Valerie Rae Hanneman
Colossians 2:6 - 7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”. (NIV)
Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (NASB)
I love Christmas. I love all the decorated store windows even as I bemoan the fact that Thanksgiving is more and more of an afterthought. The madness of the After Thanksgiving Day Sale on Friday is something that I avoid, even as I marvel at stores opening at 5:00 in the morning! Lights start popping out on the neighbors houses, Christmas tree lots appear overnight, bell ringers appear in the shopping malls. The momentum continues to build as shoppers crowd the malls, laughter and children’s voices are raised. We finally get the lights unraveled from last year and the Christmas tree takes the place of honor in the living room. The ever increasingly irritating countdown of the number of shopping days to Christmas reminds us of how much we have to do in so little time. Neighbors you seldom speak to throughout the year are now calling out “Merry Christmas!” Mom starts baking her Christmas cookies and pies, making her shopping lists, planning who in the family is going to bring what food to the Christmas dinner, exclaiming “We will never get that turkey into the oven!” We find ourselves humming Christmas carols in the elevators at work and as we shop. You wake up and see the glow of the dawn to the east - only to realize that it is 2:00 in the morning and the glow is because your neighbor on the next street over forgot to turn his 14 million mega-watt light show off. Strangers smile at each other and “Peace on Earth Good Will to Men” fills each heart with hope. Winter programs at the schools, Christmas parties abound. Creche’s are on tables with Baby Jesus as the focus. Suddenly the whole world just seems brighter and happier as we celebrate. You suddenly realize that you forgot to put name tags on three gifts and have to unwrap them to see who they belong to. Then Christmas Eve and the churches are full of believers joyful to remember the birth of the Baby Jesus. “All this fuss about Jesus,” the pastor says with a big smile. Children can’t sleep that night and they are up at the crack of dawn Christmas morning. Gifts are unwrapped - paper everywhere - a bag is made to save the ribbons in. Somehow that turkey fits into the oven and the smell of it begins to fill the house. The rest of the family starts to arrive and again gifts are opened, hugs exchanged, love shared. The table groans at the weight of Christmas dinner, we collapse in front of the TV, “I can’t believe I ate that much!” “Anybody ready for dessert?” Mom calls out to even more groans. Then the family goes home. “We’ll clean up tomorrow!” Mom is exhausted.
The cleanup the next morning, turkey leftovers for lunch, turkey leftovers for dinner, turkey leftovers for breakfast?!? Why did we get such a big turkey? More and more pine needles are on the floor. Carefully you take down the tree, this year you are going to make sure that the lights will not get tangled again! (Yeah, right!) The tree continues to shed needles as it is taken to the garbage. Will we still be vacuuming them up in March this year? That neighbor takes down all of the lights that made his house visible from weather satellites - glad we don’t have his electric bill! Mom finally disposes of that last slice of unclaimed pumpkin pie. And then - the last little bit of Christmas still left. The creche on the table. You wrap up the pieces one by one and put them back into their box. The last one is Baby Jesus, and with a smile you say, “All this fuss about Jesus.” You wrap up Baby Jesus, put Him in His box and put the box in storage. With just a touch of sadness Christmas, with all of it’s excitement, is over for another year.
But it doesn’t have to be. Christmas is not just a hectic month of shopping, family, food, trees and lights. It is so much more. It is a time to remember the extraordinary night when angels sang, shepherds watched, wise men traveled, a star shone bright, and Messiah was born. A night when the God of Creation became one with His creation. A night when a dying world in need felt the stirring of hope. A night when life as we knew it was forever changed.
Make Christmas - the real Christmas - your way of life.
When the Christmas of the calender is over don’t wrap up Baby Jesus and put Him in a box until next year. Instead let Him live within your heart. Let the Christmas of the Spirit fill you through out the year. Begin each day as if you can still hear the angels sing, “Peace on earth, goodwill towards men.”and then live peacefully on the earth with goodwill towards every person. Live each day as a reflection of the Hope and the Promise that was fulfilled by that tiny little God-baby. Let the star’s light - the Light of the World - shine from you and into the world of darkness.
I am captured by the awe of Christmas and by the Child Who came to change the world and to change me. And that is what He did. I don’t want to celebrate Him for 30- 40 days then wrap Him up until next year. I want Him to live within me every day of the year and I want everything that He is - the hope, the joy, the peace on earth, the God Who came to claim me and change me, to be as radiant in my life as my neighbors Christmas lights at 2:00 in the morning.
I have a creche at work. On the Monday after Thanksgiving I take it out of it’s box, carefully unwrap each piece and set it up. Then I reach over to a certain plant where Baby Jesus in His manger sits within my view every day and I make Him the focus of the creche. On the Monday after New Year’s I carefully wrap up the creche and put it in it’s box for next year. Except for Baby Jesus, Who goes back by the plant. I literally do not wrap up Baby Jesus in the hope that seeing Him will remind me not to figuratively wrap Him up either. I want everyday to be Christmas.
My LORD Jesus, when I think of You in that manger, I am simply speechless with wonder. I don’t understand why You - infinite, powerful and eternal - would choose me over all that You are. But You did. That manger proves it. My prayer is that when Christmas is wrapped up and put away, the wonder and glory of You in that manger will shine through me..
Contact Valerie or subscribe to the e-Ministry of Fresno First Baptist at valerie@fresnofirst.org