God with us!
What Christmas is all about...
First, may we wish you
A very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year in 2007
What is Christmas all about? Ask people and you will get a variety of answers. The answers will depend on who you ask and where you are in the world. Different cultures respond to Christmas in different ways. But the responses you get will probably include some of the following ideas...
- A time for Children
- A Celebration
- Giving and receiving presents
- Being with family
A time for Children
Children look forward to Christmas. They enjoy the special celebrations. They look forward to getting presents from family and friends. They will often be the centre of attention in all that goes on at this time of year.
But Christmas is not about children. It is about a child. A particular child. Christmas is about Jesus. It is all about the time when Jesus came as a new born baby. Born into a scandle because his mother, Mary, was unmarried when she learned that she was pregnant. Born far away from home because Mary and her new husband, Joseph, had to travel to a distant town to pay their taxes. Born into a world where those in power oppressed the poor and marginalised. Born only to have to immediately escape for his life to another country as a refugee.
Giving and receiving presents
Christmas is a time for giving and receiving presents. In many parts of the world the presents seem to have taken over Christmas. We spend too much. We get into debt. We put a lot of stress on ourselves. Just to get bigger and better presents than last year. Yet we forget how it all started.
The first Christmas present was given by God!
He gave us himself!
Jesus is God come to us. Many other religions believe in a god who is far away, or remote. The Christian account is that God came to us. He was born as a baby, he lived our life, he "walked our roads and felt our pain" (as one of our songwriters expressed it). He knows about our life because he has lived it as the man Jesus. God gave us the greatest gift he had to give, Himself. Which is why we celebrate.
A Celebration
Many people celebrate Christmas as a holiday, a time for being with family and friends, a time for parties and fun. All of which can be good in themselves. But what better reason to celebrate than that God loves us enough to come and be with us. To show us his love. To share our pain and joys, our work and our play. To demonstrate that he is more that just a distant, out of touch god. Rather he is concerned for us, loves us, cares about our situations so much that he comes to share it. Not a god 'out there' but God WITH US!.
Being with family
Many of us will spend some of Christmas with our families. We will cook special food, decorate the house, invite neigbours round, give our presents. We may do something special for people without families who would otherwise be on their own, or support the homeless.
But the heart of Christmas is that Jesus came to invite us into God's family. He showed us that God is our Father and loves us with a Father's love, a good Father who cares for his children.
God with You
However you celebrate Christmas this year, or especially if you are not planning to celebrate it at all, we hope you will discover that God is with You. He is not far away, not distant or unreachable, not demanding that you come to him, that you be good enough, that you make the first move towards Him. He has already made the first move, he has come to meet you, to show you he loves you, to invite you into his family, to give you himself. That's what Christmas is all about. What ever else you do this season, don't miss that God is with us!