Grace, Peace and Merry Christmas!
I know it’s early for our weekly “Thoughts from Antioch” Blog, but I’m sure many of us will be running a little crazy the rest of this week. So, instead of a Thursday blog post from my favorite coffee shop, I’m sending a Tuesday post from my favor
ite coffee shop.
On Friday night I will join with millions of other “followers of Jesus” as we celebrate Christmas Eve services. I remember growing up and having Christmas Eve services that would involve singing and candles followed by a huge family dinner at our house. I remember the smell of oyster stew on the stove and Christmas cookies sugaring up all the kids as we watched A Christmas Carol
. Those are memories that I’ll always have with me! Now that I’m a big kid (let’s face it, this guy is never gonna grow up), my responsibilities have changed quite a bit. Now I’m leading Christmas Eve services and now I have the kids watching the movies.
I spend a lot of time during Advent uncovering
our “long standing traditions” and looking for the roots of our celebrations. I’ve mentioned before about how many of these age old traditions are really only a couple generations old and some of the older traditions are stolen from various pagan rituals. Because of all that, it’s easy to get down on Christmas. It’s certainly easy to be upset with the rampant commercialism that each and every year we decry as being the bane of civilization. I’ve even heard good Christian teachers encourage followers of Jesus to abandon the celebration of Christmas as we’ve known it all our growing up years. I think this is a really wide swing – one that I’m not excited to jump on.
I think that the traditions and the warm bowls of stew, the movies that make us warm and fuzzy, the candles and all the trimmings are good things. Obviously the excess isn’t so great, but being with family and friends and celebrating life is a good thing. It’s a great thing to be with people that we don’t see but once or twice a year and to renew acquaintances. It’s an amazing thing to be able to extend grace and mercy to loved ones whom we may not want to spend time with (oh, c’mon you know you have some of those folks coming over to your house too!). I think that warm family feel is a moment of worship! I mean what could be more Christlike than loved ones coming together and pausing to enjoy the moment?
I hope that wherever you are and whatever your traditions, you will be able to find a moment like this. That in the busy-ness of this week and with all the other stuff that we don’t like, we’ll still find time to enjoy and celebrate and make Merry. I also hope that as we do this, we’ll know that the Son of God who was born in a dark, dingy cave so many years ago is also present with you. That it is His birth that draws us together and gives us the ability to love and be loved. I hope that as you celebrate you’ll know the holiness of those moments and that as you do the “hopes and fears of all the years will be born” in YOU once more!
Merry Christmas!!!