12/06/2009 CHRISTMAS IS FOR CHILDREN
CHRISTMAS IS FOR
CHILDREN
“And this is my
prayer, that your love may overflow more & more….”
Philippians 1:9a
Are you looking forward to Christmas? Really?
When you think about all that you have to do between now & December
25th, aren’t you simply exasperated by the thought of it all? Hanging the lights, decorating the house,
sending the cards, the kids’ school concerts, the holiday entertaining & preparing
for all the guests, &, oh, buying the presents.
Don’t even mention the presents! Right?
Jay Leno recently remarked that 55% of persons start their Christmas
shopping the day after Thanksgiving; the other 45% are men! The task itself is so time-consuming, even
with the convenience of on-line & QVC at-home shopping (& both going
gang-busters this year). I mean, you still
have to consider what to buy for those folks on your list who already have it
all, but still expect something. What’s
that about? And with the economic hard
times a reality for so many persons, gift purchasing (or not) is a reminder of
how bad it is & how bad we feel.
It’s often hard to be happily on board with the
demands of this holiday.
Yes, there are those rare folks who are absolute
Christmas fanatics -- Christmas junkies who love everything about the
holiday. It does one’s heart good to see
them genuinely relishing everything about the season. They’re such romantics. --- They
may be the exception.
When it comes to everyone else, I ask again: Are you really
looking forward to Christmas?
Having broached that subject, let me also inquire:
Are you really looking forward to Christ coming? Be honest with yourself. Last week we so earnestly & robustly sang,
Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus, but
is our expectation a true desire for him to be here among us?
When we hear the passages read from Luke &
Malachi, aren’t we a trifle intimidated by them? They give me pause. John the Baptist is about repentance, a Bible
word for total change. Last time I
checked, not everyone likes change. And
the prophet Malachi writes about being purified & refined … by fire. Those are not images that one usually finds
appealing, especially if we’re the ones being purified & refined. Yet, repentance & refining are integral
to our preparations for the coming of God’s Anointed – the Messiah, the Christ. If
this is what Christ’s advent entails, are we really looking forward to his
arrival?
Making matters more difficult is who God sends to lead the preparations. In Bible times it was John the Baptist. He was an odd duck, to put it mildly, & a
bit hard-nosed to be sure. There didn’t
seem to be a lot of grace in his approach.
Some folks even joke that’s why he’s called John the Baptist, not John the Lutheran or John
the Episcopalian!
Today, in John’s absence, it’s pastors who assume the
prophetic mantle of preparing persons for Christ’s coming. We’re the ones who take John the Baptizer’s
place nowadays. Consider that one for a
minute. Do you entrust such persons as
Perhaps it’s is how we perceive repentance &
refining. If we consider them to be
punishment that will only hurt, then we won’t want to be purified. That’s how some people look at it. If we view it as something that will improve
us, & yes, may be a bit painful, but a good kind of pain that produces
growth, then we’re more positive about it.
We see good coming from the experience.
And, if we trust the one helping us in the preparatory process, we’ll be
even more open & comfortable with the improvements that repentance & refining
bring.
Returning to the current holiday issues, is visiting Amazon
(.com), Macy’s, & the mall mandatory, but worship at church on Christmas
Eve optional? Who do you spend more
money on, the person on your shopping list who has so much already, or Jesus
& the needy? “Where your treasure
is, there will be your heart also” (Luke12:34). Are you more frazzled by
society’s holiday demands or more at peace, joyfully anticipating Jesus’
coming? Our thoughts, emotions, &
actions tell us how we celebrate Christmas & what it means to us.
So, is Christmas a secular celebration with all sorts
of stuff & stuffing that drive you crazy, such that you can’t wait for
Christmas to be over before it even begins?
Or, is it the arrival of Jesus & the blessings of new life, peace,
& forgiveness that are at the heart of this season for you? The secular celebration costs us a lot. The real Christmas costs Jesus
everything. There’s a difference between
a secular winter holiday & the Christian’s Christmas.
Here, then, may be the connection between getting
ready for the Christmas holiday & getting ready for Christ’s return. They’re related. How we treat the celebration of Jesus’ first
coming to earth, may be an indication of how we’ll treat his second
coming. So I ask, is our preparation for
Christ’s coming into our lives, then, something to fear, or something we
welcome, & welcome because we really do want to do better, be better, &
be ready for Immanuel, God with us? Are
the holiday celebrants who are more influenced by the culture also the ones who
disregard, or fear, Christ’s coming? Are
the persons who rejoice in Jesus’ birth by bringing their lives & gifts to
him, the ones who want to live the kind of life he modeled & can’t wait for
him to come again? Or, are persons
something/somewhere in between? Sometimes
I wonder.
This is the time of year when we think about
children. “Christmas is for children,”
folks say. You know, adults are a lot
like children, despite our age.
What do I mean by that?
Well, think about how dirty kids become at
times. It’s not that their goal is to
get dirty – well, most times! Their goal
is to have fun & enjoy life. They
may not even put it into words, but that’s what it’s about. In the process they get dirty. That tantalizing mud puddle, the sticky sweet
lollipop, the green grass slid upon when playing tag, the yummy chocolate syrup
topping the ice cream sundae, all make kids a mess. Filthiness is not deliberate, but it is a
logical outcome. The day-to-day events
of life, & doing what children do, makes them dirty.
That being said, most of us don’t exactly like filthy
little monsters. We love them, but don’t
generally adore their unclean states.
It’s to be expected, though, & fine in that regard, but not all of
the time. As parents, teachers, &
adults, then, we do our best to clean them up, especially when it’s time to go
away, or welcome that special someone who’s coming to visit, (namely) Grandma,
Grandpa, the boss who may come to dinner.
Like children, we, grown-up kids want to have fun,
too. We are not deliberately bad,
immoral people in that we set out in the morning by asking ourselves, “Hmm,
what sinfully evil tasks can I perform today?”
Yes, some folks may do that, but they are not the norm. At the very least, we’re conscientious enough
to acknowledge our mistakes & failings.
We’re not pleases with them. We want to change. A lot of us are here because we want some
proven direction that is beyond our own finite abilities. We believe God has something to say to us, the
Bible something to teach us. Yes, sometimes
we could stand a good scrubbing, even
a baptismal form of cleansing that reaches into our soul, & isn’t merely
skin deep. We want to clean up, too, for
that special someone coming to visit & be with us: Jesus.
Although Malachi’s words may seem harsh & John
the Baptist’s ways, too, & while the jury may be out on the clergy, we know
that what draws us to the best life is this gospel promise of boundless love,
this new chance to start over, this forgiving grace from God in Christ
Jesus. He is our inspiration, our
inspiration to change for our sake, for the sake of others we love, for his
sake.
We are a lot like those messy little kids, though. That’s life.
We wish it were different some days, many days, too many days. (Especially) when we look into the eyes of
the persons we most love on this earth, we truly wish it were different. Goodness knows, when we meet Jesus, we want
it to be different & better. It can
be.
All it takes for us to be pure & blameless, as
Paul writes, is to prepare a place in our hearts for God’s love to reside &
flow freely. When we’re sincere about
preparing ourselves -- our souls -- it’s purely amazing how grace takes over
& transforms us, making all the difference in our lives today & for an
eternity.
Christmas is for children – all of God’s children,
even the big ones.
In the Name…. Copyright 2009 by G.D.Knerr at