Dear Friends,
This is an exciting time for our preschool children as they prepare once more for the Christmas program they will share with their parents, family, and friends on December 15 and 16. In the last few days, I’ve been in a supportive position again, helping with the sound system.
Those of us who have been around to watch these 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds can’t help but smile and dance when we see the great joy on each innocent face. The kids cannot contain their excitement. They move their arms and legs to the music with freedom and spontaneity. Some ignore instructions and step out of their straight line as they move their bodies with excitement.
To the children, Christmas is about the birth of a baby, the star-filled night, the sheep and camels and manger. It’s about the birthday of Jesus and the giving of gifts. It’s about the celebration of great joy over the Savior who has come to be among us.
As we grow older, it’s not enough to have a birthday party for Jesus. It’s not enough to remain in the nostalgia of childhood, remembering our own roles in the Sunday School Christmas play. It’s not enough to relive the feelings of excitement as we share in the giving and receiving of the gifts of Christmas.
All of those things are important, to be sure. But, as adults, we are expected to go deeper. We are called to reflect on the incarnation itself. What is the deeper meaning of God coming among us as a baby in a particular time in history, at a particular location in the world?
The historic event of Jesus’ birth is an amazing moment in time and space when God intruded into our lives to change the world. That was the moment the divine intersected with the human in a completely new way. The world would never again be the same.
How do we make Christmas 2008 a whole new experience, unlike any Christmas we have known? When we become stressed with buying gifts, sending cards, and preparing for the visits of family and friends, it’s not easy to keep Christmas fresh and alive with meaning. There is nothing wrong with any of those things, but they must be undertaken with fresh meaning each year.
As mature Christians, we know that God appeared to humans in a one-time way that made God’s purposes clear as Jesus’ ways became known to us. Mature Christians understand too that God continues to reveal himself to us as we encounter his poor and suffering children, of every race, and every country, and every creed, and every socio-political point of view.
Do you see Jesus in the faces of those you encounter from day to day? At home? In the workplace? At the mall? On the street? On the TV?
"...'truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me," and,
"...whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' (Matthew 25:40, 45)
Have a wonderful Christmas, as God reveals himself to you once again in a new way!
Pastor Ron
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Howland United Methodist Church