Christmas Is Coming

Oh yes it is!  I do so love Christmas.  

It does seem that, with our growing a little older every year, a certain Christmas-related cynicism tends to also grow within us... It may well be justified.  After all, as one who has grown up in an Australian capital city, I've witnessed the ever-growing materialism that surrounds this time of year...  the Christmas carols and decorations which appear around Octoberish; the incredible pressure to find a gift which adequately expresses our love to all those around us (and just what sort of $ sign is attached to it); children throwing tantrums in the sardine-packed, local super-mega-shopping complexes, attached to (or running away from) weary, frustrated-looking mums uttering a variety of threats...  Then there's the hidden sadnesses around this time of year:  the lonely, the depressed, the homeless.  Those for whom Christmas is a constant, sharp reminder of what they don't have.  Suicides; hospital accident-and-emergency departments busy with alcohol- and who-knows-what-else-related incidents.

Positive, I know.  But it's real.

But you know what else is real?  Jesus.  His birth, in a smelly animal shed out the back of an overcrowded inn... Real.  That nativity play, featured in churches and Christmas Carol services each year...  cheeky, freckled kids with tea-towels around their heads;  the best-behaved Sunday school boy and girl dressed up as Joseph and Mary; someone's recently-born bub lying in a little crib, nestled into something more comfy than real hay...  Sort of real.  But based on something as real as you and me.

But it's a true story which is not understood or remembered by many; and even for Christians it can become blurred around the edges in the fog of familiarity.

This year, for me, is different.  This year, I'm in Nepal.  I'm here for six months on a short-term mission trip, which includes Christmas.  So really, there's all sorts of reasons it's different... including the beautiful wintery-ness of it!  We've only recently started singing Christmas carols.  They have regained a beautiful freshness and a real joy.  Also, because the other expats here are from Germany, America and a different part of Australia, I've been learning Christmas songs I don't even know, and cracking out some of the more obscure ones.

The bazaar (main shopping area!) here is limited, basic, and sells mainly essential clothing items, food, household items, as well as a few more "luxury" items.  Many people are poor, and have trouble even keeping their families well-nourished.  There's no option for a widespread gospel of materialism.  With the dominant religion being Hinduism, Christmas isn't even widely celebrated. (Although this is also very sobering.  To see how few people here know and love Jesus, and see His birth as something to celebrate... I guess it's not that different to the religion of materialism.  It's just more obvious.  Perhaps...  But a topic for another day!)

So, what am I trying to say?  Really, it's a long-winded way of saying that, this year, with the smog of all that "other stuff" removed, the truth that Christmas is all about Jesus has been as clear as a crisp, blue, Jumla morning sky. 

That God Himself left His rightful place of glory to enter our imperfect world - entered humanity, with its struggles, temptation, pain, loneliness.  In such an unspectacular way.  The same Jesus who went on to suffer and die on an instrument of torture on our behalf.  What unfathomable love.

I think I needn't go on.  I won't be the first, last or most eloquent maker of this point!  But what a truth.  And how wonderful that we can go on being re-amazed by it.  I can't possibly describe how thrilled and thankful I am to be here - free of all the extra Christmas decorations we try to hang on Jesus at this time of year... which only serve to distract us from the real source of light and beauty. Him.

If you have big Christmas plans, and have just stumbled in the door from your Christmas shopping expeditions in desperate need of a cuppa, please don't feel judged!  I've sure been there, and chances are I will be again...  Christmas still IS a celebration!  It's about our hearts and attitudes much more than what we "do", and there are many ways of loving God and loving those around us.

But whoever you are, wherever you're at, whatever your Christmas schedule... think of Jesus.  Not as a sort of guilt-saturated, side-obligation, but as the centre and foundation of it all.  Indeed, of our whole lives.  If you don't know Jesus, take advantage of the season - ask a friend about Him and what it all really means.  Or email me!  That'd be really cool.

So, happy Christmas to you all.  Despite struggles and circumstance, frustrated plans and burnt turkeys.  May the world be filled with the joy and peace of Jesus.  Come, let's really adore Him.

* * *

Isaiah 7:14

¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6 

⁶ For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given;
 and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
   and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Luke 2:10-14

¹⁰And the angel said to [the shepherds], "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"