The Good News

Two days until Christmas and for once, I am prepared for the festivities of the day. We waited until my son came home to buy a tree and decorate it. It is perfect even if I do have to water daily. I could maybe forgo a real tree, but my son has always wanted to have the real thing, so as long as he comes home for Christmas, we’ll stick with a live tree. I don’t know; perhaps we’ll still have a live tree even after he has moved on. It’s hard to replace that pine aroma. And somehow it does seem to make the day more real, at least in my mind. There is a certain “rusticness” to it that lends itself toward the meanness of the first Christmas in a stable. Nothing artificial there.

This is not a commentary about the merits of live trees versus artificial. I do not intend to slam store bought trees. The convenience is perfectly fine. But I think I choose live trees as a way to resist the season of retail frenzy, the artificial and material observance of a holy day that has become a holiday, sanitized and repackaged by our secular culture to be more acceptable to those who choose not to recognize a King born 2,000 year ago. They have shut their eyes and cannot see the stable, the angels, the Babe in swaddling clothes. The day no longer means anything other than gift giving and a special dinner.

I have sorrow over those who will not see, who will not hear the truth of I AM having come down from heaven to walk among those he formed with his own hands. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. John 1:10. His humble entry into the world is folly to those who do not believe. It confounds the worldly wise and challenges those who do believe. It demands a choice: embrace or walk away.

This Christmas season, we as Christians celebrate what we do embrace, the beginning of the unfolding of God’s plan for salvation. We have waited patiently through Advent for the coming of the King of kings. His birth draws nigh and our anticipation grows as the day approaches. The challenge to believers is to carry the truth of Christmas to those who have yet to believe. As we welcome the Lordly Baby into our hearts and lives, let us remember the world that so desperately needs to hear the good news; from Darfur and Zimbabwe to next door neighbors, Christ has come for all.

May your Christmas be rich with the Spirit's presence and joy-filled. The King has come!