Don’t ask me why, but I went to Target this past Saturday. No, I didn’t go early looking for any Christmas deals and I didn’t end up buying any gifts, but I was there among the throng who were doing their ”Christmas shopping.” I think the saddest part of the experience for me was walking by the dvd aisle and seeing copies of the movie Knocked Up on sale for like $3. I can only guess they were priced that low in the hopes that people would purchase them as gifts. At that moment, thinking of someone on Christmas morning receiving a copy of a raunchy movie as a gift, I felt really sad. That’s not the point of Christmas. Honestly, do we really know what and why we celebrate Christmas anymore? Or, has it really become just a chance for stores to sell millions in merchandise and for us to get and receive those gifts we want (sometimes out of obligation?) I hope not.
Something I have been thinking about is that Christ is in some ways given a raw deal when it comes to Christmas. What I mean is this: every year, we sing the same Christmas carols about the baby in the manger, the newborn King, etc. We continually celebrate the Baby Jesus. What if we really celebrated his birthday by recognizing the fact that he grew and aged and became a man? What if we focused more on his life than just always focusing on his birth? I feel like it is easy for us to sing Away In a Manger and forget about who Christ really became and continues to be and the transforming power he can have on our lives, if we let him. What if instead of only reading the account of the shepherds visiting the manger in Luke 2, we chose to read from Philippians 2:
| 1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. |
What if instead of just buying presents, singing carols and eating candy canes we chose to focus on the life, the character and the glory of the person we celebrate each Christmas? I think if we read the Christmas story, and then keep on reading through the rest of the gospels, we’ll understand why Christ is worth celebrating each year. This isn’t to say that we can’t give and exchange gifts or enjoy a good plate of Christmas cookies, but, I do challenge us as we enter this season to remember the life we are celebrating…all of it.










