Christmas Is Not Dead

By this time of the “Holiday Season” you have already probably been over-inundated with America’s favorite Christmas songs and you are so in the Christmas Spirit that you are ready to call it a good year and reset for 2017, already. But some of you, like my beautiful wife, cannot get enough and you are savoring every time “Jingle Bells” or “Last Christmas” is played on the radio with joy and warmth in your heart. You are doing this every time, the many hundreds of times, and loving it. Regardless of which camp you are in on the Holiday Season I have a question for you,  “What is Christmas to you?” What do you feel about it? Why is it a time of year that we are suppose to rejoice, come together, and be merry? Does Christmas have any meaning at all today or is it a dead carcass that we drag out each year, dress it up, and stuff away in some dark and dank place for the next year? Excuse me for the imagery, but yes do let that image stay in your mind, thanks.

So, I have thought a bit about these questions and a recent story of what happened to me while at work gave me something about Christmas that I really needed and I want to share that with you here. A few weeks ago I was trying to inspire a few of the teenage boys to get into the spirit of Christmas and make some Christmas decorations. I admit, it was hard for me to get inspired myself. I am not an arts and crafts kind of dude and I didn’t think the activity would catch the attention of teenage boys but alas it was the assigned activity for the day and since it was my job I had to do it. So there I was trying to say anything to get them engaged. Finally, I started asking a line of questions that I noticed was beginning to gain their attention. I asked, “What is Christmas like for you at home?” When I asked this question I noticed one of them in particular sort of twitch the eye slightly as if they were caught of guard. I began to poke more when noticing this reaction and asked the follow up questions, “What does your family do for Christmas?” and “If you could get your mom or dad to give you one gift for Christmas what would it be?” After asking that last question I began to notice the lips of one of the teens begin to tremble and then suddenly he began to cry uncontrollably. It caught everyone in the room off guard, even he himself. His face was full of self-bewilderment at his own emotional outburst it seemed yet he still began to cry and the cries were accompanied by agony like sounds and moans. This teen (I will call him Julius) eventually pulled his shirt over his head and began to curl up into a fetal like position on the coach in the room. He looked like a little child even though he is fourteen years old. He looked like a soul that had been broken down before my very eyes. I need to disclaim that this behavior is very untypical of Julius. He prides himself on having a removed and hard exterior and loves to have a well-rounded intellectual response to every thing I say to him. He is very defensive and guarded by nature. This activity therefore was a complete shock.

Quickly I noticed that it was just he and I in the room. Everyone one else had cleared out due to the awkwardness of the situation. In that private moment with him I heard God ask me to say something and be something to him that he needed. I began to explain to him how Christmas is not about what we wish we had but it is about what we all have in Jesus. I explained to him that whatever he wished he could have with his family that is not there during the holidays that he can always receive the full and free gift of the infant savior given to us on Christmas day, and that we were celebrating that very gift by making decorations. Eventually he came around and began to recollect himself. The next day I noticed a vibrancy from him that was not there before and he has been more open and relational since that day.

From this recent experience with Julius God was reminding me of something important to my faith, and also about humanity and our purpose for living and breathing in general. Christmas is not about what we wish we could have: a new car, house, tv, salary bonus, vacation, snow, a better family, etc. Christmas is about celebrating what we already do have. We have the free gift of Christ and the hope that His infant state gives us of what we expectantly know he eventually did; He saved the world. He freed us from eternal death. He gave us hope to believe in a better tomorrow. And, He will one day come again to ride the world of sin, forever.

What is Christmas to you? Are you pulling a dead carcass out of a dark and dank place to just go through the motions this time of year every year or do you believe that Christmas is about life and hope eternally? We have a gift from Jesus that is more valuable than any product the world can sell and that gift is free. Receive it and pass it along to others, because this world really needs some Hope today just like it did two thousand years ago. On that night in a animal stable God came down an answered our need for a reason to believe and move forward. God became a baby boy. Heaven met earth. Merry Christmas.

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6