Category: Christmas

Posted on

Christmas Poem

People rushing to and fro
Traffic steadily building

Black Friday is going to save us all
Buy, buy, buy

Can’t afford it? No matter
Take a year to pay the bill

It’s your patriotic duty
Spend, spend, spend

What are we thinking?
We’re missing something here

Do we have a clue?
Do we know what Christmas means?

The prophets knew
They predicted it

The angels knew
They sang about it

The shepherds and the wise men knew
They came and worshipped

Herod knew
He tried to have this rival killed

Christmas is a celebration because
The King has come

Yet we enthrone our own comfort
Worshipping the golden calf of Wall Street

We lust after power
Political, economic, social

We have forgotten something
We have forgotten this

The King has come
All the kingdoms on earth are His

The King has come
We are His

The King has come
Let us celebrate Him!

Posted on

Christmas Favorites

Amy has a Christmas meme of sorts over on her site. It’s a good way to think back over some memories and favorite things about the season. Feel free to jump in and post some of your own memories and favorite things.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Egg nog on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, hot chocolate the rest of the time.

2. Does “Santa” wrap presents or just put them under the tree? Our presents are wrapped. We enjoy the process of unwrapping. Of course, sometimes the wrapping consists of gift bags.

3. Colored lights or white? I enjoy seeing a lot of colorful light displays, but I also like the white lights. White lights seem more peaceful to me.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope. No particular reason.

5. When do you put your decorations up? We used to put everything up a week after Thanksgiving. Now we get them up whenever we can find the time.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (including dessert)? I really enjoy all the cookies that are so prevalent this time of year. I like the fudge too.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? There is no one memory that stands out. I remember Christmas as a time of joy and love. My family was close and Christmas was always a good time.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don’t know. We always emphasized the birth of Jesus Christ. Santa was just something added on.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We each open one gift.

10. Do you place a nativity set anywhere in your home? We have a number of nativity sets and we place them around the house.

11. Snow. Love or or hate it? I like snow for Christmas or at other times during the winter, as long as it doesn’t stay around too long. We used to live in Cincinnati and grew tired of the snow. Now we live in the South and would like to see a little more.

12. Can you ice skate? Nope. Bad ankles.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I’ve received so many wonderful gifts through the years, and no single gift stands out above the rest.

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays for you? The birth of Jesus, and being with family.

15. Do you mail out Christmas cards/newsletters? We send out cards every year, and insert a letter letting folks know what has happened in our family udring the year.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, and having a big dinner with the family on Christmas Day.

17. What tops your Christmas tree? An angel.

18. Do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving. I love seeing other people open their gifts.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? “Silent Night”. I know a lot of people don’t like it, and I understand the reasons why. To me the song speaks of the holiness of the birth of the Savior and King.

20. Candy canes. Yum or yuck? I love candy canes.

21. What do you want for Christmas? My two front teeth, or a hippopotamus. 🙂 Really, I’m not picky. Just spending time with my family and friends is enough.

22. Do you attend a Christmas party? Usually a couple every year.

23. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear pajamas? We go to a Christmas Eve service every year, so we dress up a little.

24. Do you own a Santa hat? No.

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with? My family.

Posted on

Jesus

This past Sunday, our pastor was talking about everything being wrapped up in Jesus. Since then I’ve been wondering how true that is. Is everything really wrapped up in Jesus?

I know it should be, but when I look at my own life and the lives of those around me, I have to wonder. Is our life wrapped up in Jesus? Is the totality of our existence really all about him?

This time of year we hear a lot about Jesus, how he came to be born as a human, how he came to save us from our sins. Is there more? Is the Christmas story only one of God coming to earth, being born in a stable, and dying on the cross so we can go to heaven? I think there’s more, but we have a tendency to pick and choose the parts of the story that make us feel good.

Some like the story of the little baby lying in the straw, with the shepherds and animals gathered round. They like the idea of peace on earth and good will to others. Add the ingredients of the American cultural Christmas and you have the makings of a nice holiday that makes most people feel rather good about themselves.

Some go a little further and emphasize the story of this little baby growing up and then dying to save us from our sins.They like the idea of avoiding Hell and going to Heaven. Couple that with a certain prayer to say and a set of propositions to assent to and those who have done that and are “in” can feel superior to those that are “out”.

It’s easy to forget about the three years that Jesus spent walking this earth teaching his disciples about his kingdom. It’s far too convenient to focus on the beginning chapters in the Gospels and ignore that this child was born to be King, that he was the Messiah promised throughout the Old Testament, that he is Lord over all creation. It’s also easy to concentrate on the final chapters of the Gospels and ignore that Jesus taught about the present reality of his kingdom as well as the future fulfilment.

Both extremes forget that, as Lord and King, Jesus calls us to move beyond the baby in the straw. He calls us to not be too preoccupied with the future. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords calls us to follow him.
A disciple follows his rabbi, his master, with the goal of becoming like him and being able to go make other disciples that will also become like the rabbi. An ancient Jewish saying stated that disciples should be covered in the dust from the feet of their rabbi.

Getting back to the idea of being wrapped up in Jesus; that is how our lives should be lived. To be wrapped up in Jesus means that we seek to live every moment in his presence, and seek to do every action with the same attitude that our Master has. We should strive to follow our Rabbi so closely that the dust from his feet covers us, so that when people see us in our day-to-day they see Jesus. It is not as easy as worshipping a baby in a manger. It is harder than agreeing to a set of beliefs or saying a certain prayer. It will cause us to lose our life. But, Jesus said that those who lose their life for his sake will find real life in him.

The world, and the church, needs people whose existence is wrapped up in the One who is setting all things right and who is coming again to finally bring his kingdom once and for all.

Posted on

Mary’s Song

The other day, I was thinking about the song of Mary in Luke 1. It was actually a pretty subversive thing to say in that day. I was wondering what Mary’s song would sound like in the 21st Century.

Who would be the rulers in today’s world? Who would be the proud? Who are the rich? Who are the humble and the hungry?

What in our consumer driven culture could the song speak to? What would Mary have to say to the Church?

What does it mean today that the King has come and is coming again? What would happen if those of us who say we follow this King lived as if we really did?

Just some questions rolling around in my head.

Any thoughts?