Let’s Have a Better Christmas This Year

This year, it is my wish that we all will have a better Christmas.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to share new recipe ideas or better decorating techniques, that’s what Pinterest is for. Nor does it mean I am going to list off all the things that are wrong about how we celebrate Christmas. I’m not going to become one of those self-appointed Christmas police that points out things like “You know, the wise men shouldn’t even be in the nativity. They likely didn’t show up until as much as two years later” or “Jesus wasn’t even born in December. Historically, census’ were taken in the summertime. We only celebrate in December to compete with the pagan Winter Solstice holiday.”

Instead I want to focus on how we can have a better Christmas, focusing on the things that matter most about our most celebrated holiday.

A Better Feast
In Luke 10 we see the story of Mary and Martha hosting Jesus and his crew. Martha was busying herself with being a good hostess. Undoubtedly, she was an “act of service” love language person. But Jesus was very clear that Mary had chosen the better activity and it would not be taken from her. How many of us are so busy with the trappings and preparations of making it a “good” Christmas that we miss out on the more important part, the relationships? Alternative: Order a premade, fully cooked holiday meal from Amazon (~$140) and spend all that time with your loved ones instead of in the kitchen.

A Better Party
In Matthew 9:9-13 we see Jesus hanging out with Matthew and his unsavory friends. Jesus wasn’t afraid to hang out with non-Christians but we have a tendency to isolate and insulate. We go to our life group Christmas party, or the women’s ornament exchange (both good things) but never really consider the other options. This year let’s not be afraid to associate with unbelievers, to interact with people who need Jesus this holiday season. Invite all your work friends to your Christmas party, go to theirs when invited, set some boundaries before hand so you can have fun and still not fall to sin.

A Better Gift
You won’t find the best gifts on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. They can’t be found on Amazon or at the mall. The best gifts are the ones that are given to us by God: grace, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, patience, peace, & love. Let’s give those gifts to each other this holiday season. Let’s give grace and mercy to that uncle that drives us crazy. Let’s give forgiveness and compassion to that person that hurt or angered us and restore that relationship. Let’s give patience and peace to our neighbor that always seems to inconvenience us around the holidays. Let’s give the gift of love this season. It is the one gift that is always welcome, will never be sent back to the store and is always valued and appreciated.

We have no record of anyone celebrating Christmas in the Bible. We don’t know what Jesus did on His birthday every year. The best we can do this Christmas is try to live our lives the way He did every day.

How the World stole Christmas

Christmas reruns abound no matter what media you use. An often overlooked theme in all these many "holiday" movies is the real meaning of Christmas. Perhaps we need to learn the lesson that Dr. Seuss writes about in the Christmas classic, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"
                
There is more to Christmas than even Dr. Seuss relates in this movie. Christ is what Christmas is about. We are so busy that we ourselves often take Christ out of Christmas. The more we recognize Christ and His gift of eternal life the more Christmas will mean to us. Though I love the tinsel and decorations, the family and friends gatherings, the opportunity to show my love to my loved ones by giving a small token gift, and the small traditions that make this such a blessed time of year, I fully realize that Christmas in it's true significance, can be experienced without any of those things. Christmas is about Emmanuel, God with us. So really everyday ought to be Christmas in the believer's heart. May you have a great Christmas season, and may you have the joy of having Christ within you all the days of this new year!!

Feeling Blessed

Feeling Blessed

I am reposting a Thanksgiving post from a few years ago because it is even more real today:

My generation are now the seniors in our family. We now are forced to respond to titles like; uncle, aunt, grandma, grandpa, and senior citizen (only tolerable when it saves us money on food), instead of the much more acceptable though dated terms, dude, bro, kid, babe, guy, or gal. At the same time we feel much more likely to use terms for others that we hated years ago; squirts (cute young kids), whippersnappers (smart-alack cute young kids), or antiques (referring to our keepsakes and yearbook friends).

We now measure our health, count our calories, and do our best to read our medicine bottles. Doctors are no longer a career path that we might choose; now we know several by their first name and wonder how those young kids got a degree. Many of us may know more about our physical therapists family than our brother's or sister's. Joints are no longer places we like to hang out but are body pivot points that are scheduled for new parts one by one. We have found aching muscles in locations that were totally ignored before (my feet hurt?). Our moms and dads used to have trouble getting us up, now we feel it is a great accomplishment to go to sleep (and stay asleep).

We have quit climbing the ladder (physically and metaphorically) and are hoping they don't change the retirement age to quickly. The question of how long we should keep working is exasperated by someones rude reminder that we might not have long to live. Our plans for the future have now become a "bucket list" of things to accomplish before we die.

All this sounds kinda grim until you get to the really good part. We did wake up this morning. We have another day to enjoy the many blessings we have and to appreciate the people in our lives. We have lived enough life to not take for granted our family and friends. Thank you for being one of those special people in my life. I pray that our relationship will be a long one and because of Jesus that we will one day be done with the problems associated with long life and be enjoying an eternity with each other in a perfect heaven. Make sure your bucket list includes a decision to accept God's invitation to an eternity with Him. I will see you there.

   “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. “With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.” (Psalm 91:14–16, NASB95)

Pastor Albert