally speaking. When I was growing up the Christmas Nativity story was central to our Christmas. We heard about it in Sunday School of course, but we also heard about it at school and in our home. Yet somehow, with all the talk about presents and food and --- when you get older --- drink, the real message is lost a little. Sure, not all at once, but just as surely it gets chipped away at year by year until it's pigeon-holed into being a small part of Christmas rather than the story of what Christmas is really about.
Each of us has the opportunity to change that. If we return to making the birth of Jesus the centre of our Christmas, sharing that with others whenever we get the opportunity, then the pendulum will start to swing back somewhat. It won't be an easy task because it has rapidly become politically incorrect to state that Jesus is the Reason behind the Season, but then, do you really want to be politically correct? I'm certainly not interested in political correctness when it comes to fabricating things in order to hide or even abolish the truth. I lived in Zimbabwe at a time when the government was conniving with so-called 'liberal' governments such as Sweden, in order to re-write history, so I do know how evil political correctness can be.
But back to the real reason behind Christmas. It's simple isn't it? It's all about the miracle of God's love and the birth of the baby Jesus, a child that was wholly human and yet wholly divine at one and the same time. His birth is the beginning of a story of reconciliation --- the opportunity for sinful humanity to be forgiven of their sinful state and reconciled to God the Creator.
Now that was easy, wasn't it! Make sure your cards tell that story this year and you'll be helping to do your bit to spread the Word.
1 comment:
That is something we have been working on the past several years. A couple of years ago, we told our girls about the Santa 'legend'. (I'll be posting about it later this week) Everyone thought we were crazy - destroying the Christmas 'spirit' and taking away all our children's fun. But I found without all the playing and sneaking around, we are all better able to focus on the true reason for the season. And for the first year, we will really celebrate Advent.
I am so much more excited this year than any other about Christmas. I think for the first time in my life, Christmas is not about what we do, but truly about who was.
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