I have been reading a lot of blogs lately that are lamenting the nature of the Christmas holiday. My mother and I went shopping last weekend and I couldn’t help but be reminded of all those complaints we hear every year – Christmas is just too commercialized. Didn’t Charlie Brown complain about this in the 1950s? Seems things have only gotten worse…

Yes, Christmas in America is one big, long commercial. And it seems it gets longer every year. Here in Chicagoland there is a radio station that started 24-hour Christmas music at the beginning of November! Christmas decorations in department stores and malls go up right after we put away the Halloween candy. And commercials – if they’re not about fast food, they’re about that one gift that will make your life or the life of your loved one complete and fulfilled. And let’s not forget the after Christmas sales! It’s enough to make you want to crawl in a hole and hide until January 2^nd.

But I do not want to focus on these things. It is so easy to get into the rut of complaining, and when we do, we miss the true joy of Christmas that will endure through all the ugliness we see around us, and often must experience in our lives. Our culture is the exact opposite of what Christ would call believers to live. As followers of Christ we are constantly challenged to go against the grain, and sometimes look downright weird to the people around us. But at Christmas, we are reminded of why we do this. Why we strive to live lives that are pleasing to our God, and glorify Him.

Christmas is the celebration of the First Advent. Advent is the time of year when we look back to God’s breaking into human history through the Incarnation. It is also a time to look forward – to expectantly look to the Second Advent, Christ’s coming again.

We live in between these two pivotal moments in history. Jesus came to proclaim and inaugurate the Kingdom of God. The purpose for which Christ was born was so that He might live to die – live in perfect obedience to the Father, and die for the sins of humankind, so that those who place their trust in Him would have this hope of which we speak. His death was the punishment for sin that we deserve poured out on the only sinless One in an act of incredible, unfathomable love and sacrifice. His resurrection was at once both validation of His claims as Messiah and our victory over death. We are now free to live a new life unto God, a life that will move forward into eternity. What we see now is only the beginning – the inauguration of the coming Kingdom, which Christ will confirm and complete when He comes again. He has promised thus and so it shall be – this is our joy, this is our hope.

As we wait, we do not wait in vain. We wait in hopeful anticipation of what is to come. And Christmas is the time when we focus on these things, and celebrate the Incarnation – God dwelling among us. We confess and acknowledge the reality of this time in between. The whole of creation groans in birth pains, awaiting the redemption of the sons and daughters of God. But our hope is this final consummation that is to come, when in Christ, all of creation will be reconciled to God.

This is what we celebrate. This is why we remember Christ’s birth. As we walk through this time of the year, let us not forget this hope. And let us consider how we are to live in the light of this awesome and wonderful promise…

Grace and peace,
mish