Tag Archives: Christmas

Getting Ready for Christmas

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Christmas Fireplace

Lots of people are getting ready for Christmas these days.

Merchants have stacked their shelves to capacity; and they are, now, awaiting the arrival of the Master Cards, Visa cards, and Discover cards. People are baking cookies. Folks are buying presents, stringing lights on the outside of their homes, and wrapping gifts. Little children are writing letters to Santa Claus while their parents decorate the Christmas tree. We have parties to plan, gatherings to organize, houses to clean, and big bowls of eggnog to dust with nutmeg. And, it seems, that it all has to be done “right now.”

Preparation is a normal part of Christmas, and we all know that our time of preparation is limited because Christmas is going to arrive whether we’re ready or not. Can you image a Christmas morning where there aren’t any gifts under the tree because nobody took time to wrap them? Can you imagine attending a Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve and watching the room go totally black when the lights are dimmed because nobody bought candles? Preparation is not just about getting ready. Preparation is about getting ready before it’s too late.

John the Baptizer came into the world to “prepare the way” for Jesus Christ. John called people to stop, and look at their lives and relationships. John called people to admit that we all have relationships that aren’t what we want them to be. We all have things in our lives that we need to push into the past, so that God can do something new. We have things that block our vision. We have things that stand between us and God. We have fears and challenges that overshadow God’s plan for our lives and futures. We all have valleys and craters that can make God seem far away.

In this week’s message, “Getting Ready for Christmas”, we’re challenged to admit that, as a well-known Christmas song proclaims, we grow a little leaner, a little colder, a little sadder, and a little older as we travel through life. Circumstances in our lives can steal the twinkle in our eyes and take the spring out of our step. And that’s why we need this special time of the year.

Perhaps, we can use the next few weeks to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ by spending a little bit more time in prayer and reflection? Perhaps we can use the next two weeks to mend some fences and to tear down some of the walls that we’ve place between ourselves and other people? Perhaps, we need some new perspectives? Perhaps, we need to reflect upon what it means to be a child of God in crazy times, and to allow the storm in our souls to be calmed?

Oh, yes! We need a little Christmas – right this very minute! But we, also, need a time of preparation that continues to challenge us to look at our lives in an honest and authentic way; and, perhaps, to challenge us to make some changes – as we long for the Day when God will renew His entire Creation, and bring healing into our lives and into our world.

Why bother with Advent?

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advent-wreath

Many Christians experience a sense of angst during the Season of Advent.

We see Christmas lights adorning the houses in our neighborhoods, and familiar Holiday songs are bursting from the speakers in our cars. We’re baking cookies and wrapping the presents that we’ve bought for other people. Children are getting excited. Pine trees are being strapped to the roofs of automobiles and are being dragged into homes where they’ll be decorated with lights and tinsel and ornaments. We’re celebrating the Holiday Season at parties that are being hosted by our friends, and favorite recipes are being shared. And then, we come to worship and discover that Pastor Grinch won’t allow us to decorate the inside of the church building with things we’re seeing everywhere else.  And we just can’t understand why Pastor Grinch is such a curmudgeon.

Many people in the Church celebrate Advent during the days and weeks before Christmas. Advent is a time when we’re called to simply stop and reflect upon the “gap” between the things that we see and experience in our daily lives and what God intends for our lives and our world. The Bible tells us about a Day when lambs will rest peacefully beside wolves and when bears will graze beside cows (Isaiah 11:6-7). The Bible speaks about a glorious Day in human history when swords will be beaten into plowshares, and when spears will be used for pruning hooks (Isaiah 2:4). God comforts His people with a great message of hope that is meant to encourage us and lift our spirits (Isaiah 40:1-2). And yet, we’re not there yet, are we? Our hearts and our souls yearn for better days in the midst of times that are not always easy to face. And in that yearning of the soul, we discover what it means to live our lives with faith and to look forward to something better.

The Holiday Season isn’t easy for everyone. Picture a woman, who’s being abused by the man that she once loved, desperately doing her best to tough-it-out because she doesn’t want to ruin her children’s Christmas by uprooting the family and moving into the local women’s shelter. People who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder find the days that surround Christmas very difficult because the nights are so incredibly long. The Holiday Season can highlight the sense of brokenness that we experience when we’re trying to move through difficult times with our friends and, sometimes, with members of our own family. Even the well-known Christmas carol, “Silent Night,” sounds very different when you’re hearing it for the first time after you’ve lost your spouse – or a parent – or a child.

Advent is a Season that invites us to be real and authentic. Advent is a Season that invites us to acknowledge that our lives and our relationships aren’t perfect; and that reminds us that, even on the longest night of the entire year, the light of Christ still shines. God walks beside us and lifts us up in times when we need strength and courage. God reminds us that better days are surely coming – even when we’re ready to throw-in the towel. Wars and violence will cease. Families and relationships will be restored. Even the shadow of death, itself, will be overcome by the glorious light of the Prince of Peace. Our lives and our souls will be healed by the power of God. And when it’s all said and done, we will be lifted-up by the Christ that we meet on Christmas.

Radical authenticity isn’t easy. Our lives aren’t always what we want them to be, and our relationships and families are far more complex than what can be described by a Hallmark card. And we want to run away from that. And, perhaps, that’s why so many of us want to run toward Christmas as quickly as we can. We want to experience the joy again. We want that feeling of hope. We want the “peace on earth” that’s announced from pulpits around the world. But, Pastor Grinch wants us to slow down and to take some time to think about what’s happening in our lives and in the world. That dastardly, old curmudgeon wants us to look deeply into the parts of our lives that desperately need God’s healing presence. And, from that deep and profound sense of authenticity, he invites us to come to the Manger – and to stand face-to-face with the God who has the power to make us whole again.

It’s not always easy for us to move through Advent when the rest of the world is filled with people who are shouting, “Ho, Ho, Ho!” We’re always going to be tempted to flee from the radical kinds of authenticity that challenge us to openly admit what’s broken in our lives and in the world. We want to flee from what makes us feel uncomfortable, and run full-speed-ahead toward what’s both familiar and safe. And, perhaps, that’s why so many of us are tempted to push Advent out of the way on our way toward Christmas? Maybe our very human reluctance to embrace Advent is caused by the fact that we don’t want to fully embrace the parts of our lives and of our human experience that God wants to heal?