Christmas has come early…or so it would seem. It seems as though every year Christmas come earlier and earlier. I walked into a store a few days ago to the sight of Christmas trees, lights and brightly colored presents. I honestly thought I had stepped into a Christmas wonderland, all that was needed was a guy in a red suit, some pointy eared elves and carols.
I have to wonder what it means that in the middle of October, well before Halloween and Thanksgiving, our culture has rushed on to Christmas. Do we really care as a society about the meaning of Christmas or has it simply become a commercial holiday?
The temptation for many us as people of faith is to join in the cultural rush towards Christmas. We can quickly be deemed "Grinch" if we don't follow behind the march towards Christmas trees and glitter. But what do we lose? I think we lose the tremendous meaning of Christmas; we cheapen the fact that the Creator of the Universe, the One who spun the planets and gave color to daisies deemed us worthy of becoming one of us. To me that is an awesome feeling that God chose to spend time in our shoes, coming as a child.
What we are called to do is to wait. We live in a society of instant everything, but the message of the church is to wait. There is something special about the anticipation of what is to come, and that is part of the allure of Christmas.
How will you hold off the onset of Christmas this year? How will you live in that place of waiting and hoping and longing for the coming of God in Christ? How we answer these questions will make all the difference in our lives and in our world.
Prayer
Gracious and Holy God, I know you come among me in the helpless and the lonely; grant that I may see you present in our world not only in the journey towards Christmas but in every journey. May IO see in the face of others your face and may my actions be guided and directed solely by you. I make my prayer in the name of Jesus your child our Savior. Amen.
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