What We Know, What We Don't

Cards and long held traditions are not necessarily the best place to get our facts about the events of Christmas. We really don’t know if Mary rode on a donkey. We don’t know if she and Joseph traveled alone. We don’t know if she gave birth the first night she arrived in Bethlehem. Nor do we know if the angels sang, or if there were three wise men. We most certainly don’t know if Jesus was born on December 25th. We don’t even know what year He was born.

On the other hand we do know that an angel(s) appeared to Zechariah Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. We know for sure that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wrapped in cloth and placed in a feeding trough. We know He was visited by magi and that they were guided by a star.

We know too why he came. It’s right there in Isaiah along with the virgin birth (7:14) and the promise of a male child (9:6). The answer is one filled with the life giving breath of grace and hope. It’s a picture of a tender healer and gentle shepherd. “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” (61:1)

Behind the historical events of Christmas lies a tremendous upside. And a very hideous underside. Our need was so dark, so ugly, so hopeless. Distress that flows out of our own defiant hearts. The wickedness of others that have mis-shaped and misled us. Sin mingled with shame. Abuse, abandonment, self-indulgence, addiction, deceiving spirits, pride, self-hatred, rejection, all conspiring together to leave us heartbroken and captive.

His coming became paramount. It was the beginning of a rescue. It was a beam of sunlight breaking through the ominous storm clouds. A medic reaching the battlefield wounded. Unbelievably glad tidings. Good news that is life saving and life giving.

Ultimately we know, too, how we make our own entrance into this Christmas story. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Know what I mean?

Humble King – Woo Hoo!

A young teenage girl who had never slept with a man became pregnant. A birth announcement was made by a mighty army of otherworldly beings. An eternal supernatural King was delivered in a dirty smelly barn. An astronomical phenomena led a camel riding band of scholars on the adventure of their lives. God’s Son did not think so much of Himself that He had to cling to the advantages of deity but instead took on the status of being human.

Reflections such as these elicit a deep exuberant response in me. Sometimes I feel like a wiggly third grade boy quivering to get out of his seat to run and play. The truth of it, the enormity of it, the genius of it begs me to jump out of my seat and yell…Woo Hoo! The silence of reflection is waiting to be shattered with the noise of shouting and singing.

The daily reading of Grace Notes by Phil Yancey gives us ample reason for responding with some unbridled praise as he expands on the thought of this humble King, “The God who roared, who could order armies and empires about like pawns on a chessboard, this God emerged in Palestine as a baby who could not speak or eat solid food or control his bladder, who depended on a teenage couple for shelter, food, and love.

“In London, I caught glimpses of the more typical way rulers stride through the world: with bodyguards, and a trumpet fanfare, and a flourish of bright clothes and flashing jewelry. Queen Elizabeth II had recently visited the United States, and reporters delighted in spelling out the logistics involved: her four thousand pounds of luggage included two outfits for every occasion, a mourning outfit in case someone died, forty pints of plasma, and white leather toilet seat covers. She brought along her own hairdresser, two valets, and a host of other attendants.

“In contrast, God’s visit to Earth took place humbly, in an animal shelter with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn King but in a feed trough. A mule could have stepped on him. ‘How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given.’”

Only one thing left to say…..WOO HOO!

Above: From our collection of Christmas Ornaments - Dayspring 2002
Left: Hallmark Heavenly Angels series 1992
Top: Nativity purchased at Hinton Railroad Days 1993

Merry Meaningful Christmas

Christmas Season is here – YES! It’s a whole month to turn our attention to the birth of the most extra-ordinary child. Amazing. Incredible. Breath-taking. Life changing. It’s an optimum time to reflect and an optimum time for distractions too. Nativities & elves, sacred concerts & merchandise, advent & the NBA, family celebrations & wish lists all blend together to make it necessary to sort out the meaningful from the trivial.

While we have attempted to keep Christ at the center of Christmas, unmet expectations have also become stumbling blocks. I know I have been the proverbial scrooge on more than one occasion. The expectation of a “perfect” Christmas makes the day itself particularly susceptible to disappointment. After a few of our Christmas Day’s came crashing down, Diana and I decided to view Christmas as a season of celebration. Along the way we have tried a variety of activities some of which have become meaningful traditions. Here are a few of them with comment:

Decorating the day after Thanksgiving (We always kick the season off the day after…no time for Black Friday)
Advent Readings (This year’s is The Handel’s Messiah Family Advent Reader…we’ve also used Jotham’s Journey and Family Celebrations at Christmas)
Christmas concerts (Lots available from handbell choirs to church cantatas to the Behold the Lamb of God tour…and DQ blizzards afterwards)
Good Samaritan shoeboxes (Gifts for needy children around the world…collections are made before December)
Cookie give away (Dozens and dozens and dozens…showing the love of Christ in a practical way)
Caroling (Old school but good)
Living Nativity (Nothing more fun than being a wise man in the freezing cold…planning one at our house on the 11th)
Christmas breakfast (This one is a carry-over from my childhood)
New ornament each year (Someone gave us a “Your First Christmas Together” ornament, and we’ve added to the collection every year…lots of great memories)
Handmade ornaments (Diana makes four every year…one for us and one to pass along to all the kids)
Devotions in a barn (Borrowed from Michael Card)
Christmas lights drive (The blue “gingerbread house” was our favorite)
Decorating the building where the church meets (Diana and the girls decorated just yesterday)
Reading Christmas stories (The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L’Engle; The Story of Little Christmas by George MacDonald; One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham; The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry)

"The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it"

Above: Shoebox giveaway in the streets of Mexico
Top: The girls prepare for a cookie giveway