Merry Christmas!
Description
I love Christmas – aside from the smells, the colors, and the lights, there’s an indefinable ’something’ about this holiday that makes me feel like a 10-year-old again! Maybe it’s the wrapped packages – a surprise waiting for somebody I love or from somebody who love me; maybe it’s the music – Johnny Mathis and Wayne Newton songs from my childhood; or maybe it’s just the contagious joy and anticipation that radiates from my own children!
We have a ‘tag line’ in my family – born from years of watching shows like Star Trek and movies like Star Wars (you know, ones with lots of ’special effects’). My brother was always the one to say “that can’t happen – I can see the strings!” I remember somebody finally turning to him and said “It’s called ‘willful suspension of disbelief’ – can we just watch the show?” Maybe Christmas requires that kind of suspension of belief. I can be as excited as a 10-year-old; I can sing off-key carols loudly and with abandon – not caring who hears, because it’s Christmas; I can eat gingerbread, fried rosettes, chocolate covered cherries and drink cocoa with marshmallows – convincing myself that ‘holiday calories’ don’t count. In short, I am no longer a 40-something year old…I am 10. The packages are for ME, the only thing too much food will do is give me a tummy ache, and if I don’t go to sleep then Santa won’t come!
There’s another side to my feelings at Christmas, born of my Christian faith. We talk a great game in the church about ‘faith like a child’ – but it is so very hard to do. We seem to be hardwired to question everything: how did a virgin get pregnant? what was that ’star’ really – a comet? were the ‘wise men’ really wise to trek through desert for 2 years? did the shepherds really see angels? where’s the ‘proof’ that this story is true? Christmas time is just about the only time during the year that I let go of my ‘grown up’ faith with all of it’s questions, contradictions, and difficulties and embrace simple ‘belief.’ I can feel myself doing it – a weight is lifted and I can sing ‘Away in the Manger’ with no deeper thought than “Oh…it’s baby Jesus!” I can experience, without qualification, the amazement and joy that God’s Son is HERE…for ME! It just doesn’t get any better….or does it?
We tend to forget – in the middle of all the wrapping, shopping, baking, travelling, church services, decorating, visiting, and carolling - that the baby we celebrate this time of year grows up, launches a 3 year ministry, and dies – for us. We forget that He suffers and agonizes – for us. We forget that He is humiliated and mocked – for us. And we forget that He ultimately conquers death – for us. Yes, I can have all the joy of a child at Christmas – but it is tempered and deepened by the knowledge that this little baby is not just cute, cuddly, sweet-smelling and lovable. He is also my Savior – He suffered for me. With the benefit of history, I can see not only this baby in all his newborn perfectness, but I can also see a Man taking my ultimate punishment upon Himself; and I can see Him after He triumphs over that punishment.
One of my favorite things about Christmas is the carols – not “Jingle Bells” or “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”, but “Silent Night”, “O Holy Night”, and “Angels We Have Heard On High”. I’ve added a song to my Christmas listening/playing in the last few years. “When I Survey” by Isaac Watts, ties my Christmas thoughts and meditations unequivocally to Easter and what it means for me as a Christian. I leave you today with the lyrics of this hymn:
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.