Christmas just isn't the same any more...
Remember when there was mystery and magic. Reindeers tapping across your snow-covered roof. You thought you heard them as you forced yourself to fall asleep to the rhythm of your thumping heartbeat. And the gifts that awaited you...
Sometimes if you closed your eyes, real tight, and concentrated with all your might, you might hear him laugh, that jolly, bearded magician that somehow knew every act of kindness and every disobedience. You often wondered if your parents called him on the telephone at the end of November to give an account of your behavior. Or, did he really know, somehow really know who was naughty and who was nice. And the gifts you wanted...
Sugarplum fairies and marching toy soldiers, trees aglow with dazzles and brights. Glistening snow diamonds too much to count surrounding a house warm with smiles and cups of hot chocolate with marshmellows on top. And boxes and boxes wrapped to perfection. And gifts too numerous to count...
And then you grew and grew. The mystery, the magic, blown out like the flames on the colored candles that decorated your birthday cakes. Your thumping heartbeat replaced with a regular rhythm, a warmth in giving and a bittersweet companion--your memories when the gifts were for you...
Christmas became packages of sentiment wrapped in family gatherings, sometimes more heartache than throughout the year. Battling expectations and crowded department stores, too many people to buy for, and the fear of rejection and worthlessness always tugging at your sleeves that you roll up to work harder, to please. And you look at the gifts with a quiet contempt, boxed reminders of what you owe...
But Christmas isn't this. Christmas isn't these. Not reindeers, or Santa, or soldiers that march. Not families fixed on the rightness or wrongness of your life. Not two-for-one sales, or come and get them before they're gone. Past the mirrors, past the glass, seeing into eternity past, wrapped in the skin of a Savior, destined for sorrow and rejection. After the others have lost their meaning, function, message--this gift remains...
The hope of the world--the Prince of Peace--God's gift--Jesus Christ
Merry Christmas
Kathy
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
The Colors of Christmas
You can tell what time of the year it is by observing the colors on the store shelves.
In the summer, the merchandise is colored in pastels. In autumn, everything reminds you of the color of pumpkins, gourds, squash and falling leaves. And then right after you have wolfed down your turkey and cranberry sauce, the stores display their most brilliant colors. The reds, greens, purples, scarlets and blues take over. They are the colors of candles, holly, Christmas tree hangings, and table covering. But, they are also the colors of all that is regal. They become in their own way, reminders of Christmas’ connection to the eternal King of Kings and Lord of Lords, born a babe in Bethlehem.
But even if you want to, it is difficult to focus on the spiritual significance of Christmas while perusing department store aisles. Print ads are urging us to spend. Everything is 20 percent off. Prices are slashed. It’s our last chance to buy two for the price of one. We get caught up in the consumer dimension of Christmas, not just because of the lure of commercials and print ads, but because deep inside, encoded in our spirit, giving gifts is one way we demonstrate love. By December, we’re all thinking about that special gift, the one that best says, “I love you.” And we’re all waiting expectantly to look under the Christmas tree for the package that bears our name.
I am not exempt from this thinking. I want to give thoughtful gifts to show my love to my kids, husband, family and friends. But I also want to hold onto the spiritual significance of Christmas. I don’t want the eternal to get lost in the holiday.
Our desire to give gifts to those we love is a micro version of the character of a God in whose image we are created. His gift, thoughtfully chosen with our greatest need in mind, reflects His incredible love for us.
His package contains things that no one else can give. He gives us salvation--freedom from the bondage to and consequence of sin. Sin is anything we do or any attitude we hold to get our needs met our way instead of God’s way. When we are bound to living sinfully, we never achieve the potential for which we were designed. And the consequence of living sinfully is death and eternal separation from God who planned for us to live into eternity with Him.
God makes possible our salvation through the heroic feat of His Son, Jesus Christ. Mysteriously, Jesus Christ was God putting on human flesh. He was our Creator reduced to human form who suffered the consequences of all the sins of the human race so that we don’t have to. Christ coming back to life, three days later, demonstrates to us that this great feat to free humans from the consequences of sin was accomplished. It also foreshadows our resurrection from death to eternal life.
Our responsibility to this amazing gift is to believe and bow in humility to Jesus Christ who loves us and makes our salvation possible. God didn’t have to do it. He didn’t have to become human. He didn’t have to live a perfect life and he didn’t have to die an innocent man to be a substitute for us, guilty of sin as charged.
Surprisingly, as humans we are naturally hostile to bowing to God despite all the evidence that He has our best interests at heart. So, along with salvation, God includes repentance. This is only possible because of the Holy Spirit, another mysterious dimension of God. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to realize our losses in living disconnected from God. He also places within us the ability to desire and ask for forgiveness for our sins. He processes the repentance in our spirit, and then restores our relationship with God. When we repent, we acknowledge that living independently of God and trying to get our needs met our way is the worst thing we can do and actually is an affront to Him since He is our Creator.
And the final gift in God’s package to us is the power through the Holy Spirit to live an abundant life—to depend on God for all our needs, to live and love well and to share our gift from God with others.
So instead of walking through stores with shelves lined once a year with purples, scarlets and greens, in the distant future or sooner than we realize, we will walk into eternity on streets of pure gold in a holy city with walls adorned with emeralds, sapphires, topaz and pearls. A city illuminated by the glory of God’s own brilliance.
Merry almost Christmas
Kathy Lewis
In the summer, the merchandise is colored in pastels. In autumn, everything reminds you of the color of pumpkins, gourds, squash and falling leaves. And then right after you have wolfed down your turkey and cranberry sauce, the stores display their most brilliant colors. The reds, greens, purples, scarlets and blues take over. They are the colors of candles, holly, Christmas tree hangings, and table covering. But, they are also the colors of all that is regal. They become in their own way, reminders of Christmas’ connection to the eternal King of Kings and Lord of Lords, born a babe in Bethlehem.
But even if you want to, it is difficult to focus on the spiritual significance of Christmas while perusing department store aisles. Print ads are urging us to spend. Everything is 20 percent off. Prices are slashed. It’s our last chance to buy two for the price of one. We get caught up in the consumer dimension of Christmas, not just because of the lure of commercials and print ads, but because deep inside, encoded in our spirit, giving gifts is one way we demonstrate love. By December, we’re all thinking about that special gift, the one that best says, “I love you.” And we’re all waiting expectantly to look under the Christmas tree for the package that bears our name.
I am not exempt from this thinking. I want to give thoughtful gifts to show my love to my kids, husband, family and friends. But I also want to hold onto the spiritual significance of Christmas. I don’t want the eternal to get lost in the holiday.
Our desire to give gifts to those we love is a micro version of the character of a God in whose image we are created. His gift, thoughtfully chosen with our greatest need in mind, reflects His incredible love for us.
His package contains things that no one else can give. He gives us salvation--freedom from the bondage to and consequence of sin. Sin is anything we do or any attitude we hold to get our needs met our way instead of God’s way. When we are bound to living sinfully, we never achieve the potential for which we were designed. And the consequence of living sinfully is death and eternal separation from God who planned for us to live into eternity with Him.
God makes possible our salvation through the heroic feat of His Son, Jesus Christ. Mysteriously, Jesus Christ was God putting on human flesh. He was our Creator reduced to human form who suffered the consequences of all the sins of the human race so that we don’t have to. Christ coming back to life, three days later, demonstrates to us that this great feat to free humans from the consequences of sin was accomplished. It also foreshadows our resurrection from death to eternal life.
Our responsibility to this amazing gift is to believe and bow in humility to Jesus Christ who loves us and makes our salvation possible. God didn’t have to do it. He didn’t have to become human. He didn’t have to live a perfect life and he didn’t have to die an innocent man to be a substitute for us, guilty of sin as charged.
Surprisingly, as humans we are naturally hostile to bowing to God despite all the evidence that He has our best interests at heart. So, along with salvation, God includes repentance. This is only possible because of the Holy Spirit, another mysterious dimension of God. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to realize our losses in living disconnected from God. He also places within us the ability to desire and ask for forgiveness for our sins. He processes the repentance in our spirit, and then restores our relationship with God. When we repent, we acknowledge that living independently of God and trying to get our needs met our way is the worst thing we can do and actually is an affront to Him since He is our Creator.
And the final gift in God’s package to us is the power through the Holy Spirit to live an abundant life—to depend on God for all our needs, to live and love well and to share our gift from God with others.
So instead of walking through stores with shelves lined once a year with purples, scarlets and greens, in the distant future or sooner than we realize, we will walk into eternity on streets of pure gold in a holy city with walls adorned with emeralds, sapphires, topaz and pearls. A city illuminated by the glory of God’s own brilliance.
Merry almost Christmas
Kathy Lewis
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