Valerie Rae Hanneman
Luke 1:68“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come and has redeemed His people. (NIV)
I was up this evening until 11:30 doing my Christmas cards and - praise be! - I am finally about half done with them. I mail a lot of Christmas cards - I have so many people who touch my life, and a Christmas card lets me tell them how much I love them. As I worked on the Christmas cards I started getting a little stressed thinking about the Care Fresno Kids Klub sleep over on Friday night. It is our Christmas party this year - and there will be over 40 of us spending the night at the church. I had to take Friday off from work for it - I am so busy with Christmas stuff I haven’t gotten a chance to shop for the sleep over, and I have that meeting with Steven’s counselor tomorrow also. I am going to be running like crazy tomorrow. And then during the sleep over I need to take a break and go to the sanctuary because we are having a dress rehearsal for the Christmas Cantata that we will be singing Saturday night and twice on Sonday! I love singing in the Christmas Cantata - even though I know that I am the part of the choir that is making a joyful noise unto the LORD. But there is no doubt that the Cantata is a lot of work. In fact - as I sit here and think about it - Christmas as a whole is a lot of work. It is a constant stream of having to do this, that and the other. When I look at all that I am doing during this time as separate activities - I love each and every one of them. I love to shop for gifts. I love to ring bells for the Salvation Army. I love to write my cards. I love to go to Christmas gatherings. I love to sing in “Songs for a Season.” I love to sing in the cantata. I love Christmas Eve services. I love the Kids Klub Christmas party. I love to go with my family to see the Christmas lights. And on and on.
But when you lump all the Christmas activities along with my regular activities of job, family and church - it is a bit overwhelming. Just this evening as I was writing my cards I was thinking that instead of singing “O Come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant” I ought to be singing “O come all ye shoppers, sore feet and stressed out!” I was a little “bah-humbug!” tonight as I headed for my bedroom. But then I stopped in front of the one of our Nativity scenes. It is my favorite - because it is so simple. Just a Baby in the manger, His mom, His stepdad and the stable. As I ran my finger over that little Baby I remembered that the birth of Christ was really a very simple thing. We took it and made the big fuss out of it.
As Willie says often during this time of the year, “All this fuss about Jesus.” And truly all of this fuss is about Jesus. Granted the secularists are trying their dead level best to get Jesus of Christmas taken out of everything that they can - and unfortunately they have some success in their efforts, but they can try all they want - they cannot take the Baby in the manger out of Christmas - because Jesus is what Christmas is all about.
So let us be “joyful and triumphant” during this time. Let’s write our cards, bake our cookies, stuff the stockings, shop, wrap, hang lights, drink egg nog, go to parties, sing carols and visit Christmas Tree Lane. Let’s hustle and bustle and run around like crazy. Let’s make all the fuss that we can - but let’s keep our fuss centered in Jesus.
And in the midst of all the fuss about Jesus - let’s go in our hearts to visit the simplicity of Christmas as well. Take some time - just by yourself - to rejoice at the simple message of Christmas.
That message is -
He created us - because He loves us.
He left heaven’s glory - because He loves us.
He was born of a virgin and laid in a manger - because He loves us.
He lived among us as a human - because He loves us.
He died a horrific death in our place - because He loves us.
He lay in the grave for three days - because He loves us.
He rose again - joyful and triumphant - because He loves us.
He has gone to prepare a place for us - because He loves us.
He is coming again to take us with Him - because He loves us.
We will be with Him forever - because He loves us.
Simply put - Christmas is because He loves us.
In all the fuss, stress and busyness of Christmas - let us not forget the simplicity of Christmas.
Oh come let us adore Him - Christ the King.
Posted by Valerie at December 18, 2004 08:00 PM