Say WHAT?! The Christians should “butt out” of Christmas?
Wait a sec? Isn’t Christmas about Christ? And aren’t Christians about Christ? So wouldn’t that make Christmas a Christian event that is all about Christ?
Of course it is.
So why does it feel like the Christians have lost Christmas? Why do we have a nagging suspicion that we have indeed lost one of the most precious holy days of our entire year? Why doesn’t it feel all that HOLY, this thing we are doing?
Let’s be clear, Christmas is ours. We started it.
- Well, yeah, we did steal the winter festival from harmless Pagans to put Christmas in the bleak midwinter, but that was a long time ago.
- Yes, we have allowed a fat toyman to divert attention from Jesus; (I’ve been fantasizing this week about all the children from the church waking up and being more thrilled, delighted, ecstatic that Jesus was born than that Santa had visited. And that the parents are more hopeful that their kids will think God is awesome than that Santa scored a win!)
- yes, we have sold out our commitment, our call, to justice, equality, grace, peace, hope and joy to keep the focus on cookies, candy, talking reindeer and snowmen, lavishly decorated trees and regifting, but hey, in our heart of hearts we know it’s all about Jesus. It’s all for Jesus. Everything we do this time of year is to honor Jesus.
And...we have generously given to charities: a pair of mittens and a scarf, a toy, diapers, a used coat, some food, cash to our Christmas missions. That shows how much Christmas is about Jesus. Jesus is the Reason for the Season! We have cared for the poor, so let’s get back to wrapping up that XBOX and iPhone!
And we’ve donated a can of food, a box of pasta. That makes Jesus happy.
We’ve cared for the lonely and the least, so pass the eggnog, Uncle Bob. I love the sweet potato casserole, Aunt Marilyn. Spending time with our families show how much we love Jesus, right?
We have a star on our Christmas tree (or an angel). We have a nativity scene displayed in our homes. We’ve hung a nail next to the tree trunk. We’ve reminded ourselves that Santa started out as a Christian doing good and helping the poor, so he loved Jesus, too.
We’ve stamped Jesus on everything, so how can people be confused about the meaning, the power of Christmas?
I'm afraid stamping Jesus on everything just isn't enough.
A few years ago I started noticing nativity sets with snowman families or marshmallow Mary with mini marshmallow Jesus. Jesus with a carrot nose? I had a gut reaction of not liking them. Then this year a friend shared a website that collects the worst nativities.
http://whyismarko.com/2011/27-worst-nativity-sets-the-annual-growing-list/
We’ve taken
As I looked at the pictures, I was speechless. Kitty cat Jesus? Puppy Angels? Bacon and Sausage Jesus?
Ick. Incarnation means “in the flesh”, like chili con CARNE means chili with meat. But bacon and sausage Jesus? Jesus come to earth in pig meat?
But it wasn’t just the worst nativity sets that got me>>> I was positive most people of faith would feel the same way. So what really stopped me in my tracks was when a young adult who attends a Christian church said, “I don’t see what all the fuss is about...some of them are cute.”
And with that: I knew that Christians had lost Christmas.
When it is ok for Jesus to be portrayed as a baby mer-creature and cuteness is enough to warm our hearts, we’ve lost Christmas. Jesus isn’t cute. We aren’t waiting for a baby. We are waiting for GOD.
Mary was waiting for God. The magnificat is not about her joy in being pregnant and her hope of a healthy baby. The magnificat is about her acknowledment that God is coming to turn the world right. Her people were waiting for God. And when Jesus, God With Us, the Great I Am, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, came to her and said, now’s the time for me to come to you, she said “yes. I will participate in what you are doing God. Yes, I will do my part. Yes, I will serve in any way that is asked of me.”
Mary wasn’t waiting for cute. She was waiting for God to restore creation, to set the world right.
Her soul magnified, gave glory to God, because God was moving in the world and she was moving with God.
Luke 1:39-56
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
What are we waiting for? Are we waiting for cute? Or are we waiting for God? Are we standing ready to say YES to what God wants to do in the world?
Let me review our Advent preparation:
1. The world is a mess. And we’ve participated in messing it up. We’ve been selfish, we’ve been mean, we’ve polluted our earth, we’ve consumed more than our fair share, we’ve broken promises, we’ve shattered hearts, we’ve lied. I don’t need to elaborate...you know what I mean. Point being: We need God. Right now. Right here.
2. This is not a new problem. It is the problem the people of the Old Testament faced. It is the problem the people in 1st Century Palestine were facing. It is the problem of the dark ages, the the rennaisance, the reformation, the enlightenment, the industrial age , the age of world wars and now the information age. To review: the world is a mess and we are participating in messing it up. We sense there must be a better way. We need God.
3. God promised to come to us. God’s promise to come to us is always and everywhere available.
4. Jesus is the answer to that promise.
The world is a mess, we have been a mess, may currently be a mess and God has come to save the world. And to save us. I love that the word salvation comes from the root word “to heal.” God comes to heal us and our world. To restore justice. To set our lives right. To shine light on every dark path. To open the door to the life we have been created for. To let us hear his voice. To care for us. To receive the offering of our hearts and lives. God has come in weakness as a human baby and in power as the One who spoke all things into being, as
Can you capture THAT with marshmallows? Or mice?
This week I heard a woman make an utterly simple, utterly earth-shaking confession of faith. In the midst of her life’s pain, fear and difficulty she said this, simply and powerfully: “I gave my life over to God a long time ago. My whole life is in God’s hands." Her words echo Mary's: I surrender, I will trust God that the future I am going into will be in partnership with God.
She’ll probably wrap presents to put under the Christmas tree. I’m guessing she’ll unwrap a gift or two. I’m sure there will be a feast at her home.
But it is her everyday statement of faith that reveals Christmas at its best: hope in the face of despair, victory in the face of death, fearlessness when fear might overwhelm...that is God with Us. That’s what Christmas is...God WITH us.
There’s not a new TV or necklace or sweater or toy out there that can touch that.
Maybe we have lost Christmas to the culture...that’s highly likely, in fact.
Maybe we should just let loose of stamping Jesus on this cultural Christmas we’ve created.
Maybe we should stop getting excited when Wal-Mart clerks say “merry Christmas.” instead of “Happy Holidays.”
Maybe we have lost the religious center of our cultural Christmas. But we haven’t lost the message of Christmas which is at the heart of who we are every day. God has come to us and we’ve said YES. We will participate in the healing. We will catch the vision of a world in which each person is known and cared for as a loved member of the family of God. We will participate with God in doing justice and loving mercy.
I’m delighted that we had a great response to our Christmas giving requests. I’m thrilled that we are collecting money for a donation to the Central Illinois Food Bank and Kumler Outreach ministries right now. Christmas does unleash a unique outpouring of generosity and you are a uniquely generous congregation.
But long after the tinsel is picked up and the tree is put away. Long after the last piece of Christmas fudge has melted in our mouths. Long after the family has made their way home...you are still the people who say yes.
In January you will still be GOD WITH US to the people sleeping in the overflow shelter. In February you will still be tutoring the Compass children. In March you will be staying in love with God, walking humbly with your God as you grow your prayer life in Lent. In April you will celebrate the triumph of Jesus over death. In May you will be raising funds to send a youth mission team into service. In June you will still be holding worship services to praise God. In July you will invite little children into this church for Vacation Bible School to learn the stories of Jesus and in meeting Jesus, they will meet God and in meeting God they will be changed...they may say yes to the Kingdom, too! In August you will still be giving generously to the Imagine No Malaria campaign. In September you will send school supplies to students in need. In October you will walk and raise money for CROP. In November you will give thanks to the God who has walked with you every day...giving you strength and courage. And in December you will walk the tightrope between cutural Christmas and deep devotion to the God who asks us to welcome him into our hearts as we join with him to heal the world.
The joy we celebrate everyday as followers of Jesus Christ...there’s not a bow big enough or a tree bright enough or a holiday glitzy enough to dim the power of God With Us!
Merry Christmas!
